Metro United Way’s Youth Success Team is now in its third year of an innovative grant to get young people involved in helping the community.
Putting power into their hands, Youth Social Action Projects give young people an opportunity to tackle a pressing community issue in a way that involves and inspires others. It empowers young people to take ownership of the future of our community.
“We believe that young people are powerful agents of change in their communities,” said TJ Delahanty, Metro United Way’s Senior Manager of Youth Success. “We want to support our youth-serving organizations to engage with their young people to advocate and create positive change.”
Projects tackled challenges across a broad spectrum of issues including food justice, LGBTQIA+ advocacy, the environment, harm reduction and mental health, voting, and AI technology.
Each organization involved young people from its community to lead the work. These topics were chosen by young people based on their concerns, along with the support and guidance of adults at each organization.
To tackle those issues, youth created presentations, planned events, created online resources, and told stories through media.
While the projects varied in topic and delivery, they all had some key things in common. The projects were meant to amplify marginalized voices, including young voices, address systemic barriers, disrupt oppressive systems, and offer creative solutions for cultivating healthy and just communities.
“The project has fostered greater awareness in the community about the importance of youth voices in addressing systemic issues, paving the way for more inclusive decision-making processes,” one organization wrote in its final report.
When asked what they learned, young people had a lot to say!
“I learned it takes time. You can’t wake up and make a difference. You need to have patience and resilience,” one youth said.
“I realized how much I care about my community and that I have the ability to create change,” another added.
Another said: “I also learned about responsibility. If you think about it, the fate of the world is in our hands. And we need to make it right.”
“I learned how needed these resources are in my direct community,” a youth said. “I already knew vaguely but my world view was expanded which I needed immensely.”
These lessons only come from experience and action – something these projects gave young people an abundance of.
Another year of Youth Social Action Project (YSAP) grants is underway now! Stay tuned for more on those projects.
In 2024, the grant process was done in partnership with the University of Louisville’s Center for Social Justice Youth Development. In 2025 and future years, YSAP will be solely a Metro United Way initiative.
Metro United Way’s Youth Success Network is made up of 200+ organizations that serve youth ages 6 to 24 across the Greater Louisville region. MUW provides training, capacity building, investments, mental health supports, trauma-informed curriculum, and more to these organizations. To learn more, click or tap here. To sign up for the Youth Success Network newsletter and get connected to free resources and training, click or tap here.