In 2019, the Creative Youth Development (CYD) National Partnership engaged in a project to better understand the funding landscape of their field. To illustrate their findings, researchers connected with funders and CYD program leaders in four settings to better understand the dynamics of their partnerships.
The following case story showcases a partnership between a funder and a local CYD program, demonstrating the “funding skill” and “funding will” traits of the funder.
Across San Diego County, as the network formalized and expanded, the once-unprogrammed group now had an infrastructure to support specific collective needs like self care, thematic shared learning, advocacy to local officials, and engagement across the state and nation. With a new name – the San Diego Creative Youth Development Network – members now feel a legitimacy and a broad, far-reaching impact of their work together. The ecosystem of CYD in San Diego Country feels united, connected, and supported.
After a year of working together in this new fashion, with the backing and financial support of the Clare Rose Foundation, the Network is grappling with the democratization of power, re-focusing on self care, remodeling their professional learning infrastructure to embrace an organizational role-based knowledge-sharing approach, and responding to the ever-changing needs of the field. Together they are sharing power and leadership, welcoming CYD-adjacent organizations to the mix, and reconciling the needs of individual organizations with that of a collective organization.