Planting Toward
the Seventh
Generation.
"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." — Great Law of the Haudenosaunee
YMAN is not a program. It is a practice — and this is the strategy for building youth infrastructure that will outlast any single grant cycle, administration, or generation of leadership.
YMAN Is an Operating Foundation.
That Is Not a Small Thing.
Most youth-serving organizations are either funders or operators. YMAN is both. As an operating foundation, YMAN raises capital, deploys it into the Inland Empire and globally, and runs programs that model what the investment makes possible. This dual identity — funder and practitioner — is what makes YMAN uniquely positioned to lead a $100 million regional youth investment.
We Raise & Deploy Capital
YMAN raises philanthropic capital from major foundations, individual donors, and corporate partners — and deploys it as grants, program investments, and direct services to build youth infrastructure in the Inland Empire and globally. We fund what we believe in, including young people's own organizations and visions.
We Build What Doesn't Exist
YMAN doesn't wait for someone else to build the infrastructure young people need. We build it ourselves — healing spaces, creative studios, third spaces for gathering, global exchanges, narrative platforms, and youth-led research — and we invite philanthropy to resource it at the scale the moment demands.
"What does it mean to invest in the Inland Empire's young people as if their great-great-great-great-grandchildren depended on it? YMAN exists to answer that question with infrastructure, not intention."
The Data That Grounds the Strategy
In July 2026, YMAN's State of Young People in the Inland Empire research collected early findings from 189 young people ages 13–24. What they said is not a deficit story. It is a political economy story — and it validates every pillar of this framework before a single dollar is deployed.
"When asked what stresses them most, 54.5% named the cost of everything — rent, food, gas. Nearly triple the next-highest category. The dominant frame young people use to describe their own lives is material and structural. Any intervention that starts from a mental-health-deficit frame, without addressing cost and access, is answering a question this cohort isn't asking."
They Want to Stay. The IE Is Failing to Make It Viable.
82.5% want to own a home in the IE. 74.1% want to start a business here. But when asked directly whether they see a future for themselves in the IE, the mean agreement was 2.87 out of 5 — the lowest-scoring belonging item in the entire survey. Only 19% said they'd still be in the IE at 25 by choice. 17% said they'd still be here because they can't afford to leave. The ask is not "convince youth to love the IE." It is: make staying survivable. This is why the Youth Land Trust and the Enterprise Fund are not optional additions to the framework — they are the answer to the question young people are actually asking.
LGBTQ+ Youth Are Navigating a Measurably Less Safe World.
LGBTQ+ respondents — 43% of the sample — scored lower than their peers on every single wellbeing and belonging item. Not scattered, not incidental — a uniform gap across trust, identity safety, school experience, economic access, and future orientation. A gap this consistent points to something structural: the same institutions (school, family, neighborhood) are experienced as measurably less generative for LGBTQ+ youth across the board. The Youth Power Hub's open nights, healing circles, and housing trust are not general services. They are specific responses to a specific, documented pattern of exclusion.
The Creative and Entrepreneurial Energy Is Already Here.
34.9% of young people are already making and posting creative work. 21.7% are organizing in school or community. 15.9% are already running a small business or side hustle. Only 5.8% said they had no interest. When asked what's standing in their way: money and startup capital — first. Mental health and burnout — second. Adults not taking them seriously — third. 61% of those asked said they wanted to help decide where youth money goes, apply for funding, or both. YMAN's Enterprise Fund and Youth Reparations Fund are not building new motivation. They are removing the barriers in front of motivation that already exists.
What They Want Is Access, Not New Programs.
When asked what they'd add to their community tomorrow: 38% said affordable, safe housing. 22% said real jobs that pay a living wage. Free or low-cost third spaces came in at 10%. When asked about the biggest gap: 51% said "stuff exists but it's too expensive." Another 19% said "stuff exists but I can't get to it." The mandate is not to build more services from scratch — it is to make what exists affordable and reachable. This is why the Youth Power Hub's open nights are free by design, and why geographic expansion of Hubs across IE subregions is the infrastructure priority, not program proliferation.
