What Does It Mean to Grow Up in 2025? 🧠
🚨Don’t Miss the #UnderPressureCohort Showcase! 🚨
Next Wednesday, meet our 10 YF Innovators redefining digital wellbeing for teens. Learn about their work and solutions, including:
Tools to help teens relieve pressures (achievement, appearance, etc.)
Programs that nurture self-worth, social connection, and belonging
Empowering young people to have agency over their tech use
And so much more…
📅 Date: Next Wednesday, June 25, 2025
⏰ Time: 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET
Young Futures Community,
There’s a lot in motion right now at Young Futures, and that’s because there’s a lot in motion in the lives of young people.
Their feeds are flooded with scary headlines, massive protests, and group chat drama. They’re navigating tricky questions like: Is it OK to use AI on this assignment? Why does everything feel so heavy? Why is everyone else having a cooler summer than me? Where do I belong in all of this?? And we're here for them in all these phases.
Did you know Young Futures has launched four funding challenges in just over a year?
We are moving fast because the world isn’t slowing down for young people. We are committed to listening, learning, and delivering bold, youth-centered solutions at the pace this moment demands. It’s what they deserve.
Here’s what we’re working on right now:
✅ Call Me Maybe grantees have been selected! (Announcement coming soon🎉)
✅ Here Comes the Fun proposals are under review and interviews to semi-finalists will be sent by the end of this month!
✅ Youth + AI listening tour just wrapped up and now we are working on refining our theme!
We are also helping adults — funders, educators, tech leaders, and parents — see what young people are really up against. Make sure you join our YF Innovators Showcase next week to see how some of our grantees are redefining digital wellbeing for teens. The pressure is relentless. The support needs to be just as strong. That means more belonging, more social connection, and yes, more joy.
We’re so glad you’re in this with us.
Warmly,
Katya Hancock
CEO, Young Futures
Young Futures in the News
June 18, LinkedIn Article, How do we design funding challenges that truly center young people? With a youth listening tour and our first-ever Young Futures Challenge Committee of educators. Here’s how it shaped the Call Me Maybe Challenge.
June 11, LinkedIn Article, YF’s Communications Associate, Brooke Messaye, explores why Gen Z must demand AI agency, not just digital literacy. From disappearing jobs to algorithm-driven relationships, she urges young people to shape the systems that shape them.
Young Futures Innovators in the News
Under Pressure Cohort YF Innovator Carolyn Gan of Cal Partners Project is helping families reclaim connection through nature with their Movement & Outdoor Activity Family Guide. Drawing from research and personal experience, she shows how small incentives—like trailside treats—can spark connection and a lasting love for the outdoors.
Lonely Hearts Cohort YF Innovator Tony Weaver Jr. of Weird Enough is redefining Black fatherhood through his graphic memoir, Weirdo. With raw honesty and vivid storytelling, he offers a roadmap to self-acceptance and shows how love can break generational cycles.
Spotlight on Youth Voices
In the debut episode of season 3 of the Rooted Cash Podcast by Be Loud Studios, Kyla, a senior at New Harmony High, gets real about teen finances, dreams, and $50 a week. The podcast follows a bold study offering New Orleans seniors unrestricted cash stipends to explore the long-term impact of Universal Basic Income. Kyla shares her ambitions, budget struggles, and big questions about stability, identity, and the 9-to-5 grind. It’s more than pocket money — it’s a spark for Gen Z’s financial freedom.
What We’re Reading
A Psychiatrist Posed As a Teen With Therapy Chatbots. The Conversations Were Alarming (Time, Jun 12)
From Screens to Sunshine: Helping Families Find Balance This Summer by California Partners Project’s Program Director of Child Wellbeing (LinkedIn, Jun 12)
What Happens When People Don’t Understand How AI Works (Atlantic, Jun 6)
Returning to Nintendo Games Helped Heal My Inner Child (The New York Times, Jun 5)
Reddit Sues Anthropic for Allegedly Not Paying for Training Data (Tech Crunch, Jun 4)
Talking to Teens
Why is your teenager suddenly so distant this summer? In her insightful New York Times article (originally published a few years back but still deeply relevant today for parents and caregivers), child psychologist Lisa Damour reassures parents that aloofness, eye rolls, and mood swings are all normal parts of adolescent development, not signs of rejection. She offers four key truths: teens need solitude to grow, complaining doesn’t mean they’re ungrateful, they hear you even when they seem dismissive, and these phases are temporary. Read now to understand how you can navigate these years with patience and understanding.
Friends of YF
Our partners at the Center for Digital Thriving, in collaboration with Hopelab and Common Sense Media, are amplifying youth voices with their eye-opening Youth Advisory Memo on generative AI! This powerful report shares ten fresh insights from teens ages 13–18, revealing how AI shapes their lives—from school struggles (like unfair accusations of cheating) to everyday uses (like styling outfits or seeking emotional support).
The Kindness in Community Fund, launched by The Born This Way Foundation through the generous support of Sephora, is calling on young people (15-24) to nominate grassroots organizations that champion youth mental health through free, accessible, and community-led initiatives. Nominations close June 30, 2025, so if you know an org breaking barriers in mental health, nominate them now!
Safe Online is investing $6.7 million in 20 groundbreaking projects worldwide to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse, with an additional $8.5 million to be awarded in 2025–2026. Selected from over 300 applications, these initiatives span networks and systems, research and data, and tech tools, focusing on innovation, scalability, and child-centered solutions.
Funding Opportunities
The Decolonizing Wealth Project’s Youth Mental Health Fund is still accepting proposals with a submission deadline of July 10, 2025, at 5 PM Pacific for initiatives to expand access to culturally responsive mental health care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S.Organizations may apply for either Anchor Grants ($100,000–$250,000) or Opportunity Grants ($30,000–$100,000). Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofits, Federally Recognized Tribes, and fiscally sponsored projects. For more information and to register for the upcoming information webinar on June 24, visit their application page.
Upcoming Events
Apply now! Young Futures seeks a Storytelling Partner to produce a powerful video series for the Call Me Maybe Challenge, highlighting innovative solutions to phone use in schools. You’ll travel to California, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi (locations may change) to film grantee stories, creating four 5-10 minute videos plus social teasers. Learn more and apply by this Friday, June 20th here.
Apply Now! Young Futures is seeking a creative storyteller for the YF Studio Fellowship—a remote, U.S.-based role (August–November 2025, 10 hrs/week at $15/hr). Ideal candidates are current college/grad students in Communications, Journalism, Design, or related fields, with strong creative skills and a passion for social impact. Deadline: June 22, 2025—learn more and apply here!
Apply Now! Our YFI, Carolyn Gan, and her organization, California Partners Project, are seeking to hire a Communications & Project Specialist. They're seeking a detail-oriented, collaborative professional with 3–5 years of experience in strategic communications, digital media, and program operations to support campaigns, events, and stakeholder engagement. Apply by submitting your resume and relevant materials here.