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YCJ FAQs

The Young Changemaker Journey aspires to motivate young people to explore their passion and bring positive change to the communities that they live in. Young Changemakers are budding social entrepreneurs that seek to understand problems, explore ideas, and implement solutions that positively impact their neighbors. These changemaking sessions are provided by North South Foundation. The program will provide the knowledge, tools, support, and guidance to venture on potential solutions to the problem that Changemakers are looking to solve. Participants will utilize what they learn by completing an individual project of their choice that showcases their Changemaking journey. Participants will also be encouraged to inspire their peers to become changemakers. To know more about the program please contact us at [email protected]
Online sessions will be offered once a month, starting in October and will continue until May. Each session is focused on advancing and practicing skills that are part of the Changemaker Journey. To help reinforce the monthly meetings, participants will be applying what they learn to an individual project to bring the taught concepts to life. Between each of the monthly sessions, the Young Changemakers will have bi-weekly Reflection Groups which are small group discussions for participants to learn from one another, ask additional questions, and stay accountable to their individual project and Changemaker Challenges during the year. After the final session in May, participants can continue working on their journey of changemaking through the summer. With the provided pathway from the program, they will have the tools to continuously refine their changemaking skills!
The virtual cohort of the Young Changemaker program is limited to the first 50 participants who sign up for the first year of the program.
Cohort sessions will be once a month and are 90 minutes. These sessions will take place from October to May. Outside of the monthly cohort sessions, participants will attend hourly Reflection Group discussions that align with assigned Changemaker Challenges to keep them on track with completing their individual project by the end of the program.The Reflection Group discussions take place two times a month. Hours required for individual projects vary depending on project and individual. Each individual changemaker decides the pace of the project.
At this time, there is a $150 fee for enrolling in the Young Changemaker Journey program. You will be asked to provide payment while registering for the program. However, planning and implementing one’s individual project can require some funds which kids and parents are free to explore on their own. NSF cannot provide any seed money in that regard.
Parents can support their child during the planning and implementation of the individual project. We encourage Changemakers to explore as much as possible on their own when they can. We will be providing resources for parents on how they could support their kids’ journey through changemaking. We are always looking for adult mentors to help with the program. Parents are welcome to join and participate in the program as adult volunteers.
There is no set age limit for changemaking. We recommend that 5th to 12th graders might be the age group that would benefit from this program the most.
Yes. Anyone willing to be a changemaker can join this program. They can be at any stage of the changemaking journey and get personalized mentoring to implement or scale up their project.  
Most of our participants are students residing in the US.  
In a world defined by change, this program provides skills needed to lead a positive change, not just adapt to it. During their journey, young school students acquire a multitude of skills including leadership development, creativity, collaboration, organizational, communicational skills, and being involved in a journey of giving back to the community. Changemakers that have completed the first year of the program have shared that they have improved on their presentation skills, public speaking ability, resourcefulness, and learned how to be a mentor to others. We believe that these new skills and experiences will be a differentiator in college applications and prepare them for a changing future.
The monthly learning sessions are not counted towards volunteer hours. But the program would provide opportunities to obtain volunteer hours through North South Foundation. Following one cycle of this program, Changemakers will have opportunities to mentor other young changemakers, which will add to volunteering hours/opportunities.
When available, Changemakers will be able to participate in various NorthSouth Foundation-sponsored volunteer opportunities. The previous cohort of students was involved in the Devices Initiative in 2020 and raised around $100,000 to provide computers to children in need. In 2021, students completed another fundraising initiative called Operation Breathe to raise funds to help people suffering with the second COVID wave in India. Most recently, the Changemakers have an opportunity to help support Operation Hurricane Relief in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton that devastated many parts of Northeastern U.S.
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