Opportunity Youth United and Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum Join National Alliance for Youth and Young Adult Advocates
National Alliance of Youth and Young Adult Advocates (NAYYAA), a national effort to ensure all young people have equitable pathways to adulthood, has added Opportunity Youth United and the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum as partners.
The National Alliance of Youth and Young Adult Advocates focuses on four major areas of work:
Narrative change: With young people, partners, and the media, we will build on existing narrative change efforts to tell a new story about the transition to adulthood.
Data and research: Working with researchers, data scientists, and data users, we will identify data and research projects that will change the services and opportunities available to young people – and make the case that policy change is needed!
Coalition and field building: Many wonderful and strong coalitions exist to advocate for and on behalf of youth and young adults. We will facilitate connections among these coalitions at the local and national levels, harness new grassroots enthusiasm, and increase the capacity for young people and youth workers to engage in this work.
Policy advocacy: With young people, we will pursue shared policy goals, increase the prominence of youth and young adults across policy debates, and create the right configurations to increase receptivity among policymakers.
Opportunity Youth United (OYU) is a national movement of young leaders who have decided to join forces to increase opportunity and decrease poverty in America.
"Opportunity Youth United seeks a robust participatory democracy and equitable access to education and employment for all youth and young adults. We hope to build and expand a National Alliance that will center youth voice, action, and leadership in all its work. Through our connections to communities nationwide, we will ensure that NAYYAA’s vision translates to action by and for young people."
Lashon Amado, Director of Opportunity Youth United
The Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) is a network of over three dozen urban, rural, and tribal communities seeking to scale multiple reconnection pathways that achieve better outcomes in education and employment for opportunity youth. OYF is part of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions (FCS), which promotes collaborative, community-based efforts that build the power and influence of those with the least access to opportunity.
“Through our network of urban, rural, and Indigenous communities, we get to see first-hand the power of systems change and tangible impacts on the life trajectory of young people who often didn’t get a fair first chance at education and career success. We welcome the creation of the National Alliance as a place for these bold local impacts to grow and spread. Through our participation in NAYYAA, we look forward to expanding our work to change narratives about young people, identify the most authentic ways to measure youth and young adult success, and deepen public investment in pathways that work for opportunity youth.”
Steve Patrick, Executive Director of the Forum for Community Solutions
Learn more about the National Alliance at https://nayyaa.org/join.