WE HELPED #MAKEADIFFERENCE by designing and expanding a small grants program to extend its reach and empower thousands of youth around the country to design and lead projects that create healthier school communities.
EXPANDING REACH AND DEPTH
Through the generous partnership of founding sponsors and partners, GENYOUth was interested in scaling a small, invite-only grant opportunity for students in order to increase access to funding opportunities for high school students around the country. GENYOUth turned to CustomED to develop a framework to empower and support students once grants were awarded, as well as increase GENYOUth’s capacity by managing day-to-day operations of the program year-round.
YOUTH SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMMING CustomED worked in close partnership with GENYOUth to design a student-centered grants program from the ground up, including designing and implementing a digital platform to scale impact, a program help desk for students, and a streamlined application system. This framework has successfully empowered and supported students throughout their grant journey. In 2022, CustomED is continuing to build on the program by developing classroom resources to enable teachers to bring AdVenture Capital activities and resources directly to students. THE IMPACT Since its inception, AdVenture Capital has awarded almost $900,000 in grants to students across more than 45 states to lead projects and positively impact their school communities, with upwards of 60,000 overall lives impacted. The program has also engaged over 500 corporate volunteers in mentoring and project coaching.