Windward Youth Leadership Fund

We believe in the power of the youth, and want to reward these good works!  The Windward Youth Leadership Fund (WYLF) is an alternative way to raise funds for your activities while helping to strengthen our community.  The youth in the group come up with a plan to make our Windward communities healthier and the Foundation will give up to $5,000 to make it happen and to help organizations or clubs earn needed funds to assist and support their communities in basic needs.

By doing a project, you do something good for the community, you show how youth make a difference, and you get the funds you need for your activities.

Groups with at least three participants up to age 18 may apply including, but not limited to:

• School classes, teams, clubs, etc.
• Youth activity groups, hula halau, music groups, scouts, etc.
• Programs that serve youth
• Church youth groups

Applicant groups must either be based in Windward O‘ahu, or most youth participants must be Windward O‘ahu residents. All service projects should serve communities along the Windward coast from Kahuku to Waimanalo.

Applicants must be a public school or a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or have a sponsoring agency that is a 501(c)(3) organization that can receive the funds. The 501(c)(3) is a designation given to nonprofit organizations by the Internal Revenue Service. If the applicant is not a public school, you will need the organization’s 501(c)(3) Tax ID number for your application.

Youth groups cannot use the Windward Youth Leadership Fund to raise funds for their own group by doing a service project that also benefits their own group. Youth groups are also encouraged to undertake projects that broaden their horizons beyond the scope of their everyday activities.

Each group can only receive one WYLF grant in a calendar year. Expect the grant processing time with the Foundation to be a minimum of 6 weeks, not including your service project.

Please note that if approved, your group must create a video of the service project. Videos must be hosted on YouTube.com and will be shared through the Foundation’s digital media accounts.

First and foremost, you will earn important life and learning experiences and a hopefully a stronger connection to your community. These benefits will last much longer than many think and will positively affect others in the community. Youth participants may even find a volunteer opportunity, internship, or potential employment opportunity to add to your resume and skillset!

Groups can request from $500 to $5,000 for your youth group depending on how much you need, how many volunteers you have, and how many hours you will put into the project. If you don’t need to fundraise for your organization, but you want help paying for a community service project, that’s good too!

Youth must plan and lead the community service projects, rather than the adult members, parents, or supervisors. Only youth service hours count. The more hours the youth put in, the more funds your group will be eligible to receive.

For example, if your group is applying for $500, you need at least 25 youth volunteer hours. If your group is applying for $5,000, you need at least 250 youth volunteer hours. The more youth volunteers you recruit, the easier it is to get your volunteer hours. For example, 25 youth that each put in 10 hours equals 250 volunteer hours (25×10). If you have 10 volunteers, each one needs to contribute 25 hours to achieve 250 volunteer hours. Don’t forget that in order to encourage the youth-driven nature of this program, only volunteer hours contributed by youth will be counted toward the total number of hours.

Funds are limited, but the Foundation will make every effort to help youth who want to help our Windward Oahu community. The committee will weigh the following factors:

• • Need for the service project – What issue does your service project try to address? What will be the positive impact on the community? Who will you be helping?
  • Youth involvement – Do youth members have leadership roles and will they do most of the work? Did youth help drive the idea for the project?
  • Adult roles – Are adults participating as guides and supporters without taking over roles that youth can fill?
  • Planning/Preparedness – How much thought has gone into making sure your project will be successful? Do you have a good plan?  Have you contacted the proper people to create a partnership or to gain authorization for your project?
  • Creativity – How much thought has gone into making the project meaningful and rewarding? What features make your project interesting and thoughtful?
  • Challenge factor – How challenging is this service project for the participants? Is it age appropriate?  Is this years’ service project unique or different from the last one?
  • Need for the funds – What are you planning to do with the funds? How will they benefit your group or support basic needs of the community?

The Foundation is looking for service projects that prioritize the following:

• • Support for vulnerable community members, like kupuna or houseless individuals
  • ‘Aina restoration and protection
  • Food distribution
  • Socio-emotional and academic support for younger students

The following resources may be helpful:

• • Kanu Hawaii COVID-19 Volunteer Opportunities
  • Kupuna Food Security Coalition
  • Kokua Hawaii Foundation Volunteer Calendar
  • Hui o Ko’olaupoko Volunteer Events Calendar
  • 808 Volunteers

• • If your interest is watershed science, research the health of and threats to your community’s watersheds. Good sources of information include service organizations, residents, web sites, teachers and environmental groups.
  • Have a group discussion about watershed protection. What are the threats to our hillsides, streams and marshes? What can youth do to help reduce those threats?
  • Do some preliminary project planning. Think about all the things you will need to do for a successful project including talking to potential partners ahead of time. For example, if you are going to do a service project to help restore a marsh, make sure that the groups who take the lead on that marsh are willing to have you.
  • Create leadership opportunities for youth. One or two people can serve as chairpersons of the project. Youth can make calls to local agencies, gather needed equipment, and make other arrangements.
  • Set goals for your project. What do you want the participants to get out of it?
  • How will your group be stronger after successfully doing the project? How many people do you want to participate?
  • Make it a learning experience for participants. Besides doing something good for the community, a good watershed project can teach participants something about the environment, culture, or other issues.
  • Make it fun. Service projects can be just as fun as any other activity. While planning the project, think of ways to make project participants glad they showed up.
  • If it is appropriate, publicize your event. Tell people about how you and your youth group are helping make our community a better place.
  • Take time to reflect. When the project is complete, dedicate some time to talk about how it went, what people learned, what would you do differently next time, and how can you continue to make a difference in the community.

