The Washington State Department of Commerce is making up to $646,065 available in Youth Lead Project grant funding. The Office of Homeless Youth received awards through HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) to provide interventions that prevent and end youth homelessness in Washington’s Balance of State (BoS) Continuum of Care (CoC).
• Application submission due: Monday, November 9, 2026, no later than 5:00pm PST
• Applicants’ Conference: Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 12:30pm PST, Meeting Registration – Zoom
The Youth Lead Project was developed by the BoS YHDP Youth Action Board, known as the Youth for Youth (Y4Y) Board, to embed youth voice into every aspect of the youth homelessness response system. Grant funds support professional opportunities for young adults with lived experience of homelessness to address youth homelessness through both direct service delivery activities, like street outreach and case management, and participating in leadership activities for local and statewide system change efforts.
Grant funds must be used to support youth and young adults, ages 12-24, who meet criteria for category 1, 2, or 4 of the HUD definition of homelessness at enrollment. Eligible expenses are outlined in eCFR :: 24 CFR 578.53. Youth Lead Project grants are for supportive services only and do not include housing programs or ongoing rental assistance. Applicants must be:
- Licensed to do business in Washington or submit a statement of commitment that it will become licensed in Washington within thirty (30) calendar days of being selected as the Apparently Successful Applicant.
- A private nonprofit organization (includes Native American Tribal Organization, non-higher education 501(c)(3)), State or local government (includes Federally recognized Tribal Government, State, City or township, County, special district), or instrumentality of a State or local government, or a public housing agency.
- Able to provide outreach and/or case management services to youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in one or more of the 34 Balance of State (BoS) Continuum of Care counties (Clark, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties are not part of the BoS).
The estimated funding period is for January 1 – October 31, 2027. Funding requests may not exceed $110,000. Applications must be submitted via Smartsheet forms as outlined in Request for Applications – Youth Lead Project (PDF), which provides complete details of this funding opportunity. All documents related to this RFA are available online Youth Lead Project RFA (Jan 1 – Oct 31, 2027) | Box.
Application (Smartsheet forms)
A. Certifications and Assurances
B.1 Applicant Information
B.2 Narrative Questions
B.3 Budget Proposal including uploading completed Budget Proposal Template FY27 (Excel)
C. Diverse Business Inclusion Plan
D. Workers’ Rights Certification