Inclusive, Digitally-Powered Grant-Making: Creating Learning Environments Responsive to Diverse Needs

• In Event: Technology in inclusive education

Proposal

Needs. Imagine a world where every child’s unique learning style is embraced rather than overlooked. This is the vision of Unique Perspectives (UP) for Change, run by the International Youth Foundation with support from Oak Foundation. UP for Change aims to create more equitable educational outcomes for young people with learning differences. Youth with learning differences, or neurodiverse youth, with conditions such as Dyslexia, ADHD, Dyscalculia, language impairments, and writing challenges, encounter barriers to success in traditional educational settings and beyond. They are often marginalized, lacking appropriate support to access the same opportunities as peers. Typically, those addressing these challenges exclude from decision-making the voices of those most affected. UP for Change bridges this gap by involving young people in participatory grantmaking to fund activities that promote more equitable education for students with learning differences, particularly those experiencing intersectional marginalization because of racism and poverty. Up for Change leverages commonly available, accessible digital technologies to provide meaningful engagement and leadership opportunities often inaccessible to neurodiverse youth.

Intervention. In 2024, UP for Change engaged a diverse US cohort of 16 young people, referred to as Leaders, aged 15 to 24, in a six-month Leadership Program. This innovative program was designed to equip Leaders with skills to partner in participatory grantmaking by co-creating a request for proposals, reviewing applications and selecting organizations to receive grants. The Leaders represented a spectrum of neurodiverse (69%) and neurotypical (31%) learning styles, with varied educational backgrounds, races, genders and sexual orientations.
Over 6 months the Leaders met 10 times virtually on Zoom for live facilitated sessions and engaged in supplemental asynchronous self-guided learning activities using Google Classroom, to learn about grantmaking and neurodiversity, strengthen and apply life and leadership skills, and build a strong community of advocates. Through reflection exercises and a highly participatory process using diverse digital tools like Mentimeter, interactive Google Slides, Kahoot, and polls, Leaders played a central role in defining funding priorities for the grant fund’s request for proposals. Finally, in a three-day workshop in Chicago Leaders reviewed seventeen proposals and selected six organizations to receive grants.
Incorporating digital accessibility guidelines, such as attention to color contrast, optimizing text for visibility, enhancing organization for comprehension and using captions and transcription to created an inclusive online environment. The program selected common and accessible digital platforms to prepare neurodiverse youth to lead the grant-making. Platforms were leveraged to achieve goals including learning new information and skills, fostering a close, respectful cohort of peers, and providing resources beyond learning sessions, while providing information in multiple modalities and offering options for learners to contribute and be heard. Facilitators employed accessibility techniques within digital platforms to personalize learning. Still, access was difficult for at least one participant because of poor internet connectivity. Leaders appreciated that Google Classroom provided access to materials and taped sessions even with unreliable internet.

Methods. UP for Change drew from IYF's meaningful youth engagement framework to ensure Leaders were equipped to perform their role, established and nurtured critical relationships, and had the necessary resources, interest and motivation to sustain their engagement. The framework also supported the recruitment, safeguarding and inclusion of a diverse and representative cohort. IYF's youth agency framework informed the design of a curriculum that built relevant life, leadership, and philanthropy skills and provided opportunities to apply them to progressively more complex tasks. Lastly, training materials and facilitation protocols adhered to best practices for Universal Design for Learning and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Evolving lesson plans took Leaders through four components: life skills, leadership development, community engagement and connection, and learning differences and neurodivergence. Each learning session integrated three elements: 1) A strengths-based approach bringing each person’s unique qualities to the Leader role; 2) reflective activities to allow Leaders to make sense of the experience and provide feedback for future program improvement; 3) activities to answer questions and bring youth and adults together to share responsibilities of creating a safe learning environment and making decisions about the grantmaking process.

Successes and areas for improvement. UP for Change awarded $600,000 to support six programs that equip neurodiverse young people with leadership and advocacy skills for adult success, and programs providing additional support and resources to learners without Individualized Education Plans or in learning environments without formalized accommodation processes.
Digital platforms were well-received, performed as hoped, and Leaders were able to access information how and when they needed it. Facilitators were well-selected, including an experienced educator and a passionate youth development professional. One student said “the facilitators have been so welcoming and open to all of our different questions and wanting to hear our discussion, that that has helped me grow the confidence that I need to be able to speak my voice.”
For future programs Leaders recommended more remote sessions, in-person time together, more materials to support assessment of proposal budgets, and time to create and strengthen ties between group members.
Impact on need. We evaluate the program’s impact with data from surveys, key informant interviews, and group discussions. Findings indicate that the program had a profound impact on participants' lives , boosting their self-confidence, enhancing their leadership and advocacy skills, and fostering personal growth, self-awareness and a sense of community.
The next Leader cohort will co-evaluate the programs implemented by the selected grantees and support organizations to share what works best for diverse learners. We will understand how Up for Change impacts engagement, learning, and achievement for neuro-atypical individuals after the grantees complete their interventions and are assessed, with the help of, and as defined by, the Leaders.
The need of involving young, neurodiverse learners in selection, and identifying best practices for doing that, was achieved: One Leader said “…to know that something I directly contributed to actually changed people's lives. People who are like me, people who aren't like me, people who might have similar experiences as I've had, or struggles with just having to live as a neuro-atypical person in the world.”

Authors

• Ashleigh Gilley, International Youth Foundation

• Ana Laura Evancic, International Youth Foundation

• Bethiel Girma Holton, Oak Foundation

• Linda Fogarty, IYF

• Ivelina Benitez, INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FOUNDATION