Deadline: March 4, 2025

Despite recent progress, young people globally continue to experience challenges in their pursuit of employment, including skills mismatch and gaining access to quality jobs. According to the International Labour Organization, 65 million young people globally are unemployed. Since the Citi Foundation’s inception, advancing youth employability has been integral to its mission of supporting low-income communities globally. The Citi Foundation invested more than $300 million over the last decade alone in programs that supported over one million young people in expanding their skills, experience, and networks through its Pathways to Progress initiative. Building on their funding journey, this year’s Global Innovation Challenge is focused on youth employability, and they invite
proposals from community organizations developing innovative employment solutions for low-income youth primarily between the ages of 15 and 24.

These innovative solutions could include, but are not limited to:

• Technical and vocational training programs that upskill or reskill low-income youth and move them into employment, which could include paid internships, apprenticeships, or formal employment.
• Entrepreneurship programming that specifically focuses on the incubation or scaling of youth-led enterprises to increase job creation and access to self-generated income.
• Efforts to embed financial education programming into workforce development initiatives equipping low-income youth with financial skills and access to safe and affordable financial tools.

Funding

• The Foundation plans to award grants of $500,000 (USD) payable over two years to 50 community organizations working in select communities where Citi has a presence.
• Grants are meant to be catalytic, supporting the piloting or expansion of ideas and projects in the field of youth employability.
• In addition to grant funds, the Citi Foundation will seek ways to support the selected grantees through volunteerism as well as hosting learning opportunities to promote shared lessons and best practices.

Eligibility

• Applicant organizations must be registered as nonprofit entities under local law. For example, for U.S. entities, applicants need to be tax-exempt public charities as per Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
• Applicants must be able to submit their most recent externally audited financial statements, including auditor’s notes, covering some part of calendar year 2023 or a subsequent year.
• The applicant’s proposed program must align with the Foundation’s mission of supporting low-income communities as defined by local standards and definitions.
• The applicant’s proposed program must impact one or more of the target geographies.

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To apply, click here