From the question: "What do you wish the adults making decisions about young people in the IE actually understood?"
"That we have our own opinions to voice that could actually provide an impact when not being pushed aside."
"How exhausting it is to do everything. I'm on 2 sports teams, honors classes, I have a job, and I'm just tired all the time. I haven't had a true day off."
"The generational gap — we can't afford to buy homes tbh. I do wish the market crashes so we can hopefully stabilize the prices for young people."
"I think young people want to have a lot of opportunities that aren't too expensive and have good transportation to them."
Source: IE Youth Voice Survey, early findings — N=189, ages 13–24, July 2026. Non-representative sample; findings are directional. Full research publication forthcoming as part of the State of Young People in the Inland Empire report.
The LGBTQ+ Gap — Consistent Across Every Measure
| Item (1–5 scale) | LGBTQ+ | Not LGBTQ+ | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Have a trusted adult | 3.22 | 3.87 | −0.65 |
| Identity respected where I spend time | 3.12 | 3.98 | −0.86 |
| School is preparing me for the life I want | 2.91 | 3.47 | −0.56 |
| Can afford to do things for fun | 3.06 | 3.74 | −0.68 |
| See a future for myself in the IE | 2.58 | 3.12 | −0.54 |
| IE feels like a place I can build the life I want | 3.06 | 3.35 | −0.29 |
Source: IE Youth Voice Survey early findings, July 2026. LGBTQ+ respondents = 43% of sample (n≈81). Directional only at this sample size.
Three Pillars. One Infrastructure.
Drawn from the Planting Toward the Seventh Generation framework, YMAN's strategy rests on three interlocking pillars. These are not program areas — they are the architecture of a regional transformation. Each pillar funds infrastructure that cannot be extracted once it is built.
Youth wellness hubs in each IE subregion — not clinics but villages, rooted in curanderismo, Indigenous healing, African diasporic traditions, and Buddhist practice. Owned in perpetuity through community land trusts.
200 young people ages 16–24 funded through licensure as therapists, somatic practitioners, and traditional healers — with a 5-year return commitment to the IE. Reparative workforce development from the community's own soil.
YMAN's signature music-based mental health program embedded in youth spaces across the region. Young people create original EPs exploring healing and resilience, supported by musicians and healing practitioners at the Youth Power Hub studio.
Community-based circles where elders and youth process collective grief together — the trauma of deportation, police violence, and environmental racism — through cultural practices rooted in the communities themselves.
$30M governed entirely by young people ages 14–24 from the IE — not an advisory board, but actual fiduciary control. Youth develop criteria, review applications, make funding decisions, and hold grantees accountable. Democracy as pedagogy.
Philanthropic capital used to secure land and housing for youth-led organizations and youth-governed cooperatives in perpetuity — with priority for youth aging out of foster care, undocumented youth, and LGBTQ+ youth. Self-determination in housing form.
A youth-authored research report, podcast, and video series — co-authored with 1,000+ young people as investigators. The knowledge produced belongs to the community, designed for organizing, policy advocacy, and the radical act of self-representation.
Annual summer freedom schools rooted in liberation pedagogy — where young people are not prepared for a future someone else designed, but resourced to build their own. Held at the Youth Power Hub and community partner sites.
A Youth Cooperative Incubator supporting young people to build worker cooperatives in sustainable agriculture, green energy, care work, and creative industries. Patient capital over five years — not extractive venture returns.
Savings accounts seeded with $5,000 at birth for every child in participating communities — restricted to education, homeownership, or business development. A child born in 2025 could have meaningful assets by 2043.
Direct capital and wraparound support for young entrepreneurs already building — because 15.9% of IE youth are already running a business or side hustle, and the only things standing in their way are money and someone taking them seriously. Seed grants, patient capital, peer mentorship, and access to YMAN's network. No pitch competitions. No gatekeeping. Just resources meeting readiness.
