The U.S. Department of Education recently posted a notice in the federal register soliciting applications for the next round of funding waivers to communities serving opportunity youth.

Twenty sites that apply will be selected, with the goal to assist opportunity youth by increasing the flexibility of federal funding streams through improved combining of funds, and issuing waivers of policies that can get in the way of providing services.

This effort extends the Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) program; initial rounds of P3 waivers have been used in many Opportunity Youth Forum communities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, and others.

To learn more about this program, and how your community could benefit, read the notice here. Applications are due April 29th.

Publications and Learnings from the Network

Several of our partners have released reports, briefs and other documents that showcase the work that is going on in the network.

Junior Achievement just released Trends in the Number, Share, and Characteristics of Disconnected Youth: Implications for Future Policies and Programs, a report that analyzes changes in the population of opportunity youth from 1970-2017 and assesses the potential future numbers of opportunity youth and their racial and ethnic composition.

In this brief, Developing a Single-System Strategy for New York City’s Out-of-School, Out-of-Work Young Adults, JobsFirst NYC looks at how the city is investigating ways to create a “single system” approach to supporting opportunity youth in securing jobs and education opportunities.

In their latest annual report, Building Opportunity: Annual Report 2017-2018, the Philadelphia Youth Network gets specific about the impact they are having on youth in that city.

This issue brief, How to Generate Consensus for Targeted Universalism, from FSG on targeted universalism was a concept originally developed by professor and critical race scholar john a. powell as an approach to change management that simultaneously aims for a universal goal while also addressing disparities in opportunities among sub-groups.

Philadelphia Convening

We are heading to Philadelphia next month in collaboration with key implementation partner Jobs for the Future, for our Opportunity Youth Forum 2019 Spring Convening. Among the speakers will be Larry Krasner, District Attorney of Philadelphia; Bill Bynum, board member of the Aspen Institute, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Prosperity Now, and William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation; Kevin Bethel, former Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner; Sheila Ireland, Executive Director, City of Philadelphia Office of Workforce Development; Lisa Hamilton, President and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation – and many many more.

We are partnering with the Philadelphia Youth Network to lift up their efforts locally, including their work with Philadelphia’s Project U-Turn, which is developing comprehensive second chance pathways for opportunity youth. To learn more about the Philadelphia Youth Network, which recently celebrated their 20th anniversary, click here to read their latest annual report.

The spring convening engages Opportunity Youth Forum site leads, youth leaders, funders, thought partners, and national leaders across many sectors. Stay tuned for more information on this event, and to learn more about our biannual convenings, click here.