200 new young grantmakers in Georgia

What was so different?

The YouthBank Training experience submerged 200 absolute beginners from 24 small towns across Georgia into the special YouthBank way in a form that raised their curiosity and intrigue right from the very minute all learners came through the training room door. The experience was intensive with at least 60% of the time in the hands of participants grappling with their own creativity and imagination to make sense of a very distinct approach to youth-led community action.

Giving each local YouthBank $5,000 for grant-making, $1,000 to enable basic administration, setting the challenge of raising some additional local funding and producing a calendar of key tasks to accomplish over the next 10 months pushed learners out of their comfort zone. When the creation of new action plans began to emerge you could see the excitement that beamed out of learners. It makes absolute sense then to prepare all new grant-makers to marshal these resources appropriately and as wisely as they can. We look forward to hearing about what was achieved and learned as they all take the next set of steps of translating their ideas into action.