Käthe Swaback, Program Officer
Mass Cultural Council is proud to once again provide funding through YouthReach, our long-standing program supporting creativity, connection, and leadership in young people through innovative Creative Youth Development (CYD) programs in the arts, humanities, and sciences.
Launched in 1993 with a $180,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and matching funds from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the YouthReach Initiative began “in response to the growing needs of young people across the state struggling to meet the challenges before them.”
Now in its 33rd year, YouthReach is the longest running support program for the field of CYD in the United States. Mass Cultural Council has invested more than $26 million dollars in total to 188 organizations through this program.
In FY26 we are awarding $1,843,450 to 74 Creative Youth Development programs. These CYD programs help youth acquire social, emotional, and academic skills through centering youth voices, equity, and collective action in the arts, humanities, or sciences.
Oftentimes, programs are designed to foster collaboration between cultural organizations, social service agencies, and social justice causes. They cover a broad range of disciplines and attract youth who are involved as change agents in their community.
Last year, YouthReach programs had 18,900 young people participating across the 85 funded organizations.
- 85% are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
- 16% live in homes where English is not the primary language spoken
- 11% are youth with disabilities
Addressing Social Drivers of Health along with Creative Youth Development
“We check in weekly on our youth’s emotional, academic, and financial wellbeing, … using photography, music, theater, and other creative outlets, to help youth process emotions and concerns in healthy and meaningful ways.” – La Colaborativa, YouthReach grant recipient
Each year, YouthReach grantees are asked to identify the greatest issues that their organization needed to take time to address. The top four most-identified challenges of YouthReach programs in FY25:
- 92% of programs shared that mental health was the top issue they needed to prioritize because of the increased needs of their young people.
- 62% reported that addressing transportation needs of their young people was a priority.
- 40% said they needed to address their young people’s food insecurity.
- 31% shared they needed to address their young people’s housing insecurity.
46% of youth involved in YouthReach programs live in an economically depressed urban area and 35% are youth facing neighborhood violence. Therefore, it is important to see how CYD organizations support young people in their education and career pathways and how young people have succeeded against many headwinds.
Benefits to participating in YouthReach programs
Economic
Last year, 2,038 young people in YouthReach programs earned income from their CYD organizations bringing $3.98 million dollars to their families and communities.
For example, Artists for Humanity (AFH) serves as a “Coalition Lead” for the City of Boston’s youth employment program. In this role, AFH supports a cohort of other youth-serving Boston nonprofit organizations in the administrative management of their own youth employment. AFH is expanding to include 17 other nonprofits (and over 450 total summer jobs).
Educational
- 95% of high school seniors involved in YouthReach programs graduated from high school. (Compared to the average 89% graduation rate in MA.)
- Of those who graduated, 82% went on to college. (Compared to the average 63% of MA graduates who go onto college).
- 72% of the CYD organizations offer support to seniors and alums to help guide their steps after high school.
We celebrate this investment in the field of CYD that has nurtured a generation of young people who have infused social change and civic engagement with their creativity, their education, and their future careers.
Applications for the next cycle of YouthReach funding will be available February 5, 2026.