The National Youth Employment Coalition’s Youth Champion Communities Framework
National Youth Employment Coalition is proud to announce the Youth Champion Communities Framework (YCCF)—a major national initiative designed to help communities of all sizes assess and substantially improve their capacities to engage and prepare young people for economic mobility and success. The YCCF is a comprehensive framework that seeks to answer the question, “What does a community that best supports its young people truly look like?” This Framework, developed through intensive conversations with community leaders, political leadership, and young people with lived experience from around the country, holds communities to a high standard, while providing them with a roadmap detailing how to get there. Inside, you’ll find recommended actions, examples, and relevant tools to help with implementation in your community. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
A helpful guide to some terminology…
- Domain: Topic area
- Core Component: Focus area within each topic
- Milestone: What a youth champion community should strive towards
- Action Step: How to become a youth champion community
- Example: Organizations embodying these recommendations
- Tool/Resource: Tools to help you implement what we’ve learned
And when we say comprehensive, we mean it! Our domains include…
- Collaborative Youth Ecosystem
- Living Wage Employment
- Health and Well-Being
- Holistic Supports
- Youth Leadership
- High-Quality Education and Training
- Championing All Young People
Phase II: The Mayors Challenge Pilot
During the first phase of this initiative, NYEC worked with 6 cities and their mayors' offices from across the nation to develop the framework including Atlanta, Indianapolis, Scranton, San Antonio, Buffalo, and Louisville.
We are excited to be working on the second phase of the Youth Champion Communities (YCC) Mayors Challenge, empowering seven select cities—Albany, NY; Buffalo, NY; Durham, NC; Scranton, PA; Everett, WA; Richmond, VA; and Tampa , FL— to foster success for young people through employment, education, and holistic supports. Each city will form local leadership teams, uniting government officials, workforce organizations, community agencies, and youth with lived experience to address youth disengagement and create pathways to education and careers. This initiative aims to establish lasting, systemic change and ensure all young people have the resources they need to thrive
What Do Mayors Have to Say?
