ABOUT / PARTNERS & FUNDERS
This only works because other people show up too.
Schools open their doors and their schedules. Funders back leadership that doesn't look like a traditional org chart. Both are choices, and we don't take them for granted.
SCHOOL PARTNERS
Where the fellowship runs.
Year-round partner schools
During the school year, the Youth Leaders Fellowship runs inside four Philadelphia public high schools — deep, standing partnerships where the students in the room live on the blocks the work is about.
Summer network
Our Summer Fellowship is open to students from any Philadelphia public high school — so each summer's cohort brings together young people from more than a dozen schools across the city. We partner with the School District of Philadelphia to make that reach possible.
All
Philadelphia public high schoolers eligible to apply
12+
public high schools represented each summer
The people who make the room real.
COMMUNITY & FACILITATION PARTNERS
Much of what happens in our programs is led by people who've been through them, or who share the work. Graduates of the School for Grassroots Leadership host us in their spaces, come in to speak with youth, and facilitate sessions. Aligned community organizations do the same.
Host
Open their spaces so programming happens in the neighborhood, not somewhere youth have to travel to.
Speak
Come in to talk with fellows about the change they're making — proof, in person, that it's possible.
Facilitate
Lead sessions and mentor participants, bringing lived expertise the curriculum can't.
Backing leadership where it already lives.
FUNDERS
The funders below invest in a model that puts resources directly into the hands of grassroots leaders — adults and youth both.
