SCI is seeking 15 youth teams passionate about supporting their community and peers for the 2025 Youth Grant Pitch Contest!
About the SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest
Social Capital Inc.’s (SCI) Youth Grant Pitch Contest empowers young leaders to develop, pitch, and implement community projects that address pressing issues affecting their peers and community members.
Participating youth teams develop their project ideas through in-depth coaching with local professionals, before pitching their project to a live panel of judges at the culminating Pitch Event with an opportunity to receive $1,000-$2,000 in grant funding!
The SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest provides youth in Greater Boston with:
- Monetary Resources & Mentorship to execute their visions for strengthening their communities
- Development of Career Skills such as public speaking, project management and team collaboration
- Bridging Community Connections to like-minded peers & professionals across the region that helps grow their social capital
SCI’s Youth Grant Pitch Contest is open to youth teams with members between the ages of 11-19, who are based in Greater Boston communities (within Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk & Suffolk counties).
Interested youth teams can apply to pitch community projects that fit into the following focus areas:
- Social Impact → projects providing community service, arts & culture access, peer support and/or addressing mental health
- Bridge-building* → projects that bring together youth (and others) from different communities or different identity groups through cultural exchange and social engagement.
*The Bridge-building focus area is a new funding track in 2025 established and supported through funding provided by Boston Bridges Initiative.
How YOU can Get Involved!
- Youth Team Interest Form
- Youth Team Application → DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 12/9/2024!
- Youth Team FAQs [COMING SOON]
- Team Advisor Expectations & FAQs [COMING SOON]
- Volunteer Application → SIGN UP TODAY!
- Pitch Coach: Need up to 30 volunteers to provide strengths-based strategic guidance and motivational support to Youth Teams in the areas of pitch development and public speaking.
- Team Liaison: Need up to 15 volunteers to provide strengths-based motivational support and hands-on assistance to the Youth Team during and between coaching sessions.
- Pitch Event Volunteer Interest Form (1-day) → Coming in 2025!
- Give Now! → every bit helps!
- Sponsor Benefits Menu → get recognized for supporting young people making positive social impact!
2025 SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest – Timeline
- November 8, 2024 | Youth Team Application - PRIORITY DEADLINE
- November 27, 2024 | Youth Team Application - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 9th!
- December 31, 2024 | Volunteer Applications - DEADLINE
- Early January 2025 | Teams Accepted & Matched with Coaches
- Early January 2025 | Advisor/Coach & Youth Team Orientations
- Late January 2025 | *2025 YGPC KICKOFF & NETWORKING EVENT* (location TBA)
- February 2025 - March 2025 | Coaching Sessions (7 Sessions + 1 Pitch Rehearsal)
- April 2025 | *PITCH EVENT & GRANTS AWARDED* (location TBA)
- May 2025 - December 2025 | Youth Team Grantee Projects Implemented
Presenting Sponsor | 2025 SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest
Founded in 2020, the Boston Bridges Initiative seeks to facilitate cultural exchange and promote meaningful social interaction between city and suburban families and within racially diverse communities in the Greater Boston Area.
The 2025 SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest is supported by Boston Bridges Initiative, M&T Bank, Winning Home Inc., Kick It For a Cause, the AmeriCorps Agency, Massachusetts Service Alliance, and a Massachusetts state budget line item (thanks to the advocacy of State Senator Cindy Friedman). Major support for SCI’s youth programs is provided by Cummings Properties.
Learn more about how you can support the program today!
The SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest is more than your typical funding competition
…it’s a launchpad for youth empowerment, skill-building, community impact and life-changing connections.
- Skill Enhancement: Youth participants gain valuable experience in budgeting, project management, and public speaking—skills essential for both project success and future career opportunities.
- Leadership Development: Teams tackle real-world issues facing their communities, developing critical leadership and problem-solving abilities.
- Community Impact: By addressing the needs of their peers and communities, youth-led projects help foster resilience and meaningful change.
- Bridge Building: Participants gain connections and networking opportunities with peers & working professionals, opening pathways for continued mentorship and relationship building.
Youth not only enhance key skills but also gain self-confidence and cultivate authentic relationships with peers and adult mentors from a range of industries. Likewise, Volunteers and Advisors get to support the next generation of change-makers while expanding their own personal and professional networks!