Applicants are invited to apply for the Washington Youth & Families Fund for Projects Serving Youth and Young Adults.
Donor Name: Building Changes
State: Washington
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/12/2026
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
Through WYFF, Building Changes provides funding, technical assistance, and capacity building to organizations and partnerships for up to three years per project. The Fund seeks to identify and test promising practices, collect and evaluate data, and advance strategies informed by research, community experience, and lessons from previous cohorts to more intentionally guide future investments. WYFF also supports housing and service providers through peer learning, training, and capacity building.
Through the WYFF grantmaking:
- Identify and test promising practices in partnership with providers and community;
- Collect data and evaluate interventions, models, and programs;
- Advance strategies informed by research, community experience, and lessons from previous cohorts to more intentionally guide future investments; and
- Support housing and service providers through peer learning, training, and capacity building.
Objectives
- Objective 1: Engage in local spaces where community efforts to end homelessness for youth and young adults are being held as a leader and ambassador of Diversion-first approach.
- Objective 2: Ensure that unaccompanied young people aged 12-17 and young adults aged 18-24 in the community who can’t, won’t and/or don’t access the housing projects through the homeless crisis response system have financial resources to meet their self-identified housing plans, particularly those who identify as BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA2S+ who are disproportionately overrepresented among populations of those experiencing homelessness.
- Objective 3: Establish and sustain understanding of Diversion and access to the HPDF through:
- Conducting local certification trainings
- Holding community learning circles to support local partners in accessing flexible funds.
- Objective 4: Establish a “Diversion-first” community so that Diversion is seen as the best practice for engaging young people.
Target Population
- Youth: Homeless and unstably housed youth, as defined by:
- Person aged 12-17
- Unaccompanied, i.e., experiencing homelessness while not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian
- Lacking an adequate, fixed or safe nighttime residence (including couch-surfing/doubled-up)
- Runaway youth
- Young Adults: Homeless and unstably housed young adults, as defined by:
- Person aged 18-24
- Lacking an adequate, fixed or safe nighttime residence (including couch-surfing/doubled-up)
- Additionally, the following experiences and backgrounds of youth and young adults are explicitly identified if they also are experiencing homelessness or housing instability:
Funding Information
Building Changes will make available between $250,000- $500,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofit community or neighborhood-based organizations, regional and statewide nonprofit housing assistance organizations, federally recognized Indian tribes, local housing authorities, and public development authorities are invited to apply.
- Culturally-specific organizations or smaller organizations led and staffed by people of color and primarily serving communities of color (By-For Organizations) are encouraged to apply, even if you are not currently delivering homeless and housing services. Building Changes will provide training and technical assistance if selected as a grantee.
For more information, visit Building Changes.
