Riley’s Way Call For Kindness Grants To Fund 36 Youth-Led Projects

ACROSS AMERICA — The New York City-based Riley’s Way Foundation, which encourages teen and young adult leadership rooted in kindness, will provide up to $3,000 in grant funding each for 36 projects that strengthen local, national and global communities.

This is the fifth year for the Call for Kindness competitive grant program, which is open to teens and young adults ages 13-22. Applications are due by April 2. Projects may build on existing ideas or introduce new concepts, according to Riley’s Way Foundation executive director Christine O’Connell.

“It’s been incredibly inspiring to see the range of projects young people are leading in their schools and communities,” O’Connell said in a news release. “Their passion, resolve and leadership remind us that the hope for the future lies in great part with the ideas and actions of today’s youth.”

In the past, projects funded by Riley’s Way have addressed the mental health and well-being of people living in vulnerable communities, promoted education equity, bridged the tech industry’s demographic gap, supported people experiencing homelessness, combatted food insecurity and addressed other societal issues.

“Becoming a Riley’s Way Call For Kindness Fellow has meant that even if things get hard, I’m not alone, and have all these resources if I need anything,” 2022 Fellow Ryan Syed, founder of SAYA’s Project Loving Me, said in the news release.

This year, a separate category will consider 10 projects focused on environmental justice, including issues such as climate change that require critical attention.

The foundation will also continue to support a dance and arts category, the Yuriko Kikuchi Arigato Award. “Arigato” means thank you in the Japanese language, and the award recognizes Arigato, a pioneering choreographer in the Martha Graham Dance Co. from the 1940s to 1967 and then the “keeper of Martha’s flame” for her teaching methods and revivals of Graham’s work.

Riley’s way co-founder and board chair Ian Sandler said the Call for Kindness program recognizes that “the future belongs to a new generation of leaders, who, with unshakable determination and a clear sense of purpose, will blaze a trail of innovation and progress to tackle society's toughest challenges.”

Sandler and his wife, Mackenzie, established Riley’s Way in 2014 to honor their 9-year-old daughter, Riley Hannah Sandler, who died in 2014. She was about to enter the fourth grade when she suddenly fell ill on her last day of summer camp. She was rushed to the hospital, but did not survive.

The Call for Kindness is one of three of the national nonprofit organization’s flagship programs. Others are Councils and Changes and the Riley’s Way Youth Leadership Retreats.

Applications for funding should be made at CallForKindness.org. Information about past Fellows and their projects is also found at that link.