Youth in Action: Request for Proposals

If you have any questions please call or email Makenzie Kenfield, ylx@lokc.org or 405-463-3340.

The mission of Youth in Action Class XXV is to empower the community by funding organizations that provide essential wraparound services, including access to food, shelter, education, and connections for economically disadvantaged youth in the Oklahoma City Metro area.

 Youth in Action (YIA) is a program of the Youth Leadership Exchange (a program of Leadership Oklahoma City) in which local high school students
 • identify community needs, 
• solicit funding requests from organizations working in the identified need area, 
• select the proposal to fund, 
• raise funds for the projects, and
• make the grants to the selected agency. 

Youth in Action aims to teach the participants about community service by having them act as a mini-foundation to fund community improvement. The students learn meeting management and fund-raising skills, among others, and are better prepared to volunteer in their communities substantively. 

We encourage central Oklahoma charitable organizations to submit a funding proposal. Up to $10,000 may be requested. The organization must have 501(c)3 tax status. In past classes, the students have given all of their funds to a single project one year and divided their funds among two smaller projects another time. What they decide to do this year is up to them, and they will make a decision based on the proposals they receive. 

Proposals are due by November 6, 2024. YIA students will review these proposals and narrow the potential recipients down to two or three organizations. These selected organizations will then be invited to either present to the class or host a brief site visit on January 14, 2025, to provide a more detailed overview of their projects. Following these presentations, the class will decide which project or projects to fund and will begin their fundraising training. The grant or grants will be awarded in late April.

Past Recipients of YIA Grants have included, among others, Variety Care, Northcare, St. Anthony's Foundation, Youth and Family Services, Teen Recovery Solutions, the Mental Health Association of Central Oklahoma (teen suicide prevention), Deaconess Adoption and Pregnancy Center (new furniture for waiting room and materials for classes), City Rescue Mission (musical instruments for the teen center), the Oklahoma County Juvenile Center (funding for a life skills program), The Children’s Center (a handheld computer for communication by non-verbal children), and Boys and Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County (funding for the Smart Moves drug resistance program). 

Please note that agencies will not be eligible to receive Youth in Action grants two years in a row.