Guest blog by Stefan Norgaard
15 Forever Youth Leader (2008-2011)
My time with The Community Foundation’s 15 Forever Program was my first foray into the philanthropic sector, and afforded me incredible opportunities to learn about the nonprofit and civic engagement ecosystem of Boulder County.
I credit my formative experience with the 15 Forever Program in sparking my abiding interest in social justice philanthropy, and setting me on a personal journey that has taken me from Fairview High School to Stanford University to the Ford Foundation in New York City, where I now work as a post-graduate Fellow on the Equitable Development team.
Ever year, 15 Forever brought together young people from all walks of life and across Boulder County to tackle one or more intersectional issues facing young people in the region. We began every year with a strategy process, asking questions such as: what issue(s) are most urgently facing young people in this county right now? What intervention(s) do we believe would be most catalytic to improving lives for all Boulder County residents. We settled on topics like education inequity, early childhood education, and the achievement gap; mental health and depression; and diversity and inclusion.
The program’s strategy process was always collaborative and bottom-up, allowing 15 Forever members to shape and guide subsequent grantmaking. In the second half of the year, we sent out Requests for Proposals (RFPs), visited prospective grantees, and ultimately disbursed $15,000 of annual support to different organizations.
My time with 15 Forever allowed me to build relationships with fantastic Boulder County organizations such as Reading to End Racism, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) and Blue Sky Bridge. Moreover, the program allowed me to meet and build relationships with other fantastic young people across the county, and instilled in me a respect for the critical importance of philanthropy and civil society – both in providing catalytic support to change structures and systems, and in building community capacity to engage and support residents when government or market mechanisms fail to do so.
I expect that the 15 Forever Program and the lessons I learned through it will shape my values and convictions well beyond my time at the Ford Foundation. I hope these lessons will improve the quality of life not just in Boulder County but throughout the world, now and forever.
