NEW YORK, May 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Youth INC co-hosted over 250 thought leaders, youth practitioners and funders for the 2nd Annual “State of Youth Development” symposium in New York City in partnership with Algorhythm, the Youth Development Institute (YDI), and the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Professional Studies. The sold-out conference convened the community to share information and best practices that inform everyone on the state of youth and what’s needed to advance their experience. Featured keynote speaker and youth development expert, Dr. Shawn Ginwright spoke eloquently about youth empowerment followed by a panel of young people who discussed what they need from youth workers to achieve their full potential: love, support, care, empathy and ‘showing up.’
The needs that young people identified align perfectly with Social and Emotional Learning (“SEL”) competencies, which are now widely understood by leading scholars across the country as the best predictor of success in school, work, and life. Algorhythm founder and CEO, Dr. Kim Sabo Flores, developed a tool to measure the growth in SEL outcomes of youth served by nonprofit programs. Algorhythm announced their inaugural cohort of 19 HI Impact Award Winners, for their significant accomplishments in driving SEL growth in youth served.
Youth INC’s pioneering Metrics Platform, now in its sixth year, is powered by Algorhythm’s tool and surrounded by a learning community for applying best practices with ongoing coaching. Eight of Youth INC’s nonprofit partners were heavily represented among this inaugural class of Hi Impact award recipients. Dr. Sabo Flores noted, “We believe that the coaching Youth INC provides has been instrumental in helping their eight HI Impact Awardees achieve significant growth in SEL outcomes and outperform their peers.”
Lauren McCort, Youth INC’s Director of Programs, said, “We are thrilled to be transforming youth development by providing access to data and best practices to inform how youth development programs can maximize their impact. We are proud to celebrate the hard work and accomplishments of our partners: ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty); Christodora: Nature, Learning, Leadership; Trail Blazers; Apex for Youth; Fiver Children’s Foundation; Hands in for Youth’s Summer Camps; Play Rugby USA; and Steve’s Camp at Horizon Farms.”
“Intentions are not enough. We need evidence-based, hard data that helps connect best practices and outcomes,” stated Judith Rivkin, Executive Director, Christodora: Nature, Learning, Leadership, one of Youth INC’s nonprofit partners and a Hi Impact Awardee. She added, “Youth INC has been an invaluable partner for our program staff.”
“We appreciate the commitment of our nonprofit partners for their tireless work to improve the lives of all young people across New York City by building their character, their self-esteem, their confidence,” noted Rehana Farrell, Executive Director, Youth INC. “The research has proven that SEL is what drives improved school performance from attendance to grades to graduation and ultimately matriculation to college.”
Farrell added, “Youth INC’s Metrics Platform would not be possible of two of our corporate partners: News Corp and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). We are grateful for their visionary leadership on ongoing commitment to our work to ensure that all young people in New York City can achieve their full potential in life – regardless of the zip code into which they were born.” Now in its 4th year, Youth INC’s partnership with RBC has made a significant and lasting impact on the organization and its ability to innovate and deliver value to its network of 80 nonprofit partners who champion the lives of over 220,000 NYC youth. News Corp was an early investor in the Metrics Platform and commissioned a best practices guide that has shaped how Youth INC approaches its work in impact evaluation.
About Youth INC
Youth INC’s mission is to transform the lives of NYC youth by empowering the organizations that serve them. Youth INC’s network of 80 grassroots nonprofits collectively champion the lives of more than 220,000 young people across New York City. Youth INC provides the coaching, capital and connections to our nonprofit partners to help them achieve sustainable growth and maximize their impact. Our fundraising, governance and impact evaluation programs yield incredible results. Over the course of a partnership with Youth INC, our partners experience an average growth in revenue of 173%, in board size of 33%, and youth served of 157%. Our nonprofits on our Metrics Platform demonstrate 80% growth in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) that scholars now agree is the most predictive indicator of success in school, career and life. Since inception, our venture philanthropy model has empowered over 170 nonprofits and impacted the lives of 1,000,000 NYC youth.
www.youthinc-usa.org
About Our Partner
Algorhythm is an “impact science” company that combines rigorous research and evaluation methods, next generation analytics, and real-time technologies to deliver accurate and actionable insights to social change agents. Algorhythm’s overarching philosophy and approach is best characterized as participatory and focused on targeted and sustainable learning. We empower nonprofit leaders, front-line staff, and youth by equipping them with sustained knowledge, tools, and learning processes that will help them improve their programs and effectively tell their stories with data. For nonprofit organizations of all sizes, budgets and missions, Algorhythm provides simple, enlightened online systems for continuous learning, community sharing, and multi-level empowerment to improve your social impact.
For more information, please contact:
Lauren McCort, Director of Programs, Youth INC
lemmccort@youthinc-usa.org
(212) 401.4059