We want you to be successful in your service project as well as your fundraising.  Here is a guide to help you be successful in the application process.

1. Read all of the instructions above clearly
2. Verify that your group meets the requirements listed under “Who Can Apply?”
3. Have a service project plan formulated and written out before applying

• • Make sure you have approval from the executive officer of your organization to apply for a grant – principal, executive director, scout leader, etc.
  • Meet with the appropriate partner organization representative or manager of the place, space, or group you are looking to provide the service for

4. Click the appropriate link below to start your grant application (please download a word version here)

• You will receive a response within 30 calendar days
• Responses may include helpful feedback to strengthen your service project, grant you a preliminary approval for the project, or let you know that you are not eligible for the Windward Youth Leadership Fund at this time

5. Once approved, you will be provided with a grant award packet

• Grant award letter, terms and agreement, final report guidelines, questions to respond to in your Final Report, and a sign-in sheet
• All reports must be submitted in the form of a video, produced by the youth, and uploaded to YouTube.com

6. Sign and submit your Grant Terms & Agreement form. The grant is not active and checks will not be released without this form

7. After the service project is complete, we ask that you send us the link to the video along with the original sign-in sheet

• Each group can only receive one WYLF grant in a calendar year.
• Projects will not be approved for events that occur prior to the grant approval date.
• Please note that it may take a minimum of 6 weeks to complete the full internal grant process, not including the time you need to carry-out the service project. We highly recommend that you plan early so that you can be successful in this effort.

Need ideas? Project ideas are wide open, bound only by your imagination!

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Grantee Organization: O‘ahu Church of Christ Youth Group
Youth Leader: Kelsey Wemple
Adult Contact: Gretchen Wemple

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Grantee Organization: Hui Mālama O Ke Kai
Youth Leader: Kirk Deitschman
Adult Contact: Lani Eckert

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Grantee Organization: Manuia Soccer Club
Youth Leader: Lyndsey Tagawa
Adult Contact: Annette Tagawa

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Would you like to plug into ongoing service events throughout the year with the organizations listed below? Please talk with them before you apply online.

HUI O KO‘OLAUPOKO

If you want to learn about watershed science, you can work with Hui O Ko‘olaupoko, a nonprofit organization with expertise in this area. Email Kristen Nalani Mailheau, Executive Director, at: nalani@huihawaii.org, or call Kristen at (808) 277-5611 to help you get started! These are some of the activities they organize:

1. Water quality testing
2. Work at Kaha Garden while learning about Native Hawaiian plants and local watershed issues
3. Stream restoration projects
   • removal of invasive plants
   • restoring sections of the stream banks and nearby forest with native vegetation
   • installing erosion control material
   • educational workshops

HONOLULU CITY & COUNTY DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

These are the kinds of projects they do:

1. Storm drain cleaning and stenciling
2. Adopt-a-stream programs and events
3. Adopt-A-Block Weed & Seed events

If would like to participate in service projects like this, contact Iwalani Sato at 780-8872 or isato@honolulu.gov. You can also view the Department’s website here: http://www.envhonolulu.org/.

‘AHAHUI MĀLAMA I KA LŌKAHI

Would you like to work in Kawainui Marsh or Na Pohaku o Hawahine and learn more about Native Hawaiian culture? If so, contact Kaimi Scudder at (808) 263-8008 or email@ahahui.net to learn about a community service project with ‘Ahahui Mālama I Ka Lōkahi!

1. Work in the lo‘i and get muddy!
2. Help create a wetland bird habitat for stilts and other endangered birds
3. Care for native plants

HEALTHY CLIMATE COMMUNITIES

Would you like to help restore a native forest on Pu‘u o Ehu hillside above Hamakua Marsh wildlife sanctuary?  Would you like to promote strategies for people in your community to reduce their carbon emissions?  If so, contact Dr. Lisa Marten at (808) 228-3642 or healthyclimate@hawaii.rr.com to develop a project.  These are some initiatives you could be involved in:

1. Remove invasive plants
2. Plant and care for native plants
3. Interactive workshops
4. Find opportunities and make action plans for people to reduce their carbon emissions

NA ALA HELE

Would you like to work on improving the quality of Windward O‘ahu’s hiking trails? If so, contact Aaron Johnson Lowe at (808) 973-9782 or alowe@hawaii.rr.com. Aaron is the Trails and Access Specialist for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, State of Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources. He oversees O‘ahu’s 45 “Na Ala Hele” trails.