Accomplishments:
- When the Minnesota state government shut down in 2011, Youth Community Connections (YCC) and Youthprise secured continued funding for the summer food program when funding for other state programs was being withheld. This success ensured children and youth could continue to access food through their summer programs.
- YCC published Supporting Youth Success, a policy report that aims to align and connect learning opportunities in the classroom with those in the community. This framework sets a vision for partners of the statewide alliance and provides a strong foundation for the work of Youthprise.
- YCC, and now Youthprise, convened the Youth Funders Forum, which brings together public, private, corporate and community funders to support quality programs and practices.
- YCC was one of nine applicants nationwide awarded a grant to host a Mayoral Summit in 2012.
Current Projects and Initiatives:
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Youthprise is working with local communities to build their capacity to provide high-quality learning opportunities in the community and the classroom. The goals of this pilot are to build champions for youth and learning beyond the classroom, build public will in support of learning that takes place in the community and expand knowledge about the benefits of investing in quality learning beyond the classroom. This work is taking place in the five communities in the first year and a core part of Youthprise’s strategic investments is a plan to invest in additional communities in 2012-13:
- City of St. Paul.
- City of Minneapolis.
- Cities of Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center.
- Cities of Mankato and North Mankato.
- Minnesota’s 11 Tribal Nations.
- Youthprise is working with public agencies and private, corporate and community foundations to build support for quality practice and programs.
- With support from the National League of Cities and numerous local partners, Youthprise is organizing a Mayoral Summit in 2012 to build new champions for learning beyond the classroom among mayors and school board members across the state. The Mayoral Summit will highlight the successes and lessons learned from the community-capacity building pilots and utilize the Supporting Youth Success report as a lens for discussion.
- Youthprise is working with partners in Minnesota’s Statewide Afterschool Alliance to monitor public policy developments at the state and federal level, develop our own legislative priorities, build relationships with the Governor’s office and the newly established Children’s Cabinet and mobilize our statewide network to advocate with elected officials for afterschool programs and policies.
- Youthprise is supporting the development of a statewide youth council and municipal youth councils to involve youth in advocating for policy and systems changes, including a Youth Day at the Capitol in March 2012.