Since 2012, the Forum for Community Solutions’ Opportunity Youth Forum has worked with more than two dozen communities across the United States to connect youth to education and career pathways. To date we have partnered with national and local funders to make more than $15 million in new investments to these communities. Additionally, we have leveraged more than a one-to-one match in additional investments. Also:

• Through the Opportunity Works initiative we made $6 million in grants to seven communities to build out postsecondary pathways for boys and men of color with our partner Jobs for the Future.
• Our Opportunity Youth Forum/Fund has made more than $2 million in investments in five “Demonstration Cities” focused on improving youth employment. These Pathways to Careers Fund grants have supported 18 projects to date with more than $1.6 million in additional funding planned.
• Through our partnership with Google, the Opportunity Youth Forum/Fund has granted $200,000 in technology resources to three communities.
• Our Youth Entrepreneurship Fund has granted $270,000 to three communities for entrepreneurship education programs, with support from the Mott Foundation.
• From 2015 through 2017 an estimated $58.4 million public dollars has been leveraged across the Opportunity Youth Forum/Fund network.

We continue to be the largest investor in the youth-led movement supporting opportunity youth through our annual grant to Opportunity Youth United. Additionally, we are a major funder of policy and advocacy strategies that uplift opportunity youth through an annual grant to the Forum for Youth Investment/Opportunity Youth Network.

These investments and the efforts of many of our partner organizations, leaders and young people, have contributed to reducing the number of opportunity youth to 4.6 million, a difference of more than 1 million.

For a full list of investors in the work of the Forum for Community Solutions, click here.

We continue to design grant-making initiatives and strategies that establish long-term pathways for opportunity youth. Contact us if you are interested in investing in our work, or click here.