Investments in Youth & Young Adults
Workforce Development & Pathways to Career Readiness
As a grantmaker focused on providing access to quality learning experiences, some of our work in recent years has focused on developing young adults’ future orientation and efforts to provide hands-on experiential learning opportunities that not only expose them to future career paths but enable young adults to explore their identities and build agency and leadership skills.
Our Community’s Children launched GRow1000 in summer of 2020 as part of a community effort to provide young people with summer employment. In 2024, we supported its Employer’s Community of Practice to help employers best support GRow1000 youth in likely their first professional jobs, by building the internal systems and structures to effectively onboard and retain them throughout the summer and create pathways to continue employment beyond GRow1000.
Through a partnership with The Source and AYA Youth Collective we supported a three-year initiative to help young people with barriers to employment by providing career readiness, resource navigation, and job placement with supportive employers. Many of the youth participants face discrimination due to their race, gender identity or sexual orientation, or homelessness, and may require flexible schedules or help with transportation or mental of physical health needs to effectively maintain long-term employment. By combining The Source’s expertise in employment with AYA’s knowledge of this unique population of young people, they can partner together to find solutions that benefit both youth and employers for mutually beneficial lasting relationships.
Educate Tomorrow’s Changemakers program provides mentorship and peer-to-peer support services for youth with experience in foster care, by placing Changemakers on campuses throughout Kent County.
Grand Rapids African American Health Institute’s My Pace program prepares youth for careers in the healthcare field, guiding youth from 3rd grade through adulthood with hands-on exploratory and clinical simulations, college tours and exposure to professionals of color so they can see themselves in their future career path.
Davenport University’s Casa Latina program provides a unique bilingual online degree program, where students receive a full suite of online academic programming, services, and wraparound support to receive degree proficiency in English and Spanish.
City of Rest’s GRACE Program provides life skills training, mentorship, and vocational education to youth in juvenile detention to encourage personal growth and empowerment for young people on the road to personal transformation.
Hear from our partners supporting workforce development/pathway exploration to prepare young people for their futures.
