Held in partnership with the County of Tulare and its Health & Human Services Agency, the Step Up Youth Challenge is a service-learning project for teams of middle and high school students. The challenge takes place over the course of the school year, providing participating teams the opportunity to identify an issue, engage their fellow students, enlist the help of community partners, and implement their plans. To conclude the project, students prepare and submit a report.

The reports are evaluated by teams of community members. The evaluators select the winning projects to receive grant awards from the County of Tulare. The awards in both middle and high school categories include: Community Collaboration, Impact, Meeting the Need, Sustainability, and Best Overall. A total of $13,000 in grants is awarded annually to the winning teams.