An opportunity for Indigenous youth for grassroots efforts within their community has opened to achieve funding success.
The Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) supports Indigenous youth-led groups or youth-adult partnerships working in Ontario to support youth ages 12-25. The YOF provides grants and capacity-building to grassroots groups and collaboratives to improve the wellbeing of youth and families with a focus on Indigenous and Black communities.The YOF invests in newly formed groups or those with history working together to test or scale their work in community.
Five grant application process are open as follows:
Youth Innovations Test Grant: Youth Innovations Test grants support youth-led grassroots groups and youth-adult partnerships to research important issues, explore different approaches, and test new ideas.
Youth Innovations Scale Grant: Youth Innovations Scale grants support youth-led and youth-adult partnerships to expand their reach or enhance their impact on young people.
Family Innovations Test Grant: Family Innovations Test grants support parent-, guardian- or caregiver-led grassroots groups to research important issues, explore different approaches, or test new ideas.
Family Innovations Scale Grant: Family Innovations Scale grants support parent, guardian, or caregiver-led grassroots groups to expand their reach and enhance their impact on parents, guardians and caregivers of proven community projects.
System Innovations Grant: In this stream we support collaboratives that are strengthening the quality and responsiveness of systems, so they work better for youth facing systemic barriers
The first step of the application process is the Expressions of Interest, which is now open for online applications due by September 29, 2021 5 PM ET. Certain applicants can also connect to one-on-one supports from YOF staff, and book a coaching call with the Organizational Mentors section. The mentors provide administrative support, project mentoring, and financial accountability to the Youth Opportunities Fund grassroots group.
