We Are Family Foundation's Three Dot Dash program empowers young leaders who have already launched (or are actively building) solutions to urgent challenges. We call them Global Teen Leaders (GTLs).
Who it’s for: Teenagers aged 13–19 working in a leadership role on an environmental solution or climate-related initiative.
Focus: Environment/Climate and its intersections with education, equity, culture, creativity, health, technology, social justice, and more.
As a 2026 GTL, you will:
- Attend the Just Peace Summit in London (September/October 2026) with fellow GTLs from around the world
- Be paired with an expert Mentor for a full year
- Access year-round leadership development tools and virtual programming
- Join a global network of changemakers spanning 75+ countries and six continents
We’re looking for teens who:
- Have been working on a project or initiative in their communities for at least the last 6 months
- Are addressing climate and environmental challenges (or their intersections with other social issues)
- Are committed to continuing their work for at least the next two years
If that sounds like you—or someone you know—this is your moment.
TO NOTE: UNLIKE WAFF'S YOUTH TO THE FRONT FUND, 'THREE DOT DASH' IS NOT A SCHOLARSHIP, GRANT OR FUND.
THE CREATIVES
Youth To The Front Fund
At this moment, when so many communities are navigating uncertainty, harm, and erasure, creative leaders are stepping forward as caretakers and catalysts. Through imagination, storytelling, and collective practice, they are grounding their work in community, challenging injustice, and helping shape paths toward dignity, healing, and equitable futures.
In landscapes marked by extraction and loss, they practice restoration as a creative and civic intervention: replanting, rebuilding, and reimagining what has been damaged. Recovery becomes a collective process. Preservation becomes an investment in continuity, belonging and long term resilience.
They also embrace joy not as escape, but as intention. In gathering, performance, and shared cultural practice, they nurture connection and mutual care. They treat cultural heritage not as nostalgia, but as living knowledge that sustains languages, craft, music, and intergenerational wisdom while evolving with changing realities.
In 2026, Youth To The Front Fund is continuing our commitment to support young leaders whose work is creating real, measurable impact in the moment. We are calling in creatives and collectives who are shaping culture, shifting narratives, organizing communities through creativity, and strengthening the ecosystems, human and environmental, that sustain us all.
THIS IS A CALL FOR CREATIVES & COLLECTIVES WORKING ACROSS:
Visual & Material Arts
Painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation, design, fashion, craft, and material-based practices across physical and digital mediums.
Performance & Embodied Practice
Dance, theatre, live and interdisciplinary performance, movement-based work, and contemporary or ritual-informed embodied expression.
Music & Sound
Composition, production, DJing, sound art, and community-based audio storytelling across live and recorded formats.
Writing & Literary Arts
Poetry, prose, spoken word, journalism, publishing, archival work, and narrative storytelling across platforms.
Film, Media & Cultural Documentation
Documentary, short-form film, community journalism, archival projects, and media practices that preserve and amplify cultural narratives.
Design, Architecture & Spatial Practice
Architecture, urban and landscape design, public art, installation, product and social design, and community-led placemaking.
Digital & Creative Technology
Creative coding, immersive media, gaming, XR/AR/VR, web-based art, and technology-driven cultural experimentation.
Creative Changemaking & Cultural Strategy
Curation, creative organizing, cultural storytelling, culinary and folk arts, and interdisciplinary practices bridging art and civic engagement.
Holistic Healing, Community Spaces & Sport
Wellness practices, restorative and integrative healing, youth and community sports, shared spaces, and movement as cultural practice.
PROJECTS SHOULD CENTER ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING PILLARS:
Arts & Social Justice
Creative practices that challenge injustice, shift narratives, and use art as a tool for collective healing, visibility, and transformation.
Civics & Community Engagement
Projects that strengthen civic participation, deepen democratic practice, and build collective power within communities.
Climate Justice
Initiatives that address environmental harm through community-led solutions rooted in equity, sustainability, and intergenerational care.
Education Equity
Work that expands access to inclusive, culturally responsive learning and removes barriers to opportunity for underserved communities.
YOUTH TO THE FRONT FUND: THE CREATIVES SEEKS TO:
- Provide direct funding and strategic resources to support exhibitions, programs, research, and bold creative interventions that address systemic injustice and advance community-led solutions.
- Cultivate a global community of creative organizers, cultural workers, and storytellers who are shaping culture while advancing equity, dignity, and long-term social impact.
- Support Frontliners through cross-network collaboration, mentorship, visibility, and connection to critical partners across the arts, philanthropy, policy, and social justice sectors.
We warmly encourage you to apply if you are a creative or collective with founding leaders under 30 years old, whose work centers BIPOC communities and actively challenges systemic racism, inequality, inequity, and injustice.
Applications are now OPEN.
Deadline: April 6, 2026 at 11:59PM ET
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions and Guidelines available here to help clarify eligibility criteria. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at youthtothefront@wearefamilyfoundation.org.
We look forward to supporting creatives whose work moves beyond imagination and into measurable action, preservation, and transformation.
