Empowering Our Children to Change the World — You Be The Difference
Empowering Our Children
to Change the World
A child learns. A family acts. A community changes.
Get InvolvedSomething People Do, Not Just Support
You Be The Difference is a nonpartisan K–6 program built on a simple truth: children influence the adults who love them.
A lesson at school becomes a conversation at home. That conversation becomes action the whole family takes together. YBTD isn't an awareness campaign or a charity appeal. It's a participation model, and it gives every child a real way to make a difference now.
From the Classroom to the Kitchen Table
YBTD works with how families already live, starting with the question every parent asks: "What did you learn today?"
Learn
A child receives one clear, age-appropriate idea.
Share
The child carries that idea home.
Support
Adults respond with encouragement and participation.
Act
The family completes a real Good Deed or community action.
Record
The child logs verified participation.
Repeat
Progress builds habit, belonging, and identity.
Education creates understanding. Action creates ownership. Repetition creates culture.
Every Child Belongs
No child needs the right club, sport, income level, transportation, or family structure to take part.
Impact Points recognize effort, consistency, service, and leadership, never purchasing power. Every contribution counts, and every child can earn recognition.
Meet the Founder
Bruce D. Fowler
Creator of You Be The Difference
For more than 25 years, Bruce D. Fowler has built YBTD around one belief: every child deserves to know they have value.
His path ran through childhood adversity, military service, business leadership, and a day in 1993 spent helping a family build a home outside Mombasa. That day taught him the principle at the heart of YBTD: not doing something for people, but with them.
"Childhood adversity is not destiny. My life is the proof."
The original YBTD Eco Bag, one of the first pieces of the vision.
Carla Hudson
Executive Brand Strategist
Carla Hudson is Vice President of Marketing & Brand Experience at Cinemark, with nearly three decades leading brand and transformation work at Fortune 50 and 500 companies, including AT&T, Bank of America, and Capital One.
She has been beside Bruce through virtually the entire development of YBTD. She challenges assumptions, simplifies complexity, and protects the mission as YBTD moves from architecture into execution.
Our Nonpartisan Commitment
YBTD is nonpartisan and non-electoral. We do not endorse or oppose any party, candidate, or ideology.
Children are never asked to carry a political message.
Families are invited to participate through service, not pressured into agreement.
Evidence, transparency, and adult governance guide everything we do.
Be Part of It
YBTD grows through the people closest to children. There's a place for you.
Schools and educators: Explore bringing YBTD to your students.
Families: Learn how your household can take part.
Businesses: Support local recognition, prizes, and scholarships.
Public figures and creators: Help spark a national movement led by kids.
Contact
Us
Drop us a line!
We'd love to hear from parents, educators, donors, and community members who share our mission of empowering the next generation.