Case Studies for Supporting Youth Leadership and Economic Opportunity

Two new pub­li­ca­tions demon­strate how the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Learn and Earn to Achieve Poten­tial™ (LEAP) ini­tia­tive empow­ers young lead­ers to help strength­en their com­mu­ni­ties and careers.

For almost a decade, LEAP has sup­port­ed increased employ­ment and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple fac­ing major chal­lenges on the path to adult­hood. The ini­tia­tive focus­es on youth and young adults, ages 14 to 25 who have expe­ri­enced fos­ter care, crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem involve­ment or homelessness.

“Cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple to grow into lead­er­ship roles and voice their per­spec­tives goes hand in hand with our efforts to sup­port their con­nec­tion to edu­ca­tion and career path­ways,” said Dina Emam, a pro­gram asso­ciate with the Casey Foun­da­tion. ​“These resources illus­trate how youth-serv­ing orga­ni­za­tions have helped young peo­ple take on new pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment expe­ri­ences that are pos­i­tive­ly shap­ing their lives.”

JFF’s Pay­ing it Forward

The first pub­li­ca­tion, by JFF, exam­ines how four youth-serv­ing non­prof­its with­in LEAP have con­nect­ed for­mer pro­gram par­tic­i­pants to paid staff posi­tions. It draws on inter­views with pro­gram lead­ers and young adult par­tic­i­pants-turned-staff across the four orga­ni­za­tions, which include:

• Covenant House Alas­ka;
• Project for Pride in Liv­ing (Min­neapo­lis);
• The Door (New York City); and
• SBCS (San Diego).

The doc­u­ment offers four lessons for orga­ni­za­tions inter­est­ed in bring­ing for­mer pro­gram par­tic­i­pants into staff roles. It advis­es that young people:

1. Bring valu­able exper­tise to the table. Young staff who have par­tic­i­pat­ed in an organization’s pro­gram­ming or nav­i­gat­ed youth sys­tems them­selves can pro­vide impor­tant insights into what works and what’s ripe for improvement.
2. View their work as more than just a job. Many of the young staff inter­viewed expressed that they are pas­sion­ate about the work they do because it extends into issues, such as youth home­less­ness, that have direct­ly impact­ed their lives.
3. Ben­e­fit from coach­ing and men­tor­ship. Each of the four non­prof­its offered sup­port, coach­ing and men­tor­ship for young employ­ees. These process­es helped the employ­ees suc­ceed at their new jobs and nav­i­gate chal­lenges both with­in and beyond the workplace.
4. May need ongo­ing sup­port to nav­i­gate poten­tial chal­lenges. Work can reopen trau­mas and reignite stress for young staff with sys­tems expe­ri­ence. By rec­og­niz­ing these issues, pro­gram lead­ers have been able to give young staff the space and sup­port they need to grow into their new roles.

School & Main Insti­tute’s Fuel­ing Pas­sion Through Project-Based Learning

The sec­ond pub­li­ca­tion, from the School & Main Insti­tute, spot­lights Pas­sion Projects — a cor­ner­stone of the LEAP Youth Fel­low­ship pro­gram — and pro­vides a tool kit for oth­er youth-serv­ing orga­ni­za­tions to imple­ment sim­i­lar pro­gram­ming. Pas­sion Projects are youth-designed, paid com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice expe­ri­ences that encour­age young peo­ple to address issues they care about while build­ing life­long skills. Project-based learn­ing expe­ri­ences like Pas­sion Projects also help young peo­ple stay con­nect­ed to edu­ca­tion and employ­ment programs.

The inter­ac­tive doc­u­ment offers exam­ples of Pas­sion Projects, such as a work­shop on help­ing young peo­ple in fos­ter care or adop­tive fam­i­lies nav­i­gate com­plex rela­tion­ships with their bio­log­i­cal families.

The piece also offers rec­om­men­da­tions for orga­ni­za­tions and pro­gram staff when sup­port­ing young peo­ple in project-based learn­ing. These include:

• estab­lish­ing fund­ing sup­port so that young peo­ple can get paid for their time;
• mod­el­ing good project man­age­ment skills; and
• con­nect­ing young peo­ple to com­mu­ni­ty resources and opportunities.

Learn more about the LEAP Youth Fel­low­ship program