Sustainability is a critical issue for youth programs and initiatives. Time-limited grants, narrow categorical funding streams, and difficult economic conditions leave program leaders in a continual struggle to find a stable base of resources to continue their program over time. The profiles listed below look analytically at how programs have effectively implemented a range of sustainability strategies, including accessing a range of funding sources, using existing resources more effectively and developing community partnerships. While the success of various strategies depends heavily on characteristics of the local community, these profiles cull out the elements of success that can be transferred and applied in other sites and locations.
Youth United for Change (YUC)
Y.U.C is a youth organizing nonprofit organization dedicated to developing young leaders in Philadelphia and empowering them to improve the quality of education and services in their communities to better meet their needs.
Wide Angle Youth Media (Wide Angle)
Widw Angle is a non-profit organization in Baltimore, MD, that provides Baltimore youth with opportunities to use video technology, critical thinking, and public speaking skills to tell their stories, become critical consumers and skilled producers of media.
Hope Street Youth Development (HSYD)
HSYD is a youth organizing organization in Wichita, KS, that seeks to engage young people in opportunities where they gain leadership skills and build power in order to reach their full potential and contribute to positive social change.
Hampton Youth Commission
The Hampton Youth Commission, established in 1997, is one of numerous initiatives implemented by the City of Hampton to support youth engagement in the community.
Critical Exposure
Critical Exposure is a youth media making organization whose goal is to help students and organizations advocate more effectively for school reform and social change through the power of documentary photography and youth voice.
Boys & Girls Club of the Smoky Mountains
Operates several out-of-school time programs to benefit youth, especially teens, at five different sites in Sevierville, Tennessee and surrounding communities.
The Door
A comprehensive program relying on entrepreneurial leadership and serving 8,000 youth from all five boroughs of New York City.
Fort Worth AfterSchool Program
The Fort Worth Afterschool (FWAS) Program, provides afterschool activities for nearly 7,200 school-age children in Fort Worth, Texas ensuring its long-term sustainability through a dedicated local tax revenue stream developed to support crime prevention while also building public-private partnerships to leverage additional resources.
The Garage
THE GARAGE youth center actively engages local youth in planning safe and recreational activities for teens in Burnsville, MN.
Kids on the Block
Afterschool programs offer recreation- and enrichment-based activities such as science, sports, arts and crafts, and other games, to youth in grades 1 through 5 in McMinnville, Oregon.
Latin American Youth Center’s YouthBuild Public Charter School
The Latin American Youth Center’s long-running YouthBuild program converted to a YouthBuild Public Charter School to improve educational offerings to at-risk youth in Washington, D.C. while gaining access to local education funding.
PlusTime New Hampshire
A statewide intermediary organization dedicated to creating, improving and sustaining afterschool programming throughout New Hampshire.
Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment Initiative
Supported by a dedicated local funding stream, the PIT initiative emphasizes community collaboration in planning for youth programs and crime prevention strategies in Little Rock, AR.
The Workplace Learning Connection
An intermediary organization serving East Central Iowa that has built capacity to sustain regional school-to-career activities through the engagement of educators and employers along with a results-based focus.
