Youth in Action: Request for Proposals

If you have any questions please call or email Amber Shelton, ylx@lokc.org or 463-3340.

The mission of Youth in Action Class XX is to support youth building programs that improve the health and wellness of children, pre-k through 12th grade, in the Oklahoma City Metro.

 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. 

The purpose of Youth in Action is 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 in substantive way. 

We encourage central Oklahoma charitable organizations to submit a proposal for funding. Up to $10,000 may be requested.  The organization must have 501(c)3 tax status. The students have, in the past classes, 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 a decision they will make based on the proposals they receive. 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION AND TIMELINE Proposals are due on October 30th. YIA students will review the proposals and narrow the potential recipients to two or three. Those organizations will be asked to host a brief site visit on January 14, 2020 to present to the class more fully. The class will then decide which project or projects they will fund and begin their fund-raising training. The grant or grants will be made in late April. 

Past Recipients of YIA Grants have included, among others, Vareity 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.