Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Thrive by 25®

Grantees in Albuquerque, Atlanta and Baltimore are changing the narrative to equip more young people for employment in their communities so they can thrive by 25.

Young People are Thriving and Need Our Continued Support

Today’s young peo­ple — known as Gen­er­a­tion Z, born between 1995 and 2010 — are our best-edu­cat­ed yet, and the pos­si­bil­i­ties for them are end­less. But their progress is uneven. We’ve become increas­ing­ly con­cerned about the mil­lions of teens and young adults who are strug­gling to suc­ceed in school, to secure good jobs, to achieve finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty and to man­age anx­i­ety and depres­sion. They’ve shared how they lack the sup­port need­ed to over­come these chal­lenges. Youth of col­or, who now rep­re­sent near­ly half of young peo­ple, are more like­ly to face dis­crim­i­na­to­ry poli­cies and prac­tices that can thwart their suc­cess. The health and eco­nom­ic crises of the past year have exac­er­bat­ed all of these issues, under­min­ing gains made over the pre­vi­ous decade in recon­nect­ing young peo­ple with school and work.

These youth are not beyond hope — quite the oppo­site. They have bold dreams and aspi­ra­tions, and we’ve been inspired in our own work to see the incred­i­ble and strong lead­ers they already are and can become in their com­mu­ni­ties and the wider world. Yet we often don’t invest to help them make their dreams a real­i­ty and grow into the most pro­duc­tive and pur­pose­ful indi­vid­u­als they can be. The Casey Foun­da­tion aims to lever­age its exper­tise and part­ner­ships to sup­port youth in forg­ing their own paths — and iden­ti­fy­ing solu­tions that enable them to over­come the obsta­cles they may encounter along the way.

About Thrive by 25 and Casey’s Com­mit­ment to All Kids

For more than sev­en decades, the Foun­da­tion has been com­mit­ted to build­ing a brighter future for America’s chil­dren, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties and work­ing to ensure that all young peo­ple — no mat­ter their race, back­ground or ZIP code — can real­ize their full potential.

To advance this work, Casey announced an increased focus on young peo­ple ages 14 through 24. This deci­sion is root­ed in research indi­cat­ing that rapid brain devel­op­ment, iden­ti­ty for­ma­tion and growth occur dur­ing this peri­od — and impor­tant impli­ca­tions for suc­cess in adulthood.

Through Thrive by 25, the Foun­da­tion will devote half of its grant mak­ing over the next decade to coor­di­nat­ing and con­nect­ing pro­grams, sys­tems and resources in five key areas to help youth thrive. These areas are:

1. Basic needs: Young peo­ple need imme­di­ate sup­port to meet their basic needs — food, hous­ing, safe­ty, phys­i­cal and men­tal health, trans­porta­tion and child care — so that they can focus on long-term goals and become self-sufficient.

2. Per­ma­nent con­nec­tions: Young peo­ple deserve to have sta­ble, per­ma­nent con­nec­tions with a lov­ing fam­i­ly and oth­er sup­port­ive and car­ing rela­tion­ships with adults in their com­mu­ni­ty who can help them nav­i­gate school, work, finances and life issues.

3. Edu­ca­tion and cre­den­tials: Young peo­ple should have the sup­port they need to grad­u­ate from high school and obtain a post­-sec­ondary cre­den­tial that will posi­tion them for eco­nom­ic success.

4. Finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty: Young peo­ple need access to tra­di­tion­al or entre­pre­neur­ial employ­ment and finan­cial tools and prod­ucts that allow them to build sav­ings and credit.

5. Youth lead­er­ship: Young peo­ple can devel­op skills to advo­cate for them­selves, pro­mote poli­cies that will help them and their fam­i­lies suc­ceed and play a lead­er­ship role in mak­ing their com­mu­ni­ties stronger and safer over the long term.

Read more about the launch of Thrive by 25

Thrive by 25 Partners

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has launched mul­ti­year part­ner­ships in three com­mu­ni­ties — in Albu­querque, New Mex­i­co; Atlanta and Bal­ti­more — as part of its Thrive by 25® com­mit­ment to invest­ing in the well-being and suc­cess of young peo­ple ages 14 through 24.

These part­ner­ships will help guide com­pre­hen­sive local efforts — already under­way — to advance oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple. The goal in each place is the same: Help youth build skills and enter the work­force while sup­port­ing their basic needs and rela­tion­ships with fam­i­ly and mentors.

Pro­vid­ing both grants and exper­tise, Casey will work with a lead part­ner in each com­mu­ni­ty. These are:

• Future Focused Edu­ca­tion, an intern­ship and work-based learn­ing orga­ni­za­tion in Albuquerque; 

• Unit­ed Way of Greater Atlanta; and

• Baltimore’s Promise, a city­wide col­lab­o­ra­tive com­posed of pub­lic, busi­ness, high­er edu­ca­tion, non­prof­it, com­mu­ni­ty and phil­an­thropic leaders.

Read About Thrive by 25® Part­ner­ships in Three Communities

Want to Learn More?

To learn more about partnering with these organizations and the Foundation’s Thrive by 25 effort, contact Marissa Fletcher at mfletcher@aecf.org.