$100,000 deployed annually to partner schools in Ghana and $100,000 to Zimbabwe — building school infrastructure, funding teacher support, and creating pipelines for youth to travel between geographies through the Annual Sankofa Journey.
What YMAN Runs Directly
Within the $100M+ framework, YMAN operates six signature programs that are the living proof of what the investment makes possible. These are not overhead — they are the model. Each one demonstrates that another way of being with young people already exists.
Rest, Resources & Radical Love for Black Girls
In the tradition of the Combahee River Collective and the visionary work of bell hooks and Audre Lorde, BGE recognizes that investing in Black girls and young women is investing in the transformation of entire communities. YMAN has placed over $100,000 directly into the hands of Black girls and young women across the US, UK, and Canada — and BGE alumni now appear in Vogue, hold graduate degrees, and work inside institutions transforming systems from within.
- 15-month Sisterhood Fellowship with $10,000 stipends for passion projects
- Two immersive rest retreats per year — not productivity, not performance, rest
- Monthly healing circles facilitated by Black women therapists and community healers
- Transatlantic exchange with YMAN UK's Black Girls programme — US girls to UK; UK girls to IE
- Digital Sanctuary for Black girls who cannot access physical programming
- UK programme mirroring US model through YMAN UK, with 50–100 UK Black girls annually
Mental Health EP Program
YMAN's Mental Health EP program brings together young musicians to create original music exploring their experiences with mental health and mentoring. Produced at the Youth Power Hub's professional sound studio, each EP becomes a community resource — a curriculum, a mirror, and a declaration that young people's inner lives are worth making art about.
- 6–8 young musicians per cohort, supported by professional producers and healing practitioners
- Full EP production in YMAN's Youth Power Hub studio — young people own the work
- Accompanying curriculum co-developed with elder mentors for community use
- Community listening party as public celebration and movement-building event
- Global joint EPs produced at the Annual Youth Leaders Retreat — cross-geography collaboration
- Distributed on all major platforms; influencer amplification through youth networks
The Sankofa Journey — Ghana
Each summer, YMAN accompanies young people from the Inland Empire on a sacred journey to Ghana — not as tourists but as sojourners reconnecting with ancestral wisdom. Standing at the Door of No Return and transforming it into a portal of possibility. Six months of preparation, ten transformative days, and a lifetime of changed self-understanding.
- Annual cohort of 15–25 youth; 6-month preparation curriculum led by alumni
- Cape Coast Castle, Elmina Castle — bearing witness as an act of healing
- Youth-to-youth exchanges with Ghanaian organizations and schools
- Naming ceremonies, traditional learning, cultural immersion
- Integration period on return — each youth presents to 500+ peers in their community
- Ghana Journey Giving Circle: Sankofa → Osrane tiers from $1,000 to $25,000
YMAN UK · Ghana · Zimbabwe
YMAN's global operations are not international programs — they are a network of young people who share a common commitment to youth voice, power, and choice across borders. YMAN UK (registered CIO) partners with Empowered by Vee to deliver programming in the UK. The Global Education Fund deploys $100K annually each to partner schools in Ghana and Zimbabwe.
- YMAN UK — Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered in England and Wales
- Partnership with Empowered by Vee for UK and Africa programming delivery
- $100K/year to Ghana partner schools; $100K/year to Zimbabwe partner schools
- Annual 7–10 day stakeholder trip to both countries — with 10 donor-sponsor seats
- Annual Global Youth Leaders Retreat — 30+ youth from 4 geographies; rotates IE → UK → Accra
- Transatlantic Black Girls Exchange — zero cost to participants; travel sponsors sought
Freedom Schools
YMAN's Freedom Schools are not summer camps in the conventional sense. They are sites of liberation pedagogy — where young people encounter themselves as whole, powerful, and capable of transforming the conditions of their lives. Held at the Youth Power Hub and partner sites across the IE.
