YOUTHBUILD USA STORYTELLINGPLATFORM

DECEMBER 2012

SUCCESS

Over 250 local YouthBuild programs in urban and rural communities.

Engaged over 110,000 low income young people.

Built over 21,000 units of affordable, increasingly green housing.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

A minimum of $7.80 for every dollar spent on a YouthBuild student.

IMPACT

75% in college or employed at an average wage of $10/hour up to 7 years after program completion.

YOUTHBUILD USA

Providing training and opportunities that give voice to the collective wisdom of young people*across America.

*Opportunity youth: 6.7 million youth ages 16 to 24 who are out of school and out of work, do not hold a college degree, are not disabled to prevent long-term employment, and are not incarcerated.

RESOURCES FOR BUILDING LOCAL AND NATIONAL NETWORKS ARE SCARCE.

LIFE AND FAMILY CHALLENGES RECUR.

SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE UNDERDEVELOPED.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT RESOURCES ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT KEY MOMENTS.

CHALLENGE: GRADUATESIn addition to the support and successful achievement of key milestones through their participation in YouthBuild programs, graduates seek an ongoing and powerful community of peers across the country interested in improving their lives and communities.

FOR THE 16–24 AGE GROUP, AT LEAST 6.7 MILLION (17%) ARE CURRENTLY ‘OPPORTUNITY YOUTH’.

33% OF ALL STUDENTS LEAVE HIGH SCHOOL WITHOUT A DIPLOMA AND IN LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES THE PERCENTAGE IS 50%.

EVERY 16–24 YEAR OLD WHO IS OUT OF SCHOOL AND OUT OF WORK WILL COST THE TAXPAYER $226,000 IN DIRECT COSTS AND $704,000 IN SOCIAL COSTS.

CHALLENGE: PUBLICKey issues affecting youth in America are not part of the national conversation on a consistent and human-scale level.

Issues like high school dropout rates, gang violence, teen pregnancy, and the criminal justice system are seen by policy makers as “other” and seldom have a face.

Programs and solutions are mostly deficit-based and fail to recognize the spirit of individual accomplishment.

STORYTELLING PLATFORMUse the power of storytelling to build a scalable, digital support network of community peers and engaged citizens for YouthBuild graduates to connect and share their stories of success with. This will spark the conversations that raise awareness of the possibilities for extraordinary young adults in America.

SOLUTION

RESOURCESProvide critical resources targeted at youth needs (jobs, family, finances, education) to improve outcomes, expand choices and foster greater civic engagement.

SUPPORTProvide access to positive influence and support from a peer community.

MOTIVATIONProvide inspiration through sharing of peer success.

IMPACTOutreach to the public with inspiring stories of transfor-mation.

FUNDINGBuild a sustainable online donor community.

AUDIENCE: GRADUATE COMMUNITYActively seeking a community of support from peers as they move through life transitions.

Looking for opportunities to engage more deeply on an ongoing basis with local and national YouthBuild affiliates and individuals to both share their learning and expertise and receive advice and support from the graduate community.

NEEDS

Seeking community, advice, and support from peers with similar life experience (a community they trust).

Inspired by stories and exposure to others (nationally) whom they perceive as being “like me.”

Hungry for access to information and insight into jobs, mentorships, and opportunities for self-improvement.

Want to be empowered to motivate (currently) disconnected YouthBuild grads to reconnect.

Motivated by successfully achieving life milestones.

Need an easy way to access information, make connections, and get advice.

AUDIENCE: PUBLICNONPROFIT PARTNERS “Natural audience” of other issues-based organizations, foundations, universities, and churches.

CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS Businesses who want a meaningful connection to the issues they support.

POLICY MAKERS Elected and appointed officials in government office who set policy that affects opportunity youth.

INDIVIDUALS Those inclined through charitable aid or donations to increase opportunities for young people.

NEEDS

Are motivated by stories of success.

Looking for easy ways to engage meaningfully in the context of their busy lives and multiple entreaties for time and support.

Opportunity lies with issues at the intersection of opportunity youth and the pubic sector: sustainability, education, local politics, criminal justice, etc.

Stories of successful graduate leaders demonstrate the value of community investment intitiatives to their public and shareholders.

To be inspired and informed by the realities low income youth face and the power of change when given access to adequate opportunity.

APPROACH

ADVOCATE

DISCOVER

SHARE

SUPPORT

CONNECT

COLLECT

MENTOR

ACT

GRADUATE COMMUNITY: MOBILE APPMobile App at the center of the platform for the YouthBuild Community.

PUBLIC: MICROSITEMicrosite at the center of the platform for the Public.

APPROACH

COLLECT Create stories of life and success on the Smartphone. Post to the Story Board and share with friends on YouTube and Vimeo. Watch stories of others like you around the country and build an inspiring community of shared experience.

CONNECT Stay connected and build new relationships with one-click access to all of the social media platforms to integrate with the tools, pages, communities, and issue forums you already use (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.)

MENTOR Search for people who have similar profiles and challenges. Ask and provide advice, support, and inspiration from other graduates who have signed up to offer their time and life experience as Micro-Mentors.

