Innovative Community Initiatives Designed To Promote Well-Being For Young People And Prevent Systems Involvement
“We need to know first-hand what it feels like to walk in the same shoes as those we’re trying to support.”
“All money isn’t good money.”
“We need a runway to innovate, iterate, take risks and make mistakes.”
“We need to think like a venture capitalist.”
“We’re measuring culture shift in the quality of the relationships for young people.”
These are just some of the quotable moments that occurred during YTFG’s five-part series to examine innovative community initiatives designed to promote well-being for young people and prevent systems involvement. This learning series was created at the request of YTFG’s members who were seeking to learn about new initiatives that center and empower community to support equity and well-being. During this series, we explored:
what it takes to build and sustain community designed initiative for young people and their families:
how the voices of those most impacted are centered in the work; and
what community designed efforts need from funders to remain aligned in their values and true to their commitments to the community.
Here are some insights that funders should consider when investing in community-designed and community led efforts:
For community-designed initiatives to work, they need to center the voices and leadership of those in the community who are most impacted.
The efforts we learned about are all led/founded by individuals who have shared the same struggles as those in the community they seek to support, and there is an unapologetic commitment to lifting these voices to mutually solve community challenges. At Smart from the Start, for instance, residents of the community interview and hire staff, sit on the executive board of directors, help design evaluations, vet the assessments they use and are integrally involved in the strategic planning process. At the Young Women’s Freedom Center, it is those young people who are most impacted who created the Sister Warriors Freedom Charter, which serves as the North Star for their vision of securing the rights of young women as they work toward decriminalization and de-carceration of women, girls and trans people. These initiatives seek the autonomy to center the voices of community and to partner with those who share these values.Community-designed initiatives need to access funding that is in alignment with their values.
Leaders of these initiatives told stories about having to reject or give back funding that doesn’t align with their “community first” values. For instance, one organization told the story of a funder who wanted to require background checks for community residents involved in the work. Another returned funding from a public system that wanted to create a more formal structure than was comfortable for the organization. “We need public dollars, but we can’t work with those who want to dictate and co-opt our work,” shared one of the presenters. Those leading the work are careful about who they bring on as partners and are always as clear in their proposals about how they do the work as they are about what they do.Leaders of community-designed initiatives are committed to demonstrating impact but need to identify data points that are meaningful to the community and to be accountable to community priorities.
Presenters emphasized the importance of creating the data and evaluation systems from the bottom up by partnering with young people and families to set the parameters of the evaluation. They also encouraged foundations to take a long-term view of evaluation results by viewing progress as impact. At The Hive, for instance, they are focused on asking “what progress are we making today that allows us to continue the work?” rather than focusing solely on the hard data. Presenters also encouraged foundations to be patient as they iterate over time. This includes the desire to partner with funders who can partner over the long term, with an understanding of the nature of healing centered and organic work.Those leading community-designed initiatives seek a different kind of relationship with philanthropy than non-profits have had in the past.
Specifically, they are looking for stronger relationships, more flexibility, and longer-term commitments. This includes relationships with funders who will help them build new economic models to sustain the work and open doors to wealth and capital to build new systems of support for young people and their families. “We don’t just need your dollars,” shared one presenter, “we need you to be bold and use your voice to move in circles that we’re not a part of.”
Finally, we heard loud and clear that communities are not waiting for systems to transform themselves. The leaders of the community-designed initiatives we heard from were clear that their communities can’t wait for youth and family serving systems to innovate. They are committed to building leadership from within the community, designing new systems of healing and support for young people and their families, and creating new narratives about what’s possible when communities are at the center of the solutions.
Moving forward, YTFG will continue to identify examples and best practices for investing in community-centered solutions aimed at advancing youth and family well-being and preventing systems involvement. This learning series served as the foundation for continuing exploration about how community can most effectively partner with systems, influence policy and practice, and build capacity to realize their vision: a vision to minimize the negative impact of systems in the lives of young people and advancing innovative community-designed and community-led solutions
