The Youth Innovation Fund has changed the lives of thousands of young people and has had a profound impact on eight diverse communities.Young people involved in the Youth Fund are able to create and catalyze community change through strategies and access to power not traditionally afforded to youth, particularly youth from disempowered communities.  These opportunities fuel participants'

dedication to the Youth Fund and increase its impact.  Often this commitment is bolstered by youth participants' involvement in other community leadership and decision making roles.  Chyna Bowen, a youth board member from Chicago, states, "I am devoted to the Chicago chapter of the Youth Innovation Fund, and I am very grateful for the opportunities it has given me. "The board is committed to funding and organizing youth lead programs dedicated to the advancement of youth.

Not only do we fund programs, but we advise the head of Chicago Public School systems, ArneDuncan. . . "I plan to enter a career of public administration/public policy. I am passionate about this for a number of reasons. Aiding and assisting those oppressed by the government is so often left ignored. Very often the groups overlooked by the government are youth. I believe I make an excellent representative of youth making a difference in public policy, schools systems, and my community. With my drive I have the potential to strike change in areas previously given up on."  The Youth Fund also works at an organizational and community level, changing the local culture to fully embrace young people as a valued constituency.  As a result of local Youth Fund work:· young people have been democratically elected

to the school board in Portland, ME;·   the Cleveland Mississippi News

Leader has embraced youth as regular writers for the

newspaper;·     Portland Public Schools in Oregon has youth advising on

service-learning and youth engagement policy;·  for the first time, young people are formally advising the CEO of public schools in

Chicago;·       organizations and city agencies throughout Ypsilanti, MI are

developing youth councils to advise on organizational policy;·  a coalition of youth and adults has been created in San Francisco to

challenge the school district on inadequacies in education;·    youth-led

service-learning has become a reality in the schools, community and

higher education institution in Hampton, VA; and·       Nashville youth have

mobilized thousands of public school students to demand safe and effective public schools.Hal Cato, the Executive Director of Oasis Center, the organization housing the Youth Fund in Nashville, put it best when he said of the Youth Fund, "thank you for playing such a big and positive role on our lives down here.  You have forever changed Oasis Center."