Goals

Goals

Across the Greater Washington Region, since the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 206,000 children and young adults are not in school, not employed, or are at risk of dropping out of school, according to American Community Survey data.

Our Goals?

  • Ensure all youth in the Greater Washington Region are healthy, happy, and have living wage employment by the age of 25.
  • Lead the effort to cut this number in half.

How?

Our current investments and collaborative action networks work from cradle to career to support children and youth in all nine jurisdictions in the Greater Washington Area.

Our Outcomes

To measure progress toward our goals, Youth Invest Partners has identified two priority outcomes to continuously evaluate our work. These milestones are rooted in decades of research identifying them as very strong predictors of long-term child/youth success.
Priority Outcomes
Foundational Outcomes
Supportive Outcomes

Priority Outcomes

All youth in the region will be able to read (proficient in Reading / English / Language Arts) by the end of 3rd grade
Why:

Third grade reading is a strong indicator of on-time high school graduation. The American education system is designed to teach students to learn to read through 3rd grade. By 4th grade, the assumption is that students can read. If a student can’t read by fourth grade, they can quickly fall behind in their learning.

All youth in the region will successfully graduate from high school in four years or obtain a GED.
Why:

This is frequently a minimum life outcome for future success – although some will argue that it needs to be post-secondary completion, and others will argue that success can be achieved without a HS diploma or GED. It is much more challenging to achieve a sustainable or living income without at least a HS diploma / GED.

In addition to our priority outcomes, our framework highlights additional evidence-based outcomes that are proven to have an impact on the long-term life outcomes for children. These identified outcomes support our priority outcomes and goals. As our investments and collaborative action networks grow, all of our work will tie back to these outcomes, and we will use them to track the progress of our work.

Foundational Outcomes

Food security

Food security

Safe and stable housing

Safe and stable housing

Connection to caring adult

Connection to caring adult

Good physical health

Good physical health

Good mental health

Good mental health

Supportive Outcomes

Post-secondary completion

Post-secondary completion

Industry recognized certification

Industry recognized certification

Post-secondary enrollment

Post-secondary enrollment

Career and college ready skills

Career and college ready skills

Social and emotional skills

Social and emotional skills

Learn More About Youth Invest Partners
Advancing Early Education Collaborative
In the District of Columbia, most early childcare educators are Black and Latina women and only one-fifth of all ...
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District Student Well-Being Data Project
Our 2020 Capital Kids report found that there were 160,000 children and youth in Greater Washington disconnected ...
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VPP + Raise DC
is now Youth
Invest Partners

In June of 2000, Venture Philanthropy Partners opened it doors,
spurred by the efforts of three founders who asked themselves,

“Could the business world provide a different, innovative
approach to social change?”

In the years that followed, VPP quickly became a strategic hub for high-impact
investments through deep and sustained partnerships with foundations, businesses,
government agencies and school systems.

In April of 2020, VPP formed a strategic alliance with Raise DC to build an investment
organization capable of driving alignment among communities, and nonprofit, business
and regional leaders around systems change. VPP+Raise DC committed to call out and
confront policies, practices and systems that contribute to racial inequity.

Today, we recognize the need to do more, be bolder, and act faster. Youth Invest Partners
is a call to “dream big and do big” to drive change that will build better futures for
Greater Washington youth today and in the days, months and years to come. Our new
name and brand reflects energy and focus as we collaborate, innovate and transform.