Giving Compass' Take:

· The Aspen Institute discusses the challenges faced by opportunity youth and how the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (YEF) is helping reconnect young people to employment opportunities. 

· Opportunity youth may benefit from entrepreneurship programs. Is this an opportunity for social entrepreneurs to support young people?

· Learn more about opportunity youth and the Aspen Institute's Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund (OYIF). 

As opportunity youth continue to struggle to connect to the economy, entrepreneurship offers a chance for them to learn the skills and mindset needed to thrive in today’s economy. Opportunity youth, the 4.6 million young people who are neither in work nor in school, often encounter significant barriers to education and employment, and entrepreneurship programs may offer solutions to the challenges they face.

Through the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF), the Forum for Community Solutions (FCS) works with a network of over two dozen urban, rural, and tribal communities seeking to reconnect opportunity youth to employment and education opportunities. FCS looks for myriad ways to create these pathways, which was the basis behind the launch of the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund (YEF) in 2017.

Through funding support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, YEF responded to the interest expressed by OYF communities and youth leaders in exploring entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic self-determination and wealth-building in low-income communities.

Read the full article about tools for opportunity youth at the Aspen Institute.