By Emmanuel Garcia, Lisa Fittko InternThirty years ago a group of young activists came together to start what is today Crossroads Fund, a public foundation committed to giving grants to social justice organizations. Even though they were a small collective, they had a big idea, to raise money to help fund other small groups so that they could empower multiple movements.On Aug. 4 students from various Chicago high schools participating in a program of the Mikva Challenge came to the Crossroads Fund to talk about doing something similar. Their focus was to give other high school students funding for projects that promote health awareness among their peers.Jane Kimondo, Program Director at Crossroads Fund and Henry Cervantes, Former Youth Fund grantmaking committee member, met with the youth to provide some guidance on how to create a request for proposal (RFP), but also to facilitate a group discussion about the politics of money.Henry gave a brief summary of the many layers of the philanthropic sector. For example, he talked about how many people with wealth give to art museums and cultural institutions, but neglect to fund grassroots organizations.The students talked about what it means to have money, to ask for money and to give money away. It created a healthy discussion among the group about how they see their role as future potential funders. Henry asked, “How does having money make you feel?” This moment of self introspection made the group think about their own personal relationships with money.Jane reminded the group to remember that grant seekers are human and to not simply come to a conclusion based on how someone appears, good or bad, on paper. She encouraged them to go out and have an in-person meeting before making final decisions.While Crossroads Fund has always prioritized the youth fund, it wasn’t until 2008 that we created our Youth Fund for Social Change. One key component is that youth are part of the decision process. Jane asked the students to notice if grantee groups include people who are directly affected by the issue in the negotiating table. For instance, a group of students seeking funding for a project on disability should have at least one person who is affected by that issue making decisions. For Crossroads Fund this means that every grantmaking cycle we invite young activists involved in social justice movements to join our Youth Fund committee. In other words, someone who has a stake in the issue is now part of the committee that helps decide who to give funding to. It’s a powerful role and one that we don’t take for granted. Before the students came to our office they were already well on their way to helping their peer groups create change. The big idea was already there. The challenge will be to implement guidelines for funding and to continue to have these important conversations as a team. Young people are making change across Chicago, whether it’s creating change through direct activism or by being young philanthropists. Historically we have always recognized the important role that young people play in organizing movements, not only because our organization was started by young people, but because we want to continue the tradition of fostering that social justice bug early on. And rumor has it, many of us were young once ourselves!
