On Thursday evening, inside the Westside Neighborhood Community Center — buzzing with English and Spanish spoken back to back — teenagers stood at a podium and explained how they took $15,000 and allocated it to shape their community.
The occasion was the South County Youth Making Change Grant Awards Celebration, hosted by The Fund for Santa Barbara — a local 501(c)(3) foundation that has awarded more than $10 million to grassroots organizations over the past 44 years. Here, every funding decision — every dollar — is decided by youth.
“These dedicated community members have donated their time to read every single proposal that comes in, and to make the difficult funding decisions that bring us here today,” said Kristen Lickinger, a member of The Fund’s board of directors, addressing the crowd.
It is a rare, empowering structure.
Youth Making Change (YMC) is a teen-led grantmaking and leadership development program with two boards — one in Santa Barbara and one in Santa Maria. Each board distributes $15,000 annually to youth-led projects aimed at improving the lives of young people across Santa Barbara County.
This year, the South County board awarded eight grants, with projects ranging from cultural celebrations to political organizing to college access initiatives.
At Dos Pueblos High School, the Asian Student Alliance received $2,350 for events aimed at combating misinformation and anti-Asian intolerance. The school’s Black Student Union received $2,685 to host a haircare and cultural expo challenging beauty standards and creating a safe space on campus. The MEChA Club was awarded $980 to fund college visits for Chicano students across California.
Planned Parenthood Generation Action received $3,000 to support youth-led work combating discrimination based on sex and gender — at a time when reproductive health providers nationwide are facing increasing political and financial pressure.
San Marcos High School’s Black Student Union received $3,000 for a field trip to the California African American Museum and a cultural heritage celebration. The Santa Barbara Youth Council was awarded $1,400 to host a Youth Speak Out Summit, connecting students directly with elected officials.
And the AVID Club’s Latin Dance event received $1,100 to celebrate and empower Latin culture through music and community.
Standing at the podium, student representatives Giselle Magdaleno Diaz and Jocelyn Ruiz described what that funding means.
“Our project, the AVID Latin Dance, creates social change by creating an opportunity for students to feel culturally represented in the community — through music, food, games, and dance,” Ruiz said. “Creating spaces and events like this is important to our community because it creates bonds and friendships that build our community closer together.”
The program itself was fully bilingual, with remarks delivered in English and then repeated in Spanish — a reflection of the county it serves, and of the political tensions many speakers acknowledged directly.
“It’s hard to start the program without really acknowledging what we see in our state, in our county the last 12 months,” said Eder Gaona-Macedo, executive director of The Fund for Santa Barbara. “We see attacks on our immigrants, we’re seeing attacks on DEI, on our LGBTQ+ community, on women, just to name a few. And in these hard times, it’s really hard to find hope.”
Gaona-Macedo spoke candidly about his own story.
“I came here as undocumented every day when I was a kid,” he said. “I went to La Cumbre, went to San Marcos, and yet I felt that the doors were being shut.”
Programs like Youth Making Change, he said, helped sustain him.
“To the young people here, you’re going to be told that your ideas are too big. They’re too bold. They’re too courageous,” he said. “But remember that The Fund has your back. And they’re not only appropriate — but we’re going to fund them.”
Lickinger reminded attendees that progressive elected officials are part of the broader ecosystem — and once stood where these teens stand now.
“These folks were youth. I promise they were,” she said, referring to Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón and Assemblymember Gregg Hart. “And I’m confident that some of the youth in this room will find themselves in elected office someday.”
For now, though, the power over the fund sits squarely with them. Boardmembers, ages 13 to 19, spent months learning about organizing, evaluating proposals, and debating funding decisions.
At a time when national politics feel outsized and often untouchable, Thursday’s event was local, tangible, immediate, and celebratory.
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