Check for Us: Micro cash Grants
Micro Cash Grants are small, flexible, no-strings-attached cash awards for transition-age youth and kinship caregivers through CheckForUs. To apply, you’ll complete a survey about your needs, experiences, and interactions with systems. Your responses help Think of Us better understand what support people need. We value the time and trust it takes to share them.
There are 20 grants available in this round. Completing the survey does not guarantee a $500 grant. If other paid opportunities to share your expertise become available, we’ll explain what they involve and how compensation works before you decide whether to participate.
Surface Real-Time Signals
Capture data directly from the people navigating systems — revealing where services fail, what is missing, and what is needed most.
Connect to Resources
Use what participants share to connect them to relevant services, supports, and follow-up — beyond the grant itself.
Inform System Change
Aggregate insights from grant applications to identify systemic gaps, barriers, and patterns that drive policy and practice improvements.
Think of Us deploys Micro Cash Grants nationally through CheckForUs to transition-age youth and kinship caregivers across participating communities.
Participants complete a survey about their current needs and circumstances — a process designed to capture the nuances of their experiences navigating local systems. In return, they receive flexible, no-strings-attached funding and, where desired, tailored resource recommendations based on what they have shared.
In one example, our deployment in Texas Region 7 (Greater Austin and surrounding communities) has already disbursed $12,000+ in direct cash assistance to young people. Every application generates data that helps Think of Us understand where systems are falling short — and what to build next.