- Multi-week summer sessions grounded in liberation education, cultural history, and creative practice
- Youth-led curriculum components — young people teach each other
- Elder mentors compensated for knowledge-sharing and instruction
- Scholarship fund ensures no young person is turned away for cost
- Pipeline to the Annual Sankofa Journey — Freedom Schools alumni are Ghana trip priority cohort
- Annual internship cohort embedded — 4–6 paid interns support delivery and gain professional experience
The Youth Power Hub as Permanent Third Space
In 2022, YMAN acquired a $2.5 million home in Upland — a 5-bedroom, 4-bathroom property on a full acre lot. It is one of only four Black-led nonprofits in the region to own its space. The Youth Power Hub is not a facility. It is a home-place — the physical anchor of everything YMAN does and the model for a network of third spaces across the Inland Empire.
"A third space is not home and not school and not work. It is the place where young people get to just be — without performance, without surveillance, without the pressure to become anything other than what they already are. The Youth Power Hub is that place. We want every young person in the IE to have access to one."
What the Hub Is
- Wellness garden with fresh vegetables and herbs
- Wellness room with meditation pillows and journals
- Creators Lab — computer stations, recording hardware, and software
- Professional sound studio for narrative, music, and content creation
- Community closet — free essential items for any youth using the space
- Ample indoor and outdoor space for all programming activities
- Shared space offered to small nonprofits for meetings and small events
Hub as Infrastructure Model
- YMAN has inspired organizations across the country to purchase their own property
- The Hub is a possibility model — programming that can be duplicated in youth-led spaces globally
- Within the $100M framework: a network of 6–10 Youth Power Hubs across IE subregions
- Each new Hub is owned by the community in perpetuity — land trust model
- Each Hub operates as a third space, a healing village, and a local content studio
- Hubs are the physical infrastructure of the Healing Villages investment
Youth Power Hub Open Nights
Every week the doors are open.
The Hub runs a structured weekly open nights program — free, drop-in evenings where any young person in the Inland Empire can walk through the door and find something that belongs to them. Open nights are not programs that young people attend. They are spaces that young people inhabit.
"Open nights are not programs — they are a permanent offer. The door is open. The studio is on. The food is ready. What young people do with that is up to them. That is what self-determination feels like."
How YMAN Funds Its Work
YMAN's financial model is built for permanence, not survival. Every funding stream is chosen because it can grow, deepen, and sustain over years — not because it is available right now. The operating foundation does not chase grants. It builds the infrastructure that attracts sustained investment.
"We do not build programs and then look for money. We build infrastructure so compelling that the money follows. YMAN is never at a deficit because we refuse to begin anything we cannot finish."
per funder, multi-year
annual combined
by Year 2 (UK)
annual trip revenue
scaling with content volume
annual sponsorships
stipend offsets
The $100M is not YMAN's operating budget. It is the campaign. YMAN raises and deploys this capital over seven years as grants, infrastructure investments, and direct program delivery — as an operating foundation doing what foundations do: betting on communities that philanthropy has historically ignored.
$100M is the floor. The original framework identifies $145M as the full scope. We begin at $100M and build.
Structure That Holds the Mission
An operating foundation at this scale requires governance that matches its ambition. The people closest to the problem must hold the power. Advisory boards are not governance. Consultation is not control.
