The following includes snipets from the official press release from America's Promise Alliance. You can read the complete annoucement including the other awardees HERE.
WASHINGTON, D.C.– The YES Project—Young, Employed, Successful—a national youth employment initiative led by America's Promise Alliance, announced today the selection of six community-level grantees to host Virtual Action Roundtable conversations in partnership with employers and young workers. Based on the roundtable conversations and ongoing collaboration, employers and young people will co-design meaningful strategies to improve belonging and inclusion in the workplace for employees of color. All employer partners have committed to implementing at least one co-designed strategy by the end of the year.
Each of the following organizations will receive a $20,000 investment: Central Georgia Technical College Foundation in Macon, Ga.; Greater Stark County Urban League in Canton, Ohio; Kalamazoo Youth Development Network in Kalamazoo, Mich.; Rural Schools Innovation Zone in Premont, Texas; The Pittsburgh Promise in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Tri-County Cradle to Career Collaborative in North Charleston, S.C.
The Virtual Action Roundtable grants reflect a key finding identified in the YES Project’s youth-centered research: that young people view their?work and their lives?as deeply intertwined. This means that success in the workplace requires a multi-dimensional, whole-person approach that acknowledges and values all aspects of one’s identity. These Action Roundtable Conversations intentionally center the perspectives of?young people of color, who?are often excluded from employers’ decision-making.
“Our research has reinforced the notion that young employees—and all employees—do best when they can bring all of who they are to work,” said Mike O’Brien, CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. “These Action Roundtables are an opportunity to put that idea into practice by centering the perspectives of young employees of color to drive the change needed to create workplace environments that allow for equity, inclusion, and belonging.”
Dates for the Virtual Action Roundtable conversations will be announced later this month. The grantees who will co-facilitate the Virtual Action Roundtable conversations and subsequent co-design of strategies include:
Greater Stark County Urban League (GSCUL)—Canton, Ohio:?GSCUL works to help African Americans and others in underserved communities achieve social parity, economic self-reliance, power, and civil rights. GSCUL will engage a diverse and committed group of employer partners—Aultman Health Foundation, Akron-Canton Airport, and Kenan Advantage Group—who aim to be role models for peer employers who want to improve their work environments. Once the Action Roundtable project is complete, GSCUL plans to leverage existing infrastructure provided through the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce to share the lessons learned from these roundtables and investigate how the recommendations might be able to influence employers throughout the region.
"We are proud to support this endeavor to center the voices of young workers of color in efforts to increase workplace inclusion and belonging,” said Mylayna Albright, Assistant Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at AT&T. “We know these roundtable discussions and ongoing collaboration between employers, young people, community organizations will result in meaningful transformation that employers around the country can learn from and replicate.”
The Virtual Action Roundtables are made possible through the generous financial support of AT&T; the guidance of steering committee and alliance members; and insight from corporations, foundations, and individuals who invest their resources and time into the YES Project’s mission.?https://www.americaspromise.org/yes