New Initiative Aimed at Supporting Adolescents in Seven Communities

Today we are launching a multi-year youth development initiative with anticipated funding of up to $120 million. It's aimed at providing adolescents in middle through early high school with greater access to out-of-school opportunities that spark new interests, skills, and an awareness of potential future careers they may choose to pursue.

Seven communities across the country will participate in the Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents initiative. These communities will plan to address their economic mobility goals by expanding enrichment and career-focused opportunities for young people. The communities are:

Adams County and Broomfield County, Colorado - Rocky Mountain Partnership Cradle to Career*
Akron, Ohio - Youth Success Summit
Hamilton County, Tennessee - Chattanooga 2.0
Monterey County, California - Bright Futures Education Partnership
Poughkeepsie, New York - Poughkeepsie Children's Cabinet
South Salt Lake City and Millcreek, Utah - Promise Partnership Utah
Wayne County, New York - Wayne County Partnership

Partnerships will focus on a set of activities over approximately six years. Activities include collaborating with the local youth development sector, collecting and sharing data, strengthening professional development, pairing youth with a caring adult who can help navigate their needs and future aspirations, and planning for sustainability.

"This initiative is about working with communities to help them build lasting systems that support young people's growth, learning, and well-being based on a set of proven principles," says Gigi Antoni, vice president of youth development at The Wallace Foundation. "Although these seven partnerships have different zip codes, what they all have in common is their commitment to economic mobility, their openness to learning and trying new approaches, and the strong foundation they each have in place to take on this endeavor."

Wallace anticipates investing approximately $6 million to $10 million into each community over the course of the initiative. Exact funding for each will be determined during the planning and pilot years (2026-2027) and based on factors such as poverty levels, number of youth being served, and other considerations. Funding from Wallace is intended to augment investments participating communities are already making for young people. The full initiative budget of up to $120 million also includes costs for technical assistance, convenings, research, communications, national experts serving as advisors, and more.

Partnerships will participate in national and local research to document the impact on youth outcomes, produce evidence-based tools and playbooks, and share lessons learned. The national research will be led by American Institutes for Research (AIR).

Other organizations supporting the initiative include Children's Funding Project; Community Wealth Partners; Every Hour Counts; FrameWorks Institute; The Institute for Success Planning at The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education; and The Marlo Companies. Additional partners will be added as the initiative unfolds.

See more about the work and the communities involved on our website and read the press release here.

*Adams County Youth Initiative DBA Rocky Mountain Partnership Cradle to Career