Youth Communication/New York Center

Conclusion

Youth Communication/New York Center meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Purpose

Stated Purpose:

Youth Communication (YC) amplifies youth voices and empowers young people to achieve their personal and academic goals, especially low-income teens of color. Our programs use the power of peer-to-peer communication to help teens strengthen literacy and social-emotional skills (SEL) that research shows contribute to students; emotional wellbeing and academic success.

That work starts with an intensive writing program which empowers young people to write informative and inspiring stories about managing challenges in their lives. We publish stories in our online magazines and then use them in our SEL curricula and professional development sessions.

Year, State Incorporated:
1980, DE

Programs

Program 1: The writing program nurtures the talents of 40 to 50 youth a year, including 15 in foster care. As they work in groups and individually with our highly experienced full-time editors, they strengthen their literacy and social-emotional learning skills (self-management, self-awareness, relationship building, etc.). They also have the satisfaction of working on a project that benefits tens of thousands of peers. Editors become significant adults in their lives, helping them apply to college, prepare job applications, access health care and counseling, etc. Our alumni have excelled in the fields of education, law, community organizing, social work, business, and other professions. Many are professional writers: they have collectively published 220 books, including three National Book Award finalists.

Program 2: The publishing program reached 200,000 readers last year. We circulated digital stories to more than 20,000 educators and policymakers who subscribe to Represent (by youth in foster care) and YouthComm (a general interest magazine). Writing about their lives means they tackle important issues: race, gender, family, poverty, immigration, sexuality, and others. These true stories forge an immediate peer-to-peer connection because young readers recognize the challenges of growing up depicted in the stories. Each year, hundreds of these educators use stories to strengthen the SEL and literacy skills of 25,000 adolescents (1,800 in foster care). We provide story-based lesson plans with some stories to help educators integrate the stories into their academic and counseling work.
Our publishing partners increase the reach and impact of our stories. We have partnerships with the education magazine Chalkbeat, the child welfare magazine The Imprint, and the politics magazine The Nation. Educational publishers, including McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also republish our stories in their curricula. These outlets typically republish dozens of our stories each year, attracting tens of thousands of additional readers.

Program 3: Our curriculum development team creates curricula that educators use to show young people how their peers used social and emotional skills to succeed in school, develop nurturing relationships, and achieve other goals.
Each of our 11 curricula focuses on building SEL skills around a crucial youth development issue: the transition to high school, workplace success, girls’ empowerment, succeeding in
college, positive masculinity, and others. Each contains a 300-page, highly detailed leader guide and an anthology of 25 stories from our writing program.

Program 4 Our professional development team trains teachers, after-school workers, counselors, and other youth-serving professionals to use our curricula and stories to strengthen teens’ SEL skills. Our training sessions also strengthen educators’ capacities to run youth-centered groups, create welcoming settings, and engage reluctant participants. Last year we trained 1,001 educators to use our stories and lesson plans with 30,000 youth. One highlight was continuing to train staff connected to the Administration for Children’s Services Fair Futures Program. This program has offered long-term, intensive support for 4,000 youth in care and youth leaving the system.

We align our lessons to the five SEL skills identified by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Our lessons and curricula are also aligned to the SAFE protocol: Sequenced, Active, Focuses, and Explicit. Studies of hundreds of thousands of young people show that programs focusing on the five SEL skills and using the SAFE protocol support student well-being and academic success.

Over the past several years, we have surveyed more than 1,000 young people and hundreds of staff using our SEL programs. Students who participate in our programs report that they significantly strengthen SEL skills. And teacher observational reports of student SEL gains are even higher than student self-reports.

For the year ended June 30, 2024, Youth Communication/New York Center's program expenses were:

Governance & Staff

Chair of the Board
Ms. Leah Modigliani, CEO/Owner

Chair's Profession / Business Affiliation
Modigliani Capital Partners

Board Size
7

Paid Staff Size
13

Fundraising

Method(s) Used:
Direct mail appeals, Invitations to fund raising events, Grant proposals, Appeals via Social Media (Facebook, etc.)

Tax Status

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.

Financial

The following information is based on Youth Communication/New York Center's audited financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2024.

Source of Funds

Programs: 72% Fundraising: 18% Administrative: 9%