By Joel Hicks-Rivera
Research has shown how the interplay of race, gender and where young people grow up can have a significant effect on whether they connect to school and work. There should be little surprise, then, that young people of color are far more likely to be disconnected from education and employment.
Fourteen percent of Hartford’s Latino youth, 8 percent of Black youth and just 5 percent of white youth are classified as “Opportunity Youth,” 16 to 24 year-olds who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in work and experience significant barriers to securing and maintaining employment. Youth service providers believe that the number of Opportunity Youth in Hartford increased drastically during the pandemic, in parallel with an increase in gun violence in the City that has disproportionally involved and impacted this population.
The need to serve Hartford’s youth has never been more urgent.
Last year, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the City of Hartford and Dalio Education announced a $9.85 million, multi-year co-investment strategy designed to ensure a more coordinated continuum of care and opportunities for Opportunity Youth. This inspiring work is being done by COMPASS Youth Collaborative, Our Piece of the Pie (OPP) and Roca, Inc. The three organizations specialize in providing individualized, trauma-informed, high-touch support.
COMPASS has developed and implemented a new model of its Peacebuilders program, increasing the number of violence interrupters who de-escalate conflict and build relationships with the hardest to reach youth. COMPASS Peacebuilders focus on relocating youth impacted by violence and preventing retaliation. COMPASS is also expanding its work to ensure that impacted youth have access to education services, social workers, and work opportunities to create the wraparound services and supports high risk youth need to succeed. COMPASS is partnering with OPP and KNOX Hartford to develop new employment opportunities.
COMPASS participants have been reconnecting with education, developing new job readiness skills, and learning ways to navigate the obstacles that keep them from success. Over the first year of the new Peacebuilder model, COMPASS staff have had more than 6,700 intentional 1-on-1 interactions with youth, conducted more than 1,500 home visits, 450 school visits, and responded to or mediated more than 150 crises.
OPP is creating employment opportunities by substantially increasing the capacity of its Youth Service Corps (YSC). In partnership with the City of Hartford, members of the YSC participate in paid community service learning projects, receive educational supports and job readiness training, and engage in goal setting and personal development workshops. To do this work more effectively, OPP has brought on a new chief operating officer and added two new on-site clinicians.
Roca is new to Hartford but is a well-established youth-serving organization in Massachusetts and Maryland. Their work in Hartford focuses on serving young women – including young mothers – who are victims of trauma, abuse and neglect. Most of the young women served by Roca were referred by the Brother Carl Hardrick Institute, the Connecticut Departments of Children and Families and the Court Support Services Division the City of Hartford.
Roca’s work involves intensive and consistent staff outreach to build trusting relationships. Roca initially focuses on supporting young women’s basic needs for themselves and their children. As they become more engaged, the women have access to a variety of opportunities including GED completion courses, financial literacy assistance and workforce readiness training. They also receive essential life skills assistance in order to learn developmentally appropriate parenting skills and practice harm reduction approaches toward relationships, drugs, and reproductive health.
Recognizing the challenges and needs of Hartford’s Opportunity Youth, COMPASS, OPP and Roca have committed to working with youth for from two to four years, as needed, including reengaging with those who stop participating for as many times as necessary.
Within three years, these organizations are hoping to collectively serve an estimated 1,300 active participants at one time. At the same time, COMPASS and OPP are also engaged in extensive organizational development and capacity building work designed to make their organizations more effective and sustainable.
This effort is a crucial part of the Hartford Foundation’s goal to dismantle structural racism and advance equitable economic and social mobility in Greater Hartford. This work will provide young people with the supports they need to successfully engage in work and school and provide stable and predictable funding for these important nonprofit partners.
No single organization can do the work of supporting Opportunity Youth alone. The Hartford Foundation is grateful for the opportunity to work with the City of Hartford, Dalio Education and these three nonprofits to set our youth on a better course for success. We continue to be inspired by the staff who are doing the hard work every day and the youth who are embracing these opportunities to build better lives for themselves and their families.
Joel Hicks-Rivera is a Senior Community Impact Officer at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for Hartford and 28 surrounding towns.
