The two-year, $650K investment will benefit thousands of young people in YouthBuild programs with enhanced service learning, civic leadership and workforce-connected community impact
YouthBuild Global, headquarters for the YouthBuild movement, has received a $650,000 grant from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, to strengthen service learning, civic engagement and leadership development across the YouthBuild network.
The two-year investment will fund direct subgrants to local programs selected through a competitive process and build upon YouthBuild Global’s existing capacity to provide training and technical assistance to local YouthBuild programs nationwide. This targeted investment is focused on the service and civic leadership pillars of the YouthBuild model.
The funding will provide:
- Training, coaching and technical assistance from YouthBuild Global to strengthen local programs’ service-learning and civic leadership work.
- Subgrants to local programs to implement service-learning exchanges, community asset projects and other youth-led, locally defined service work, including affordable housing construction, disaster response, conservation and food distribution.
- Stronger connections between service and civic leadership experiences, and workforce credentials, career pathways and postsecondary opportunities for opportunity youth.
- A new field-facing toolkit and other resources to help YouthBuild programs nationwide strengthen service learning and civic engagement beyond the grant period.
The investment furthers YouthBuild’s proven, longstanding model of engaging opportunity youth with education, workforce credentials and leadership, while bolstering the connection between service and long-term career, credential and civic outcomes. This effort also reflects a growing body of evidence of service benefitting both the recipient as well as the provider. Young people who serve as builders and responders in their own communities for their neighbors often experience a boost in purpose, connection and belonging that YouthBuild has long seen firsthand. Grant support from Carnegie for this targeted work will champion thousands of young people across the U.S. as they complete service, job training, and leadership development activities in their communities.
“Service has always been at the heart of the YouthBuild model—whether it’s young people building homes for their neighbors, responding to disasters, assisting seniors, or so many other actions of care,” said John Valverde, president and CEO of YouthBuild Global. “This investment from Carnegie will help YouthBuild Global expand and deepen that work with local programs, allowing for more young people to step into leadership, build the skills required for family-sustaining careers and improve their communities.”
“At Carnegie, we invest in civic opportunities that help young people lead,” said Ambika Kapur, a program director for Education at the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. “This grant will help YouthBuild programs deliver more service-learning and civic leadership training, and connect that work to the credentials and careers young people need to improve their communities.”
Across the United States, approximately 4.3 million young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither employed nor enrolled in school. Often referred to as opportunity youth, these young people are too frequently defined by potential barriers rather than their immense potential. YouthBuild programs around the world operate at the intersection of education, workforce readiness and positive youth development, partnering with these driven young leaders as they complete high school or equivalency credentials, gain hands-on training in high-demand fields, develop skills through service and prepare for long-term, family-sustaining careers.
YouthBuild Global unifies and partners with an expansive network of more than 340 YouthBuild programs around the world—including over 250 programs in 47 U.S. states and territories. From training, technical assistance, capacity building, and innovative program enhancements to leadership development, financial stability, and narrative change and public policy, YouthBuild Global serves as a convener, collaborator and catalyst for the entire YouthBuild movement. For almost 50 years, YouthBuild programs have championed young people who are out of school and out of work as they reclaim their education, gain job skills and credentials, and become leaders in their communities.
About the Andrew Carnegie Foundation
The Andrew Carnegie Foundation was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. Today the foundation works to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for the issues that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and peace. https://carnegie.org/
