Boston, MA (March 25, 2026) – Girl Security, a national nonprofit equipping the next generation with the skills to shape the future of national security, today announced that Founder and CEO Lauren Bean Buitta has been selected to join the 5th cohort of Young Futures (YF) Innovators, a national community of leaders working to make it easier for young people to grow up in a tech-filled world. Program Associate Amulya Panakam will join her as a YF Innovator.

Girl Security is a grant recipient of the Oops!... AI Did It Again Challenge, Young Futures’ first dedicated funding initiative for nonprofits at the intersection of youth and artificial intelligence. The challenge supports solutions that help preteens and teens engage with AI safely, critically, and with true agency.

As part of the cohort, Buitta will participate in the Young Futures Academy, a five-month accelerator offering peer community, leadership development, and coaching in storytelling and fundraising. The program begins this spring with an in-person retreat in Lone Rock, Colorado.

“Young people already have the foundational capabilities needed for an AI-shaped world,” said Buitta. “Their lived intelligence enables them to think critically, navigate complexity, and contribute meaningfully to how technology is used and how it influences their personal security. Our focus is on building scalable learning infrastructure that strengthens that capacity, ensuring they are not just consumers of AI, but active participants in shaping it.”

Girl Security joins 15 other leaders selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants. Together, the cohort is advancing youth-centered solutions across four focus areas: Youth-Powered AI, Learning & Work, Relationships & Mental Health, and Intergenerational Guidance.

Through All Secure, its design lab, Girl Security is building a scalable, user-centered design thinking platform that enables young people to engage directly with real-world AI and societal challenges. The platform translates a methodology developed over six years into digital infrastructure that supports collective ideation, collaboration, skill-building, and applied problem-solving.

Currently being piloted with partners nationwide, the platform has demonstrated that while young people thrive in collaborative analysis, a digitized design layer can unlock deeper participation and more inclusive ways of generating solutions. This work ensures that young people are not passive recipients of emerging technologies, but active contributors to how those technologies shape their communities and futures.

“We are thrilled to welcome Girl Security to the Oops!... AI Did It Again Cohort,” said Katya Hancock, CEO and Co-Founder of Young Futures. “Their work reflects exactly what this challenge is about: helping young people build real agency in a world where AI is already shaping how they learn, connect, and express themselves. Together, this cohort is proving that young people deserve more than access to AI; they deserve the tools, support, and confidence to shape how it impacts their futures.”

To read the Young Futures announcement, click here.

For more information on Girl Security, visit www.girlsecurity.org.

About Girl Security
Girl Security is a national nonprofit building the future of national security by preparing girls, young women, and youth historically excluded from security and technology pathways to lead. Through workforce programs, mentorship, and its All Secure Design Lab, Girl Security equips young people, educators, and stakeholders with the analytic tools, design capabilities, and real-world experience needed to navigate and shape complex systems at the intersection of technology, security, and society. 

About Young Futures
Young Futures (YF) is a nonprofit seeking to make the digital world an easier place to grow up. YF provides a social compass for teens and families navigating the tech-driven world by supporting emerging nonprofits working tirelessly to help young people and their families not just survive but flourish as a team when navigating the uncertainties of the digital wilderness. Its foundational funders include Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, The Goodness Web, Enlight Foundation, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, and Resonance Philanthropies.

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