About:

The story of Texas today is a tale of two states.  With a population of over 30 million people, Texas is the 9^th largest economy in the world. Over the last decade, we have experienced unprecedented growth and economic prosperity. In addition to energy, we’ve become a high-tech hub, space leader, and medical fields powerhouse, responsible for one quarter of all US exports.

At the same time, one in ten of our nation’s opportunity youth and young adults, an estimated 520,000, are Texan. Even as our public and higher education systems seek to increase high school and postsecondary completion rates for all students, barriers and inequities in these systems result in higher rates of disconnection among our Black, Latinx and Native American young Texans.

We know that the return on investment for re-engaging our youth and young adults could shape the future of the state as we cultivate the full potential of a diverse and passionate generation of Texas leaders. Such an investment could return billions of dollars to communities throughout the state, enable many more families to access economic prosperity and transform education and career pathways so that each and every youth and young adult not only feels connected to and a part of these systems, but actively commits to their equity and excellence.

In 2021, the Aspen Institute’s Forum for Community Solutions and Opportunity Youth Forum launched the Texas Opportunity Youth Network (TOYN), a statewide initiative dedicated to building the expertise and capacity for communities across the state to re-engage and support their opportunity youth as these young adults seek to achieve their education, career and community leadership goals. Two thirds of the state’s opportunity youth live in communities that are part of TOYN.

The network’s goal is to increase the number of opportunity youth who are re-engaged and to transform state systems to that the experience of disconnection is rare, brief and non-recurring.  TOYN consists of three constituents:

• Texas Emerging Leaders Board – led by TNOYS, this board consists of young leaders from across the state who advise programs, guide community solutions and advocate for strong and supportive youth policy.
• TOYN Leadership Council – which consists of regional, state and national philanthropy, thought partners and state agencies designed to increase resources to this population, identify system barriers and support transformation to help ensure access to opportunities leading to success across all demographics and lived experiences.
• TOYN Community of Practice – consists of organizations in eleven communities in Texas ranging from Amarillo to Jasper to the Rio Grande Valley and Dallas and points in between.  The providers engage in peer learning, capacity and expertise building to increase their effectiveness in implementing OY programming and pathways and lift up systems barriers that merit deeper exploration and transformation.

We are grateful for our funding, thought and agency partners: