For millions of young people across the country, the path to social and economic mobility is fragmented and complex. Addressing this challenge is the mission of the Scaling Youth Outcomes Cohort (SYOC), an initiative within the Opportunity Youth Forum that provides targeted funding and support to collaboratives and 10 direct service partners in Boston, Houston, Denver, and Los Angeles to promote rapid growth in prevention or intervention services for opportunity youth.
Conversations with partners at each of these organizations on the heels of their first year reveal a clear, dual mandate for success: scaling is about increasing the numbers of young people they serve and having a greater impact on those who walk through their doors. To do so, these partners are pursuing two complementary strategies:
- Increasing the number of young people they connect to education and career pathways by enhancing outreach and enrollment strategies.
- Scaling impact by strengthening supports during and after programs, helping more young people complete training or education and succeed afterward.
Creating a Successful Connection Pathway
Insights from the first year of SYOC implementation point to an emerging framework of the ingredients necessary for this journey. In the simplest terms, programs a) identify and reach out to young people who may need supports, b) engage participants in education or training programs – oftentimes simultaneously – before, c) helping participants transition to employment or a postsecondary program (this could be a certificate program, community college, or a four-year institution). The process, of course, is not usually this linear, as youth often move among programs as they navigate life and try to find the right fit. Programs, as well, may only provide a subset of these supports, though each has embraced its position in this pathway and seeks to help youth transition among these stages more seamlessly.
But helping a young person move to a path toward economic mobility requires more than simply implementing a program or sequence of trainings and activities; it demands a comprehensive and personalized suite of services and supports. Taken together, conversations with scaling partners point to several key insights about how to best support young people through this pathway.
Proactive Identification and Outreach
Reaching young people who are disconnected from education or workforce systems is challenging. To respond, partners are increasingly prioritizing early identification strategies that connect young people to customized supports before they disengage completely. In Denver, collaboration with the local school district has proven effective. Through this partnership, Colorado Youth for Change conducts outreach to students who have been officially withdrawn from school. A specialist helps students identify the best option for reengagement, including returning to a traditional high school, enrolling in an alternative or pathway school with tailored services, or pursuing online schooling. One partner summarized the value of this approach well, noting, “The theory is, ‘How can we connect students who are part of the public school system with the public workforce system before they leave the school?’ What we’ve learned is that once they’ve left the system, …our public systems, it’s much harder to re-engage them.”
Holistic Supports
A unique element of scaling partners’ work is their ability to address basic needs – including housing, food insecurity, transportation, and financial literacy – in addition to education and workforce programming. In Houston, a significant barrier identified for young adults is transportation. To address this, one program provides financial support for driver’s education and assistance. Other forms of work support and incentives are also provided, including gas vouchers, metro cards, clothing for work, gift cards, and laptops. The program’s hybrid model – which was adopted during the pandemic – also helps to overcome transportation barriers, as it allows youth from the greater Houston area to participate regardless of their geographical location.
Community-based organizations that provide a range of different services also known as multi-service organizations, in particular, are uniquely positioned to provide non-academic and wrap-around supports to young people in their programs. For organizations like Coalition for Responsible Community Development in Los Angeles, for example, success can be amplified through the provision of more than just one service; young people benefit from coordinated support with housing, transportation, academics, and myriad of other needs under a single roof.
Individualized Planning and Case Management
Supporting young people, even “at scale,” can’t be rushed. Partners consistently stressed the importance of individualized support and “starting where the client is.” Programs must be tailored to each youth’s needs from the beginning – and throughout the duration of – the program. In Boston, for example, a case manager conducts an “individual service strategy” to assess the needs and barriers of each young person. The services offered include resume development, mock interviews, and setting short- and long-term goals. Another provider utilizes a detailed intake and assessment process to understand each youth’s specific situation and needs.
Individualized support also includes making sure programs are age appropriate. Programs for young adults must be tailored to their needs, interests, and ways of learning – not just a replication of programs for older adults. In Houston, one partner with a track record of supporting “older adults” created new program materials that were visually appealing to young people, and also customized its content delivery for young adults. This partner noted, “We tailored it to attention span. If things were longer, we condensed them, ensuring that the content remained the same. Maybe it didn’t need six workshops, now it’s four.”
Importantly, partners across communities consistently spoke of the critical role their staff play in a young person’s success. Program delivery is staff-intensive; staff play a critical role in a young person’s motivation, connection, and feeling of safety and belonging in a program – often the exact things lacking in their prior educational experiences. For this reason, partners noted that their most impactful staff bring a blend of lived and professional experience to their work with youth. Those from the community who have encountered similar challenges are well-equipped to help young people navigate myriad of supports and life circumstances, yet also need to be highly competent in case management, coaching, and navigating complex education, training, and workforce systems.
Looking ahead
As the Scaling Youth Outcomes Cohort enters its second year, partners are eager to reach more young people, and to do so while maintaining what makes their work effective. Repeatedly, they emphasized that individualized, relationship-driven support is the foundation of young people’s success. The challenge ahead is not whether to scale, but how to scale while preserving the trust, care, and responsiveness that allow young people to achieve meaningful outcomes.
One partner captured this tension well: “How do you scale…without losing the heart and the soul of the work that you’re doing? It’s the personal touch that you’re giving to the youth, that you’re serving, that’s the challenge that we’re facing.”
This question sits at the center of SYOC’s next phase, providing a powerful opportunity and invitation to rethink what growth looks like in youth-serving systems. Scale demands intentional design, sustained investment in staff, and a commitment to meeting young people where they are as their needs evolve. As partners continue this work, they are demonstrating that it is possible to expand access while deepening impact, and to build systems that honor the complexity of young people’s lives while helping them move toward lasting economic mobility.