A national initiative advancing economic mobility for young people through community-driven systems change.
Youth Champion Communities: Mayors Challenge is led by the National Youth Employment Coalition and brings together mayors, employers, educators, workforce leaders, community-based organizations, and young people to align efforts and strengthen pathways to economic mobility.
Youth Champion Communities (YCC) supports communities through a structured, multi-phase process guided by the Youth Champion Communities Framework (YCCF). This framework helps local leaders assess their current landscape, identify opportunities for alignment, and implement strategies that lead to measurable economic outcomes.
Grounded in research and shaped by cross-sector collaboration, the initiative is designed to move communities from disconnected efforts to coordinated, outcome-driven systems.
Cross-sector by design
Connects city leadership, employers, education and training providers, workforce systems, and community organizations to strengthen economic pathways.
Built for action
Supports communities in assessing needs, identifying gaps, and implementing coordinated strategies tied to workforce and economic opportunity.
Focused on measurable progress
Centers shared metrics, stronger skills alignment, and improved connections between young people, programs, and employers.
How Youth Champion Communities Works in Practice
YCC is not a single program—it’s a structured approach to building stronger, more connected systems for young people. Communities move through a shared process grounded in data, employer engagement, and long-term alignment.
Data & Shared
Metrics
Communities establish baseline metrics across populations and define shared measures of success. Progress is tracked over time to support real, measurable outcomes.
Employer & Industry
Alignment
Employers help identify in-demand skills early. Communities then map those skills across education and training programs to better align pathways with workforce needs.
Coordinated Systems,
Not Silos
Partners across workforce, education, and community systems align strategies, share information, and work toward common goals instead of operating independently.
Innovation & Future
Readiness
Communities integrate emerging approaches—including AI, apprenticeships, and work-based learning—to prepare young people for the evolving economy.
The Youth Champion Communities Framework
The YCC Framework was developed over more than a year through research, field engagement, and direct input from the people closest to this work. It was shaped by national leaders, field experts, phase one cities, and young people, then piloted and refined to strengthen its practical value for communities.
Research & Discovery
Grounded in research and informed by promising practices from across the field.
Expert & National Input
Shaped through engagement with field experts, national leaders, and cross-sector partners.
Youth Voice
Informed by conversations with young people whose lived experience helped guide the framework.
Phase One Cities
Co-developed with early partner cities to reflect real community conditions, assets, and needs.
Piloting & Refinement
Tested in practice and refined over time to strengthen usability, alignment, and impact.
Three-Phase Engagement Model
How Communities Move from Vision to Action
Youth Champion Communities supports partners through a structured, three-phase process that helps communities assess their landscape, activate cross-sector action, and build toward long-term sustainability.
Community Assessment and Strategic Planning
Communities build a shared understanding of their youth ecosystem, identify strengths and gaps, and align partners around a clear, youth-centered strategic plan.
Action and Implementation
Partners activate the plan through coordinated initiatives, stronger pathways to employment, and deeper alignment across systems, employers, and providers.
Evaluation and Field Building
Communities measure progress, refine strategies, and translate local impact into models, insights, and tools that strengthen the broader field.
What Community Leaders Have to Say
Across Youth Champion Communities, local leaders are helping advance stronger pathways, deeper collaboration, and better outcomes for young people.
When you ask what does a community that best supports its young people look like, we think it looks like Atlanta. The calendar year may have ended, but our commitment to our young people continues. Like the National Youth Employment Coalition, we want to help create better outcomes for all our young people.
This is a major national initiative designed to empower communities of all sizes, assessing and substantially improving their capacities to engage and prepare young people for economic mobility and success. It's heartening to see our community come together to address the challenges faced by our youth and young adults. Together let's continue working toward creating a Youth Champion Community, a community where our youth can thrive, succeed, and achieve their full potential.
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Investing in our young people has proven time and again to help build stronger communities. Albany is proud to be the home of a nationally-renowned, award-winning Summer Youth Employment Program, a year-round program, as well as a number of career growth opportunities. Thank you to NYEC’s Youth Champion Communities Mayors Challenge that is helping us lift up these tremendous programs for the betterment of every young person.
In Richmond, we believe that when young people are seen, heard, and supported, they thrive. Through the Youth Champion Communities Mayors Challenge, we’ve been honored to bring together partners across the City to dream and design real solutions - ones that connect youth to opportunity and build community wealth. This is more than a plan; it’s a movement, and Richmond is proud to be part of this incredible effort.
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Our future depends on our kids, and it's our responsibility to fight for them today. In Scranton, we are closing service gaps and developing meaningful opportunities to engage our youth and improve kids' lives in our community. We're proud to continue our work with the National Youth Employment Coalition as we make Scranton a place where our youth can be successful.
When young people have the right support, there’s no limit to what they can achieve, and in Tampa, we’re proving that every day. We are building pathways to careers and long-term success with help from NYEC’s Youth Champion Communities and local partners like The Skills Center. The momentum is real, and we’re just getting started.
We are committed to making sure every young person in Durham has the resources they need to succeed. By building on Durham's strengths, leveraging mentorship resources, and collaborating with forward-thinking communities, we can set a national example for empowering young people to reach their goals.