webinar

The First 100 Days

PAST EVENT
April 30, 2025

On April 30, GTY and the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy convened state and local leaders for a discussion on the impact on the youth they serve, the responses they are implementing, and the ideas they have for supporting youth to thrive in these uncertain times.

Watch recording

Top Takeaway

Young people are already feeling the direct and often harmful impacts of recent federal policy changes, including increased surveillance, funding cuts, rollbacks on rights, and barriers to healthcare and mental health services.

Ideas for philanthropic action

Recording

More Takeaways

  1. Innovation and New Partnerships Are Needed. Responding effectively requires creative approaches and forming new partnerships within existing systems to address emerging challenges and support youth.
  2. Unintended Consequences Are Piling Up. Policy changes are producing wide-ranging consequences, sometimes not fully anticipated, that disproportionately affect young people, especially those from marginalized communities. Understanding and addressing these consequences can help build power for meaningful change.
  3. Youth Advocacy Remains Powerful. Despite significant obstacles, young people’s advocacy is making a tangible difference, especially in challenging environments. Investing in and supporting youth leadership is essential for driving the change needed now and in the future.

Resources

Tracker of federal funding cuts and holds

100 days into Trump 2.0, Young People Are Not Okay

2025 Federal Grant Writing Guide

What Can Philanthropy Do?

Philanthropy can support youth by investing in youth-led advocacy and organizing efforts that address the direct impacts of policy changes, such as funding cuts, increased surveillance, and barriers to healthcare and workforce opportunities, while also creating space for young people to shape solutions and lead systemic change.

Memorable Quotes

There are places that are doing cool things in support of young people’s mental health. That is part of why we do the policy summit: to profile some of those cool things that are happening around the country, and sometimes in places in the country that you wouldn’t necessarily think-there’s pockets of innovation, pockets of brilliance, pockets of good ideas everywhere.

—Nia Bey-West, National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy

Many of our community service organizations already operate on very tight budgets, so losing a significant portion of their funding so suddenly has had a devastating impact on the services they can provide.

—Jessica Makin, DHHS Administrator

Speakers

Dr. Nia West-Bey

Executive Director, National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy (TYP)

Dr. Nia West-Bey is the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy. She is a community psychologist with expertise in youth development, qualitative and quantitative data interpretation and analysis, and the intersection of psychology, social policy, and program evaluation. Prior to leading TYP Collaborative, she was CLASP’s director of youth policy. In this role, she led a team that sought to advance a vision for policy and systems change co-created with youth and young adults, ages 16-25, that centers safety, healing and well-being, and economic and racial justice.

Previously, Dr. West-Bey was a senior policy analyst with CLASP’s youth team, where she focused on youth and young adult mental health, two-generation policies and strategies to support young parents of color earning low incomes as well as girls and young women of color. Dr. West-Bey co-founded and spent 10 years as executive director of a community-based nonprofit organization offering youth development programming to young people in foster care in Washington, DC. Dr. West-Bey earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in community psychology from New York University and completed her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College.

Jessica Makin

DHHS Administrator, Office of Substance Use and Mental Health, Utah

Jessica Makin is the Program Administrator for Transition-Age Youth and Employment Supports within the Office of Substance Use and Mental Health in the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

Jessica has worked with transition-age youth since 2000 in a variety of capacities including mental health settings, educational programs, residential and transitional housing, community-based programs, and workforce development programs.

She is passionate about engaging with youth and young adults and offering interventions and support during this critical developmental stage. Jessica’s experience has taught her that when we engage with transition-age youth and provide support across all life domains, they can move into adulthood in a safe and healthy way.

Presented by

Grantmakers for Thriving Youth

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