Global Teen Climate Leadership Fellowship 2026: Get Mentorship and a Fully Funded London Summit Through Three Dot Dash

Historical reference: Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders 2026

The We Are Family Foundation’s 2026 Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders application has ended. WAFF’s current opportunities page says that applications are closed and that the deadline has passed. It does not announce a replacement cycle, so this page is an archive of the 2026 opportunity rather than an open call. The date retained in the metadata is the published 2026 deadline: March 19, 2026.

That status matters if you found this page through a search engine or a shared link. The application portal now reports that there are no open calls for applications. Do not spend time preparing a submission for the old form, and do not treat the London summit described below as an available travel opportunity. Readers who want to hear about a future Three Dot Dash round should use the official We Are Family Foundation website and its update list rather than relying on an old application link.

What the 2026 program was

Three Dot Dash is a global youth leadership initiative run by the We Are Family Foundation. The 2026 opportunity sought Global Teen Leaders aged 13–19 who were working on an environmental solution or climate-related initiative. WAFF’s description also asked whether the applicant had launched, or was building, an innovation or organization intended to create change in their community or beyond.

This was not a conventional scholarship or project grant with a stated cash award. The value of the program was the combination of an in-person experience, mentoring, virtual learning, and a peer network. The 2026 opportunity described a one-week Just Peace Summit in London, a year of virtual learning with more than 20 peers, and a yearlong relationship with an expert mentor. WAFF’s broader Three Dot Dash materials describe the initiative as supporting young people who address basic human needs and as pairing each Global Teen Leader with a mentor for one year.

For selected leaders, the summit was designed as a fully supported participation opportunity rather than a cash payout. WAFF’s program materials describe air or train travel, visa fees, hotel, meals, and ground travel for the summit as covered for selected Global Teen Leaders. That support should not be interpreted as unrestricted funding for the leader’s own project. The official opportunity did not publish a grant amount, stipend, or project budget.

The in-person summit was only one part of the offer. The more durable elements were the yearlong mentor relationship, virtual leadership development, and connection to other young people working on practical solutions. WAFF says its Three Dot Dash community includes leaders from more than 75 countries and six continents. That network is relevant context for understanding the program, but it is not a promise that every applicant will receive introductions, funding, or a particular professional outcome.

Eligibility for the 2026 cycle

The clearest 2026 eligibility signals came directly from the official opportunity description:

• The applicant had to be between 13 and 19 years old.
• Their work had to address an environmental solution or a climate-related initiative.
• They needed to have launched, or be building, an innovation or organization that aimed to create change in a community or beyond.
• The work was expected to be led by the young person, not merely something they observed or supported as a passive participant.

The program’s official Three Dot Dash information also makes an important distinction between an active initiative and a bare idea. WAFF describes Global Teen Leaders as young social entrepreneurs who have found a solution or innovation addressing a basic human need. Its program guidance says that the work should already be in motion and producing tangible impact. For a future round, an applicant should therefore be ready to explain what is happening now: who is involved, who benefits, what has been delivered, and what evidence shows that the work exists outside an application essay.

Environmental work was interpreted broadly in the 2026 call. A project could focus directly on climate or environmental protection, or connect sustainability with another area such as education, technology, health, youth empowerment, or social justice. A recycling campaign, air-quality project, ecosystem restoration effort, climate-resilience initiative, environmental education program, or policy project could all be relevant if the applicant could explain the environmental result and their leadership role. Passion alone was not a substitute for an operating project.

The original listing also emphasized continuation. Strong applicants needed a credible reason to keep their initiative moving beyond the selection process. That might mean a team structure, a school partnership, a community organization, documented procedures, a successor plan, or another way to show that the work did not depend on one person having unlimited time. This is useful preparation for a future cycle, but it does not reopen the 2026 call.

How the 2026 application worked

The 2026 process was staged rather than a single form submitted once. WAFF’s application guidance describes three main parts:

1. Pre-Application: The initial screening asked questions about program fit, including age, area of work, current status of the project, and availability. WAFF says this step was intended to confirm that an applicant met the program requirements before they proceeded.
2. Main Application: Applicants who passed the first stage were invited to provide a fuller account of their initiative, leadership, results, motivation, and plans. This was the part where a concise project description and credible evidence mattered most.
3. Nominator Form: The process included a supporting form from a nominator or another person able to speak to the applicant’s work and character. A recommender who had directly seen the project was more useful than someone who only knew the applicant socially.

The application portal is not accepting these submissions now. The steps above describe the closed 2026 cycle so that an applicant researching WAFF’s process can understand what the archived opportunity involved; they are not instructions to submit a late application. WAFF’s current page is the controlling source for availability, and it currently says there are no open applications.

What applicants should have prepared

The public 2026 description did not provide a universal checklist of attachments, so it would be misleading to claim that every applicant needed a particular certificate, budget, or portfolio. The practical preparation was more straightforward:

• A plain-language description of the environmental or climate problem.
• A clear account of the initiative, its location, its participants, and the applicant’s own responsibilities.
• Evidence that the work had started, such as attendance counts, completed activities, partner confirmation, published work, measurements, photographs, or links to a functioning project.
• A short explanation of what changed because of the initiative. Numbers are helpful, but a specific documented result is better than a large unsupported claim.
• A realistic continuation plan showing how the work could continue for at least the next two years.
• Contact and age information that matched the applicant’s official documents.

International travel documents were not presented as a condition for submitting the application. WAFF’s program information says that the organization works with selected Global Teen Leaders on necessary travel documents and covers associated summit costs, while also noting that it cannot guarantee the outcome of a visa or other document request. That distinction is important: travel support was part of participation for selected leaders, not a cash benefit available to anyone who opened the form.

How to use this page now

If you are looking for an open environmental opportunity, this is not one. The 2026 deadline has passed, the application portal has no open calls, and WAFF has not announced a next Three Dot Dash cycle on the official page checked for this update. The best next step is to follow WAFF’s official updates and review the current Three Dot Dash program pages for background, rather than submitting information through an old link or assuming that a future deadline will match the 2026 date.

If a new round is announced, check the age window, theme, project stage, summit location, costs covered, and application sequence again. Those details can change from one year to the next. In particular, do not carry forward the 2026 environmental focus, the London summit, or the March 19 deadline without seeing them stated in the new official call.

For reference, the official page for the closed opportunity is:

https://www.wearefamilyfoundation.org/2026-waff-apply

The separate application manager currently reports that there are no open calls. Together, those two official pages support the historical status recorded here: the 2026 Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leaders opportunity was real, its application window is over, and no later cycle has been announced in the source checked for this update.