Funding Opportunities for Youth Leaders and Youth-Led Programs

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Funding Opportunity for Youth-Led Suicide Prevention Programs

The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF) is now accepting proposals for best practice suicide prevention activities planned and completed by youth-led programs across Ohio.

This funding opportunity, supported by the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health, is designed to support middle school, junior high, and high school students who are leading evidence-informed or evidence-based suicide prevention and mental health initiatives in their schools and communities.

Eligible programs may be connected to OSPF-supported initiatives such as Sources of Strength or Be Present Ohio, or may operate independently through programs like Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) or other original youth-led efforts.

Up to 10 proposals will be funded during the upcoming grant cycle, with awards ranging from $500 to $1,000 per school or program (limit one proposal per program).

Key Dates and Details

  • Proposal Submission Deadline: February 27, 2026
  • Funding Period: March 7, 2026 – June 30, 2026
  • Eligibility: Youth-led programs in Ohio with participants in middle school, junior high, and/or high school

Proposals will be reviewed and selected by the OSPF Youth Advisory Council, reinforcing OSPF’s commitment to youth voice and leadership. All funded activities have to be completed by June 30, 2026.

Download the RFP

YOUTH-LED GRANT FAQs

No worries! Check out our Guidelines for Submitting a Strong Grant Proposal (it includes a glossary) and our Grant Application Template. You can also reach out to Mamta.Bajgain@OhioSPF.org until February 20, 2026, if you have additional questions. 

OSPF will send out a Notice of Award (NOA), Notice of Conditional Award, or a Notice of Non-Selection to all applicants by close of business on Monday, March 9, 2026. 

Note: Notices of Award (NOA) need to be signed by the organization’s CEO/Executive Director or a school’s superintendent/principal and sent back to OSPF before funds can be issued. 

Conditional Notices of Award need to be resolved so that a Notice of Award can be sent to the grantee. A Conditional Notice of Award means a funder is willing to fund a proposal, provided certain changes are made. These are typically simple, like changing out an item in the budget. 

Note: Applicants are encouraged to keep an eye on their inboxes on March 9th and 10th for communication from OSPF regarding change requests to their original proposal to ensure that Conditional Notices of Award are resolved quickly and proposed activities can remain on schedule. 

OSPF will ask grantees to confirm if they’d like their funds to be mailed to them as a check or directly deposited, in which case they will need to complete an ACH Authorization Form.  

OSPF will send Notices of Award (including Conditional Notices of Award) and Notices of Non-Selection to all applicants by Monday, March 9, 2026. 

OSPF will issue funds within one to two weeks of the grantee signing and returning their Notice of Award. Funds can be sent more quickly if grantees complete a direct deposit (which will be sent to grantees along with their Notice of Award). 

Note: Applicants are encouraged to check in with their fiscal officer in advance of submitting their application to determine if they’d prefer to receive funds via check or direct deposit. Applicants can preview a copy of OSPF’s direct deposit form at this link: ACH Authorization Form

Yes! If grantees want to spend funds before they receive their award via direct deposit or check, they are more than welcome to do so and be reimbursed later. Many of our grantees did this last year so they could begin activities as soon as they received their award. Other grantees required the check before they were willing to expend funds themselves, which is also fine.  

Note: Applicants are encouraged to check in with their fiscal officer in advance of submitting their application to determine if they need to wait to expend funds until funds have been received. Applications should consider this limitation in their proposal’s timeline.  

Technically no, but exceptions can be made. The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation (OSPF) has limited funding eligibility to programs led by middle/high school students due to the difficulty of supporting youth-led programming at the elementary level. However, applications that demonstrate the ability to work with elementary school-aged youth leaders may be eligible for consideration. In fact, OSPF’s Youth Advisory Council funded an elementary school last year based on the strength of their application. 

If a program/school would like to use funding to pay for other licensing fees, they may include that expense in their application. 

Note: Thanks to funding from the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health, Sources of Strength Ohio (led by the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation) is already covering all licensing fees for the 2025 – 2027 school years. Therefore, applications for this funding opportunity should not include the annual Sources of Strength annual licensing fee. 

OSPF has some flexibility to change the Agreement, but applicants must approve changes in advance and sign a new copy of the Agreement issued by OSPF. Please reach out to Mamta.Bajgain@OhioSPF.org by February 20, 2026, to discuss change requests.