2008 Youth Fund for Social Change Grantees

Crossroads Fund proudly announces our very first grantees through the Youth Fund for Social Change. This targeted grantmaking initiative supports youth advocacy and organizing projects in the Chicago area.

The Fearless Leading by the Youth (FLY) project of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) and Southwest Youth Collaborative are working together to improve conditions at the Audy Home Juvenile Detention Facility while organizing through a human rights framework for community-based restorative justice alternatives.

The Fighting Youth Shouting out for Humanity (FYSH) project of the Korean-American Resource and Cultural Center (KRCC) will organize within Chicago’s Korean community to address human trafficking while supporting national legislation to end human trafficking.

The Sisters Empowering Sisters program at Chicago Girls Coalition is creating an anti-oppression curriculum to maximize the social change impact of its girl-driven grantmaking.

Kelly High School Students for Social Justice are applying lessons learned during a trip to New Orleans as they organize to combat similar injustice in their school and home community.

Nuestra Voz Youth Council works with youth and their parents in Melrose Park to increase civic engagement and address the lack of resources for undocumented and/or Latina/o students seeking higher education.

Project CQY Chicago provides resources and accessible, safe and multiracial meeting spaces for LGBT youth under 21.

Secular Jewish Community and School of Oak Park are working with youth from Austin, Little Village and Pilsen to organize a march and speak-out for a more just healthcare system.

The SITY Ollin youth organizers at Telpochcalli Community Education Project (TCEP) are addressing community violence in Little Village and its relationship to racism, sexism and economic oppression.

The Young Women’s Empowerment Project is researching and publishing their own data on violence against young women impacted by the sex trade and street economies.

Youth Pride Services is establishing gay-straight alliances in predominately African-American south side schools and combating police harassment of LGBT youth of color.

The WE-ACTx Peace Journey will help twelve young women from Chicago and Kigali, Rwanda design projects to address the relationship between HIV/AIDS and systemic inequalities within their home communities.