America’s Promise Alliance’s YES Project – Young, Employed, and Successful – launched this week. It is a national youth employment initiative aimed at achieving full employment for America’s young people aged 16-24 by 2030. The initiative is rooted in the belief that we all share responsibility for ensuring young people are ready to enter the workforce with confidence; connected to the networks, relationships, and resources needed to access new opportunities; and supported with the training, coaching, and skills needed to excel.
I served on the steering committee for this campaign, providing input to the initiative’s cross-sector approach to meeting the needs of the 1.5 million young people searching, but unable to secure jobs. For decades, FSG has supported foundation, corporate, and cross-sector clients in identifying and shaping strategies to create meaningful pathways to employment, inclusive of traditionally marginalized communities like opportunity youth, justice-involved youth, and those with learning and attention issues.
Through our Talent Rewire initiative, we partner with employers and workforce partners who are innovating best practices in hiring, retention, and advancement of populations facing barriers to employment.
While the goal of full youth employment by 2030 is ambitious, it is achievable if we collectively #PledgeYes to ensuring young people are ready to enter the workforce with confidence in their capacity to perform well, social capital to access new opportunities, and workforce development supports. Businesses, philanthropies, and local governments can all contribute by creating and sustaining paid employment opportunities that expose young adults to meaningful work, authentic organizational norms, and professional staff.
Corporate employers: join us at the 2019 Rewire Convening >
Learn more about FSG’s opportunity employment work >
