A shared framework for building stronger pathways to economic opportunity.
The YCC Framework organizes community action into seven interconnected domains. Each domain gives local leaders a clear structure — from big-picture goals down to concrete tools — so that diverse partners can align around what young people actually need.
Built for
Communities
Local leaders, cross-sector partners, and youth-serving organizations ready to do this work together
Grounded in
Research & Lived Experience
Developed with field experts, national leaders, and young people themselves over more than a year
Geared Toward
Action
From community assessment through implementation, evaluation, and field-building
How the Framework is Structured
The Domains
The YCC Framework is organized around seven interconnected domains — each one representing a critical area where communities must invest to create lasting change for young people. You can jump to the full domain breakdowns at the bottom of the page for deeper detail.
Collaborative Youth Ecosystem
Living Wage Employment
Health & Well-Being
Holistic Supports
Youth Leadership
High-Quality Education & Training
Championing All Young People
A Multi-Layered Approach
Every domain follows the same six-layer structure, giving communities a consistent, actionable way to assess where they are and plan where they're going. Click through the tabs below to see how each layer works.
Domain
Each domain is a major area of community life that shapes whether young people can access and sustain economic opportunity. The seven domains define the full landscape — from employment and education to health, leadership, and the systems that hold everything together.
Example domain
Living wage employment — ensuring young people can access jobs that pay enough to meet their needs
Why it matters
Domains give communities a shared vocabulary so diverse partners can align around the same goals
Core Components
Within each domain, core components break down the big idea into the essential building blocks communities need to address. They represent the distinct areas of focus that, taken together, make a domain functional and equitable.
Example
Under "Living wage employment": career exploration, job preparation, job placement, entrepreneurship, and employer partnership
How to use it
Use components to identify where your community has gaps or existing strengths to build from
Milestones
Milestones describe what meaningful progress looks like within each component. They are measurable markers — signals that a community is moving in the right direction, not just doing activity. They anchor accountability and help communities track real change over time.
Example
"Employers in the network have adopted transparent pay scales and posted living wage jobs"
How to use it
Set milestones as your community's definition of success before designing programming or interventions
Action Steps
Action steps are concrete, practical things community partners can do to make progress toward a milestone. They translate aspiration into workplan. Multiple action steps may contribute to a single milestone, and communities can prioritize based on their current capacity and context.
Example
"Convene a working group of local employers to co-develop a living wage pledge and recruitment pipeline"
How to use it
Select 2–3 action steps per milestone to start — focus beats breadth in early implementation
Examples
Examples show what action steps look like when put into practice in real communities. They come from YCC partner cities and phase one sites — real stories of what communities tried, what worked, and what they learned. Examples make the framework tangible and transferable.
Example
A city partnered workforce boards with HBCUs to co-design paid apprenticeships that count toward degrees
How to use it
Use examples to spark conversation with local partners: "Could something like this work here?"
Tools & Resources
Each domain comes with curated tools, templates, and resources — available to communities that partner with YCC. Partners get access to data guides, assessment frameworks, policy resources, and peer-tested playbooks that reduce the lift on local teams.
What partners get
Labor market data guides, employer engagement playbooks, and wage equity assessment frameworks
How to get access
Tools and resources are unlocked when your community becomes a YCC partner
Explore the Domains
The framework is organized around seven interconnected domains. Partner communities gain deep guidance in each area — from assessment through implementation.
Collaborative Youth Ecosystem
Young people thrive when education, workforce, and community systems work together toward shared goals. A connected ecosystem creates coordinated pathways so every young person is supported at every step.
Learn how to align agencies, leverage shared data, and build the cross-sector infrastructure that makes opportunity accessible and sustainable.
Living Wage Employment
Young people bring talent, energy, and ambition to the workforce. Communities that invest in intentional employer engagement and career development create real pathways to jobs that pay enough to build a life on.
Explore strategies for connecting young people to quality jobs, building lasting employer relationships, and creating real advancement opportunities.
Health & Well-Being
When young people feel healthy, safe, and connected to their community, they are better positioned to engage in education, work, and long-term economic success. Well-being is not a barrier to address — it is a foundation to build.
Discover how to create the conditions where young people feel safe, supported, and ready to engage in education and work.
Holistic Supports
Young people are more likely to persist in education and work when their basic needs are met. Communities that wrap support around young people — transportation, childcare, housing, food — set them up to succeed.
Explore how to coordinate services, identify barriers early, and build the institutional partnerships that make support reliable and lasting.
Youth Leadership
Young people are experts on their own lives and bring invaluable insight to program design. When communities create real opportunities for youth to lead, the systems they shape become more trusted, more responsive, and more effective.
Understand what it looks like to authentically share power with young people and build cultures where youth voice drives real decisions.
High-Quality Education & Training
Young people are ready to learn — and communities have an opportunity to meet them with flexible, high-quality education and training options that lead somewhere real.
Discover how flexible pathways, strong employer alignment, and sustained support can take young people all the way to completion.
Championing All Young People
Every young person deserves access to economic opportunity. Communities that lead with an equity lens build intentional strategies to reach and support young people who have been historically underserved — and design systems that work for everyone.
Unpack the strategies communities use to actively reach young people who have been historically underserved and build systems that work for everyone.
Get Started
Ready to bring this framework to your community?
NYEC guides partner communities through each phase of this work — with hands-on support, connection to a national network of peer cities, and a structured process for turning the framework into real action.
Not sure where to start? Get in touch and we'll help you figure out next steps.