Giving Compass' Take:

• Crispus Attucks, founder of YouthBuild, a Pennsylvania program that helps connect opportunity youth to more options, discusses the strategies that will enhance programming for young people.

• How can donors help organizations implement strategies to expand programs? 

• Understand more about opportunity youth and how to make an impact.

Like many low-income young men of color growing up in America, Jamiel Alexander didn’t see opportunity on his pathway to adulthood. By age 15, he was out of school, out of work, and almost out of hope.

That’s where Crispus Attucks YouthBuild came in, challenging this young man to see himself at a crossroads, not a dead end. YouthBuild tapped into his own motivation and determination not to be, in Jamiel’s words, “another negative statistic.”

The York, Pennsylvania program helped Jamiel finish high school, pick up work skills, and get his first job in the food service industry. Today, he’s a youth advocate replicating his own turn-around in many communities.

It’s just one story, but it speaks to the power and value of providing real second chances to America’s 4.6 million “opportunity youth”—young people who are not connected to education or employment.

This is an important focus of my organization, the Aspen Institute, which supports communities across the country to build better second chance systems for America’s youth in partnership with dozens of funders. Our Opportunity Youth Fund and Forum recently announced a new $10 million grant from Ballmer Group to expand its efforts and deepen its impacts.

These investments are critical, but there is more we need to do. We believe three key strategies are needed to fully unlock the potential of opportunity youth nationwide—and there’s a role everyone can play.

 Read the full article about opportunity youth by Daniel Porterfield at The Aspen Institute.