For 10 years, Wonderfolk has been creating access, opportunity, and belonging for young people through art, culture, nature, and community. What began as a bold idea has grown into a trusted youth-led organization empowering students to explore, lead, and imagine new futures, without barriers.
As we celebrate a decade of impact, we honor the students, alumni, partners, and supporters who made it possible and look ahead to the next generation of leaders we’re proud to walk alongside.
Previously Global Works Community Fund. Same team. Same program. Same soul.
WE REMOVE BARRIERS
to access and help diverse youth find their voice in activism and community engagement. Wonderfolk develops youth who want to define their own life. We are a youth-leadership organization that nurtures diverse young leaders through art, community engagement, travel, and nature-based projects to make lasting community impact.
2025 VISUAL YEARBOOK
Please enjoy our student made 2025 visual yearbook in collaboration with MetroEast Media.
We started our program with two fellows and one mentor. We now annually mentor a cohort of seventeen youth fellows who we support through fully funded scholarships.
AREAS OF IMPACT
Our programs provide multidimensional leadership opportunities through hands-on experiences in the arts, environmental work, and global advocacy. Student Fellows learn and collaborate with dynamic leaders locally and abroad through three immersive programs from March through November, then continue into a second year focused on career development, financial literacy, and a culminating summer internship.
OUR NATUREHOOD
A strong relationship with the natural world and access to clean air, clean water, and green spaces is essential for all communities. Through trail maintenance, wildlife exploration in Costa Rica, and local environmental advocacy, Fellows build meaningful connections to nature. Locally, students learn about the vital role of bees and the importance of protecting natural spaces. Centering equitable access, we affirm a simple truth: nature belongs to all of us.
UNITY THROUGH ARTS
Art captures the soul of the times and amplifies both individual and collective voices. Through community-led public art projects, Fellows explore their creativity by creating murals, producing their own visual yearbook, and engaging in art as a tool for healing. Their work becomes a shared expression of power, perspective, and community.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
A global perspective opens new ways of seeing, learning, and leading. By collaborating with local leaders abroad on education, infrastructure, and conservation projects, Fellows deepen their understanding of global community and shared responsibility. In tandem with Global Works Travel, our youth participate in a service-learning trip to Costa Rica allowing youth to apply their advocacy skills while building meaningful relationships through homestays and partner led projects.
In addition to our core pillars, Wonderfolk supports students in exploring future pathways through hands-on workforce experiences. During their second year, participants build real-world skills through career workshops, professional panels, and paid summer internships that prepare them for life beyond the Wonderfolk program.
OUR WORK
Students from BIPOC* communities often have less access to leadership development opportunities due to continuing inequity in resource distribution across systems - including school districts and neighborhoods. Wonderfolk seeks to dismantle this pattern through mentoring, global travel experiences, leadership opportunities, career development opportunities, and college-prep. Our students are brilliant, motivated changemakers and we recognize that where we come from is a part of our strength. Investing in our fellows’ future allows us to enhance the power of our communities.
At home and abroad, we work with passionate community partners who open their homes and hearts to our youth fellows. Working side by side on projects in service of the community, everyone benefits from cultural exchange, skill-sharing, and learning through stories.
These are our youth. This is our community.
*BIPOC is an acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Expanding the term POC, the specificity of this term recognizes that Black and Indigenous people endured the brunt of the violence that founded this country in the form of stolen labor and land and that these communities are still unequally affected by the ongoing consequences and disenfranchisment that persists today.