WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR THIS PROGRAM

While the Make It Your Own Awards grants were awarded in May 2008, the projects live on. Read more about the Top 100 projects, or see what made the MIYO Awards novel. This site has been archived to serve as a resource for anyone wishing to create a similar project in their community.

Places to Go

  • AmericaSpeaks is a nonprofit organization that develops tools that give citizens an opportunity to have a strong voice in public decision making within the increasingly short timeframes required of decision makers. As a result, citizens can impact decisions and those in leadership positions can make more informed, lasting decisions.
  • Community Technology Centers' Network (CTCNet) is the largest national group of community technology centers (CTCs) and other non-profits, providing technology access and education to underserved communities. Visit CTCNet to find a public computer lab in your community where you can complete our online grant application.
  • The Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC) is a network of researchers and practitioners working together to strengthen the field of deliberative democracy. DDC seeks to support research activities and to advance practice at all levels of government, in North America and around the world.
  • Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center) is a national organization that helps local communities find ways for all kinds of people to think, talk, and work together to solve problems. We work with neighborhoods, cities and towns, regions, and states, helping them pay particular attention to how racism and ethnic differences affect the problems they address.
  • The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps people imagine and act for the public good. The Harwood Institute is focused on sparking fundamental change in American public life -- so that people can tap their own potential to make a difference and join together to build a common future.
  • The Kellogg Foundation Youth Innovation Fund is an initiative supporting diverse groups of young people creating lasting change in their communities. The National Service-Learning Partnership, sponsored by the Academy for Educational Development, serves as the national staff team for the Youth Fund. The Youth Fund contributes to the work of the Partnership with the development of new service-learning models. Youth Boards at each of the eight Youth Fund sites are engaged in community analysis, grantmaking, local outreach and cross-site networking to better understand and use "multiple action pathways" to youth engagement.
  • National Issues Forums (NIF) is a network of civic, educational, and other organizations and individuals, whose common interest is to promote public deliberation in America. NIF does not advocate specific solutions or points of view but provides citizens the opportunity to consider a broad range of choices, weigh the pros and cons of those choices, and meet with each other in a public dialogue to identify the concerns they hold in common.
  • PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban, and rural communities. PICO helps engage ordinary people in public life, providing an opportunity for people and congregations to translate their faith into action.