Arts and culture
Work that puts something on a wall, a stage or a screen where there was nothing before. Paint and permits for a mural, a print run of a zine, the hire of a room for one night a month.
The work is already happening. We pay for it.
Every project The YouMatter Fund backs is led by the young person who saw the gap. These are the five areas we fund, what we mean by community led, and the work those grants are for.
Five areasAnd a sixth if you can argue for it.
What we back.
Five areas, drawn from what young people in this region keep asking for. If your project sits between two of them, or outside all five, say so in the application and make the case.
Sport and wellbeing
Getting people moving and keeping them there. Balls, kits and court time for a Saturday clinic, a first aid certification, the difference between a league that folds in March and one that finishes its season.
Music and sound
The hours and the hardware. Booked studio time, a second hand instrument, a mic that does not embarrass the recording, the cost of putting on the first three shows.
Learning and skills
Anything that moves somebody from stuck to able. A tutoring circle that meets weekly, a certification fee, a refurbished laptop that turns a good idea into a working one.
Voice and organising
Organising that outlasts the moment. Printing and refreshments for a know your rights night, a campaign that needs materials, a youth council that needs somewhere to sit and a reason to keep meeting.
What community led actually means here.
Led by the person who noticed
We do not commission projects and hand them to somebody. The grant goes to whoever clocked the gap, and they stay in charge of it for the full year.
Rooted in one neighbourhood
Work has to land in Durham Region, on a street somebody can name. A project that serves everybody in general usually serves nobody in particular.
Built to outlast the grant
The question at the end of the year is not whether the money was spent. It is whether the thing is still running, and who else can run it now.
The projects.
The first cycle is still open, so this is where the first cohort will be published: what they built, where it ran, and what it cost.
Arts and culture
Project name
One or two sentences on what the grantee built, where it ran, and who turned up.
$0 granted
Sport and wellbeing
Project name
One or two sentences on what the grantee built, where it ran, and who turned up.
$0 granted
Music and sound
Project name
One or two sentences on what the grantee built, where it ran, and who turned up.
$0 granted
Applying is how you end up here. Grants run from $200 to $1,000, and everybody funded presents at the year end showcase.How the grants work