UP Partnership’s youth voice network, Our Tomorrow, recently provided 11 youth-led groups from around San Antonio with $43,000 in grants in a pilot program meant to advance various community projects.

According to a news release, the projects are being led by students from San Antonio, and Southwest and East Central independent school districts. Grant funds also went to the Center For Young Minds, a program created by the local Ecumenical Center.

Lisa Marie Gomez, UP Partnership’s vice president of youth voice and restorative justice, said her local organization created this pilot program in response to young people's request to be active participants in creating solutions to challenges in their community.

“The youth in our community have valuable ideas about the impact they want to make in their school and broader communities, and we were thrilled to be able to support them through this initiative,” Gomez said.

The release said the chosen high school students and a staff mentor from their respective school are using their project to make an impact in areas, such as mental health and suicide prevention, food insecurity, tax preparation, professional development and cultivation of social skills.

• A Volunteer Income Tax Program by CAST Tech High School student Olivia Sanchez and staff mentor Lilian Gonzalez;
• A Calming room on CAST STEM’s campus to meet needs around stress, overwhelm and mental health led by CAST STEM High School student Christian Young and staff mentor Lilia Montes;
• A Flower Flow project that funds the purchase of hygienic products for students by CAST Med High School student Irene Ramos and staff mentor Sabrina Donatto;
• Restructuring and expanding a garden within the Helping Hands program to allow for outdoor classroom space, as well as a composting area to reduce food waste and a mobile produce food pantry led by CAST Lead student Airanda Wollney and staff mentor Calee Jaskula;
• Ladies Hurricane Harvest young women conference led by Sam Houston High School student Yolanda Cisneros and staff mentor Joredanne Carmack;
• The Better with Books program that will establish a safe space book club for students by CAST Med student Nicole Nino and staff mentor Anissa Cortez;
• A Dress for Success project by the DECA Inc. club students at CAST Lead and staff mentor Calee Jaskula;
• The Feeding Community project by the Pitmaster Club students at Jefferson High School aiming to help feed barbecue to its community and staff mentor Rogelio Garza;
• A mental health awareness night in May that will invite professional therapists, counselors and psychologists to speak on basics of mental health, healthy eating and exercise led by Young Women’s Leadership Academy’s student Zoe Lopez and staff mentor Kimberly Carter;
• The Shooting Star Festival that will highlight mental health awareness through music with all funds raised donated to the Tim Bergling Foundation for Mental Health Awareness led by CAST STEM student Carlos Faz and staff mentor Lilia Montes; and
• A mental health series by the Center for Young Minds led by students Elisa Gonzalez, Yi Liu, TJ Kalikiri, Trinity Erwin, Alyssa Martinez and Shradha Pavankumar with staff mentor Jennifer Forbes.

The funding for these grants came from $8 million in funding received by the Up Partnership and the San Antonio Area Foundation from New York-based national nonprofit consortium Blue Meridian Partners in late 2020 to help with equitable recovery in San Antonio, the release said.

UP Partnership officials said they have funds from Blue Meridian Partners for initiatives that specifically fall under their three equity focus areas of increasing youth voice, access to college and career opportunities, and healing instead of punitive disciplinary measures.

UP Partnership grants were previously awarded to nonprofits with initiatives tied to these focus areas, such as 100 Black Men, the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions and Empower House, formerly the Martinez Street Women’s Center, the release said.