On September 27th, representatives from a wide variety of local organizations serving young adults gathered at the Coalition Supporting Young Adults (CSYA) offices to collaborate on solving issues impacting young people who are out of work and out of school (sometimes referred to as “disconnected youth” or “opportunity youth”).
The session was led by CSYA, the Louisville Metro Office for Youth Development, KentuckianaWorks, and Book Works as part of a two-year Technical Assistance grant through the National League of Cities (NLC). The group explored statistical trends, the landscape of youth services in Louisville, and how their respective organizations can better work together to serve this vulnerable cohort of Louisville residents.
“Louisville’s youth and young adults have been struggling the last three years, especially youth of color and those from low income backgrounds. Spending a day with so many strong and committed advocates was a real boost for continuing the essential work.”
Organizations represented included YouthBuild Louisville, Louisville Urban League, Coalition Supporting Young Adults (CSYA), Louisville Metro Office for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN), KentuckianaWorks, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, Metro United Way, Boys and Girls Club, JCPS Adult Education, Book Works, JCTC, Family Scholar House, YMCA, Wesley House, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentuckiana, and the Neighborhood House.
“A couple of years ago, most agencies were solely focused on how to open their operation back up to in-person service delivery, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent on sharing resources and collaboration,” said Lada Kloi Gasparac, Sr. Director of Young Adult Programs for KentuckianaWorks. “But today was an example of many agencies coming together to talk openly about what our community does well, what we need to improve on, and how we can work together to do it.”
The group plans on reconvening quarterly with new partners to continue problem-solving around key issues like transportation, mental health services, inter-agency collaboration, outreach in high-need zip codes, and more.
See more photos from the day below. Special thanks to Antonia Rangel-Caril of the National League of Cities and to our host John Blackwell of CSYA.
