Bay Area Youth Award $1 Million in Possibility Grants to 10 Bay Area Organizations
The Walter & Elise Haas Fund announces 10 Possibility Grants to organizations deemed essential to building a more just and equitable society and actively working to challenge systems of oppression. Through a program designed and managed by Bay Area Youth (BAY) Community Fellows, youth advisors to the Walter & Elise Haas Fund grantmaking team, grants provide $100,000 in general operating support to ten organizations using cultural education, Black liberation values, community-based care, healing, and art to advance their missions. Recipients foster intergenerational connections to uplift youth, center collaboration, and seek a strong intersectional impact in their work. “Listening to the insights of young people is one of the most powerful levers that philanthropy has for shaping the future that young people will inherit,” said Jamie Allison, Executive Director of the Walter & Elise Haas Fund. “Their perspectives not only enrich our understanding of current challenges but also help us build solutions that are sustainable for generations to come. We understand that the decisions we make today will impact the lives of young people in both the short and long term, which is why it’s essential that young people have a seat at the table in shaping those decisions.”
About the Grantees
Possibility Grant awardees represent a diverse cohort of small, grassroots and nonprofit organizations doing intersectional work in Bay Area arts, youth development, legal services, human services, environmental justice, and policy advocacy. Each organization is distinguished by its commitment to youth leadership. With operating budgets ranging from $220,000 to $4.4 million, these organizations exemplify the significant impact that small, community-driven efforts can have in shaping the future of Bay Area youth and creating lasting change in their communities.
About BAY Fellows
BAY Community Fellows are dynamic young leaders, ages 18 to 24, who identify as BIPOC with lived experience. They are united in their collective pursuit of a more abundant and just future. Beyond their integral role on the Walter & Elise Haas Fund’s grantmaking team, BAY Fellows are also active organizers within the Bay Area, steadily growing their leadership and deepening their impact in their communities.
The 2024 Fellows are Hawi Desta, Northern California Organizer, YO! Cal; Cecilia McLellan, Poeta, Community Organizer, and Youth Lead, All Youth Are Sacred; Bria Woodland, Community Organizer, Urban Peace Movement, California Alliance for Youth & Community Justice, Sueños of Sisterhood, and BAY-Peace; and Zitlalli O., Field Leader, YO! Cali and Case Manager, Bay Area Community Resources/CHALK.
Applications were reviewed by a panel of BAY Fellows with Mebaot Atnafu, Youth Lead, Urban Peace Movement and Veronica Cañas, Community Organizer.
About Possibility Grantmaking
The Walter & Elise Haas Fund’s Possibility Grantmaking is proudly youth-driven, with young leaders at the helm of program design, open proposal calls, and review panels. This initiative deepens the Fund’s commitment to fostering the health and self-determination of Bay Area communities by placing youth at the center of decision-making and funding nonprofits to win, i.e., investing in organizations to fully realize their mission, with the agency to determine the path to drive better outcomes for communities they serve, and prioritize the well-being of their staff.
About The Walter & Elise Haas Fund
The Walter & Elise Haas Fund is a 72-year-old family foundation enacting its belief that another world is possible, envisioning a Bay Area where all people can reach their fullest potential and live with a sense of purpose, dignity, and joy. Making trust-based grants to organizations advancing justice across the Bay Area, the Walter & Elise Haas Fund is a committed partner to organizations that resonate with its values:
- Family. To care for each other as a human family, forging connections, creating continuity of culture and practice; to learn from the past and to protect, care, and plan for future generations today
- Shared Responsibility. To do our part to heal the world (tikkun olam), leading when necessary and joining when possible; to acknowledge our shared fate; to embrace collective action that strengthens our community
- Belonging. To seek equity and justice; to embrace and celebrate our differences; to be in community with others, building trust that makes a “we” possible
- Possibility. To embrace what could be; to dream big, aspiring to foster a society in which we all thrive.
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