Youth Innovation For Community Action
TYCL international empowers young people to strengthen youth-let local innovations across the globe. Together we create safe, inclusive spaces where youth heal, organize, and shape community solutions.
One Global Vision.
TYCL connects young innovators to take local actions in the communities they care about with the support and resources they need.
TYCL acts as a small but mighty grant-maker, providing flexible funding and accompaniment to youth-led organizations around the globe. Local youth teams design and run their own projects, from youth identity crisis to public interest technology, mental health, gender justice, community development, human rights, social justice, data governance, and policy solutions rooted in lived experience.
Local Action Across the Globe
Explore where youth-led change is happening. Click a country on the map to see how young people are transforming their communities with TYCL.
International
Based in New York, TYCL International, Inc. connects and supports youth-led initiatives across countries, mobilizing resources, research, and global advocacy. Through its international chapter, TYCL links local projects to spaces like the United Nations and the wider public interest technology community so youth voices shape policy, privacy, and data governance on a global stage.
Middle East
TYCL is seeding early-stage projects that promote mental wellbeing, youth with disabilities, digital safety, and youth leadership in communities navigating inequality and rapid technological change.
South Africa
In partnership with local youth organizations, TYCL is seeding early-stage projects that promote mental wellbeing, digital safety, and youth leadership in communities navigating inequality and rapid technological change.
Colombia
In Colombia, TYCL supports youth-led initiatives that blend arts, culture, and community organizing to prevent violence, strengthen mental health, and protect young people’s rights.
India
TYCL began in Puducherry, India in 2011 and has grown into a hub for youth-led social innovation, with full-time staff, volunteers, and multiple programs reaching children and young people across the region. Visitors can explore the full India portfolio on our partner site.
United States
Young leaders in New York and Pennsylvania use creative arts, storytelling, and peer support to tackle youth mental health stigma and build cultures of care in schools, campuses, and communities.
About TYCL International
From one village in South India to a global youth movement
Trust for Youth and Child Leadership (TYCL) started in 2011 in Puducherry, India, when our founder, Dr. Siva Mathiyazhagan, turned his own experience of poverty, inequality, and limited access to education into action. He began with a simple after-school space under a streetlight, then organized village youth clubs that helped children stay in school, stay safe, and dream bigger.
Today, TYCL India is a vibrant organization with multiple programs and hundreds of volunteers. In 2018, TYCL International, Inc. was registered in New York as a 501(c)(3) to expand this youth-led model globally and now holds Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC, United Nations since 2018.
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TYCL’s work is made possible by donors, partners, and volunteers who believe that small grants, when placed in the hands of young people, can lead to powerful local and global change.
Ready to stand with youth leaders?
Whether you bring lived experience, professional expertise, or financial resources, there is a place for you in this community. Join our board, make a gift, or volunteer your time to help young people build the futures they deserve.
