At YouthRoots, it’s about helping our communities. It’s about making sweeping local change.  But behind the scenes, it’s about teaching a group of teenagers to fish.

See, we remember being teenagers. We remember having lofty goals, faith in humanity, and little fear of failure… and we also remember people who told us why our big ideas couldn’t work. Frankly, though, it’s up to the next generation to determine how to make their big ideas work. It’s up to today’s teenagers to solve tomorrow’s problems. And instead of tossing up limitations or naysaying their dreams, we want to give them the tools and mindset to do it.

So we built a one-year program. After we select 15 of Denver’s best and brightest high school students, we bring in community leaders and experts to help them define their leadership style in a boardroom, assess community needs, lay out a plan, raise funds, and make grants. They set the goals. They do the work. We give them the support they need.

But it’s about more than just business acumen. At YouthRoots, we’re creating something that harnesses optimism. We’re empowering teens to confidently pursue their passions. We’re showing America’s youth that they have what it takes to make an idea come to life.

Tangibly, this board of high school students will fund and help projects that they care about. But they’ll also go forth with confidence that they’ve got the tools they need to make their dreams reality.

Hey, if Denver’s teenagers realize they can make an impact today, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll keep doing it tomorrow. And paying it forward is what changing the world is all about.

YouthRoots is about making real change in a community. And it’s about giving youth a window into what they can do instead of what they can’t.

We’re YouthRoots. Make change take root.