A panel of 13 young people selected 11 projects to receive funding after a series of interviews involving 21 shortlisted bids for Jack Petchey Foundation grants.
The funding has been handed out to mark the foundation's 18th birthday and based on priorities to emerge from a survey of 200 young people who have been supported by the foundation.
These priorities are supporting young people with their financial education, in finding work, with mental health issues and to tackle housing affordability.
Of young people surveyed around half (48 per cent) felt education had not prepared them for the world of work, 32 per cent have had mental health problems, and 43 per cent said a lack of money has held them back.
Among those to share the money are financial education charity MyBnk, for a project targeting disadvantaged young people at risk of financial problems.
The Salmon Youth Centre in Southwark has been handed funding to give employment advice to 15 young people with complex needs, including mental health problems and criminal records.
And the Suzy Lamplugh Trust received funding to support 60 young people who are in care or homeless.
Also sharing the funding are Lewisham arts project The Albany, Caxton Youth Organisation, Carers Lewisham, Ignite Trust, Reaching Higher, The Money Charity, Jigsaw4U and the Royal Society for Blind Children.
The panel of young people are aged between 18 and 25 and made up of those who had completed the foundation's Achievement Awards scheme, which offers year-long training, volunteering opportunities and access to a mentor.
"We gave the panel training, talking about grant making and taking on the responsibility of making decisions on behalf of our board," said Gemma Dunbar, Jack Petchey Foundation head of project grants.
"They had interviews with the different organisations based on a set criteria of questions and the ability to freestyle and add things. As they got more confident you can see them doing that more effectively and delving deeper."
She added: "They really took it seriously. It was on their shoulders to make a sensible decision, based on four clear criteria: how good a programme they thought it was, whether it was in line with the Jack Petchy mission and vision for being positive and putting young people at the centre of the work, what the need was, and the impact."
One of the panellists, Madeline, said: "It's an experience that I don't think many young people have really had, as it usually goes back to the board etc and our input does not determine the outcome."