ACT Be inspired to act in your own and your communities’ best interests. Learn about specific opportunities to gather, be heard, and influence the conversation about youth in America and around the corner.

DISCOVER Find out more about YouthBuild USA and the issues affecting opportunity youth through online videos of inspiring stories by the YouthBuild graduate commu-nity. Search by Issue, Location, or Profile. Discover the power of public narrative and how it can lead to meaningful action.

SHARE Be inspired to share the personal stories of YouthBuild graduates to spread the story of YouthBuild’s impact on people and communities, and the issues that matter most.

SUPPORT Simple ways to donate financially to YouthBuild directly from the site, as well as to learn about opportunities to support individual graduates through donations of time, tuition fees, and employment opportunities.

ADVOCATE Take action to support the issues directly affecting YouthBuild, opportunity youth, and local communities with simple-to-use templates and connections to legislators and organizations on topics that make a difference.

PUBLIC MICROSITEYOUTHBUILD MOBILE APP

YOUTHBUILD USAVALUE PROPOSITION

1Ongoing connections to graduates and a strengthening of the YouthBuild community of engaged citizens.

2Increased long-term success-ful outcomes for graduates of YouthBuild programs.

3Thought leadership on issues critical to low income youth and the elimination of poverty.

4Expand the reach of current conferences and events and deepen the relationships forged in those settings.

5Sustainable funding sources and ongoing support for expansion of programs.

6Access to a larger community of support and advocacy for issues that are critical to YouthBuild’s mission.

7Reproducible platform that can be leveraged and applied to other similar nonprofit organizations.

GRADUATE COMMUNITYVALUE PROPOSITION

1Increased connection to others, both within the YouthBuild commu-nity as well as across society at large.

6Raised consciousness that leads to action and support on behalf of all young people.

2Access to increased opportunities for education, mentorship, funding, and life skills.

7Tangible evidence of their efforts and success.

3Sense of community and support network that has been missing.

8Inspiration to help improve the lives of others in their commu-nity and society.

4Celebration of key milestones by a larger community of concerned individuals.

9Skills that help them communicate an asset-based narrative of their experiences.

5Support, motivation, and crisis management tools to help keep them on track after their core YouthBuild program has ended.

PUBLICVALUE PROPOSITION

1A clear call to America to invest in its youth.

2An informed public with awareness of the issues and potential positive outcomes for opportunity youth in America.

3Raised consciousness that leads to action and support on behalf of young people.

4Opportunities for involvement, support (donations) and advocacy with tangible and direct outcomes to YouthBuild and graduates.

5Removes a level of abstraction and creates a direct link to support.

6Inspiration to help improve the lives of others in their community and society.

7Access to information and simple ways to engage in making a meaningful difference.

MEASURES OF SUCCESSGRADUATE COMMUNITY

Increase the connection to YouthBuild graduate community from the current 3,000 contacts to 10,000.

SUCCESS STORIES

Create a story trove of 300 graduate success narratives.

FELLOWSHIP GROUPS

Increase the number of actively involved graduates from 100 to 1000 actively engaged in fellowship groups.

GRADUATE ACTIONS

Execute 10,000 graduate actions annually.

SPONSORSHIP/ SUPPORT

500 contributions for sponsorship/support from donors for graduates.

POLICY CHANGES

At least 5 opportunity youth-focused policy initiatives enacted each year.

ADVOCACY LETTERS

Support for local Youth-Build-specific initiatives results in a min. of 1000 advocacy letters generated through the site to legislators.

BROADCAST

Each inspiring story highlighted on the YouthBuild site will be picked up and re-broadcast by 15 national organizations.

ONLINE NETWORK

Site content will link to a minimum of 20 other (related) sites.

OWNERSHIP

Young people will feel proud that the site reflects who they are and what they value.

PHASING AND BUDGET REQUIREMENTS1RESEARCH AND DEFINITION

PHASING: 0 – 4 MOS.

TIMELINE: 8 – 12 WKS.

BUDGET: $100,000

User stories

Backlogs

Wireframing

Technical and functional specifications

Database and platform integration

2VISUAL DESIGN

PHASING: 4 – 8 MOS.

TIMELINE: 20 – 24 WKS.

BUDGET: $250,000

Experience principles

Concept design

Asset creation

User evaluation

Reference applications

3ORGANIZATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE

PHASING: 6 – 12 MOS.

TIMELINE: 12 – 24 WKS.

BUDGET: 1.5 TO 2 FTE

@ $75,000 – $100,000 PER YEAR

Define success criteria

Recruit

Hire

Train

Integrate

4DEVELOPMENT

PHASING: 12 – 18 MOS.

TIMELINE: 26 WKS.

BUDGET: $250,000 – $500,000

App development

Microsite development

Technical development

Integration

Launch and Test (alpha release)

5, 6, 7CAMPAIGN AND LAUNCH

POST-LAUNCH EVALUATION AND SUPPORT

PLATFORM SHARING AND LICENCING

PHASING: 18 – 36 MOS.

BUDGET: $500,000 –

$1,000,000 (EST.)

THANK YOU!