Board Composition
- Minimum 2 young people (18–24) with full voting rights — not youth advisors
- At least one financial expert (CFO, CPA, or foundation treasurer)
- At least one member with multi-entity legal expertise (operating foundation structure)
- At least one member from the global diaspora (UK, Ghana, or Zimbabwe connection)
- Finance committee meets quarterly; reviews margin by program and reserve levels
- Youth Advisory Council with real veto power over programming decisions
Multi-Entity Structure
- YMAN US — 501(c)(3) operating foundation (primary entity)
- YMAN UK — CIO registered in England and Wales (affiliate, independent governance)
- Accounting firm engaged for financial operations and management
- Legal firm engaged for multi-entity structure, internal controls, and organizational protection
- Formal MOU with Empowered by Vee governing UK and Africa delivery
- Annual global board convening — US and UK trustees meet together once a year
Youth in Power
- Youth Advisory Council co-designs every program from inception
- Annual "State of Youth" input process — young people set priorities for the following year
- Youth Reparations Fund governed entirely by youth — no adult veto
- Open Nights at the Hub are youth-curated — what happens there is their decision
- Intern-to-staff pipeline: YMAN interns have a defined path to paid employment
Financial Integrity
- No program launches without confirmed funding — zero deficit tolerance
- 6-month operating reserve as a non-negotiable target
- True-cost budgeting: every initiative priced to include overhead allocation
- Philanthropic and earned revenue tracked separately; each program carries its own P&L
- Annual budget board-approved by March each fiscal year
- Overhead negotiated explicitly with every funder — never absorbed silently
How We Build This, Season by Season
- Seventh Generation Campaign Launch — public launch of the $100M framework with 2–3 anchor funder commitments secured
- YMAN UK registered as a CIO; inaugural UK board seated; first UK grant applications submitted
- MOU with Empowered by Vee executed — UK and Africa programming activated
- Ghana Global Education Fund launched — first $100K deployed to 2–3 partner schools; first stakeholder trip (8–10 donor seats)
- First BGE Sisterhood cohort + first UK Black Girls cohort running simultaneously
- Open Nights launched at Youth Power Hub — 6 nights per week, all year
- First Mental Health EP produced and distributed on all major platforms
- First Annual Sankofa Journey — 15–20 youth to Ghana
- Freedom Schools first cohort — 60–90 young people; scholarship fund active
- State of Young People in the IE — research design and first cohort of 1,000+ youth investigators launched
- Operating reserve reaches 3 months by end of Year 2
- Zimbabwe Global Education Fund launched — $100K/year deployed; Zimbabwe youth ambassadors named
- First transatlantic Black Girls Exchange — 10 US girls to UK; 10 UK girls to IE; travel sponsor secured
- First Global Youth Leaders Retreat — 30+ youth from IE, UK, Ghana, Zimbabwe; hosted in IE
- First joint cross-geography EP released from Retreat creative sessions
- State of Young People published — research report, GIS map, podcast, and video series launched
- Youth Reparations Fund activated — first $5M tranche under youth governance
- First Community Healing Village breaks ground — IE subregion #1
- Healing Justice Fellowship launches — 50 fellows in first cohort
- Youth Power Hub expansion — second Hub location established in Fontana or San Bernardino
- $25M raised toward $100M goal
- Operating reserve reaches 6 months
- $100M milestone reached — YMAN convenes a regional celebration; young people lead it
- Network of 6–10 Youth Power Hubs across IE subregions — each one owned by community, each one a third space
- Three Community Healing Villages fully operational
- 200 Healing Justice Fellows fully funded toward licensure
- Youth Reparations Fund has distributed $15M+ under full youth governance
- Annual Retreat rotates to Accra — first convening on African soil
- YMAN UK financially self-sustaining — raising £300K+ annually
- Endowment campaign begins — target $10M endowment for permanent BGE and Ghana scholarships
- YMAN presents the operating foundation model at national and international youth philanthropy convenings
- Great-great-grandchildren of 2025's young people have the infrastructure we built.
Measuring What Matters
YMAN tracks transformation, not compliance. Evaluation frameworks are co-designed with young people. Outcomes that communities define as meaningful — stories, relationships, shifts in power — are tracked alongside the numbers funders require.
Youth Impact Metrics
Infrastructure Metrics
"What we are building is not a program. It is a practice — a practice of what scholar Robin D.G. Kelley calls freedom dreams, the imagination of a world that does not yet exist but that we are called to create. If we do it with the integrity this moment demands, the great-great-great-great-grandchildren will inherit not just the outcomes but the methodology: the knowledge that their ancestors believed they were worth investing in before they were ever born. That is the gift. That is the work."
In the tradition of those who came before and those yet to come. · Youth Mentoring Action Network