Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS)

?? New Publication: Supporting Postsecondary Education Pathways for Rural Tribal Communities: Challenges and Opportunities, by Dr. Nichole S. Prescott, PhD, serves as a comprehensive landscape analysis, outlining how postsecondary pathways can be improved, providing examples of best practices in programming, and incorporating the voices of Indigenous #youth. Read the Full Report on our website, linked below: https://lnkd.in/ebhbEUnY The Aspen Institute Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Fresh Tracks Action

In 2019, Prudential Financial committed more than $180 million through 2025 to support opportunity youth — young people aged 15-29 who are not connected to school, training or formal employment. The hundreds of millions of #opportunityyouth worldwide represent untapped potential for our workforce of today and tomorrow.?Working with partners around the world, including The Aspen Institute, Prudential's support has helped connect opportunity youth to quality workforce education and training programs so that they can secure strong first jobs. Our work to expand access to financial security to more people in more places continues. Prudential has also supported our Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS)’s Opportunity Youth Forum network, which generates an estimated $2 billion return on investment annually. Our research has found that for every $1 spent on opportunity youth in our network, there is a $4.40 return to the community. “Prudential’s partnership and investment in the Aspen Opportunity Youth Forum has been compelling and catalytic. It has helped change the life trajectory for thousands of young people in the U.S., while also helping us deepen our support for the work happening in Newark [New Jersey] — in the company’s own backyard. Prudential has supported a movement for greater opportunity for the rising generation that simply would not exist without their unprecedented and thoughtful investment(s) across the globe,” says Steve Patrick, Vice President and Executive Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS). Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gAGRpAaa

Highlights from the #OYFConvening Fall 2024 I Aspen, CO Our closing plenary, "A Call to Action: Philanthropy's Role in Building The Civic Infrastructure for Democracy" lifted up and explored examples of transformative grant-making with an emphasis on building and deepening the civic infrastructure for democracy. The Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) holds a vision for the social sector that includes a different approach to philanthropy. Our vision for the sector is rooted in the desire to move from transactional grant-making to transformative community investments. Moderated by Steve Patrick, Exec. Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS), this plenary featured leaders from across the philanthropic community including Brenda Anibarro VP Learning & Community Engagement, Inatai Foundation, Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. VP Research, Center for Effective Philanthropy, Deanna Mousseau, Youth Leader, Native Americans in Philanthropy and Steve Phillips, Political Leader, Author & Columnist, Democracy in Color. Drawing on research by the Center for Effective Philanthropy related to the scale and impact of Mackenzie Scott’s grantmaking, these leaders explored what it means to invest in the power of young people, communities, and community leadership, while forming authentic transformational relationships within philanthropy and across the social sector broadly. These leaders shared how they are working to shift the sector's focus from hyper-strategic and over-engineered grant-making, to making grants that are strategically rooted in community power building, trust building, and advancing a more inclusive democracy. #TransformativePhilanthropy #OpportunityYouth

?? Featured Article: Check out Nonprofit Quarterly latest's article, "Why We Must Center Belonging and Justice in Our Leadership" by Harry Harding and Madeline McNeely. Featuring thought-leadership by Monique Miles, Vice President at The Aspen Institute and Managing Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) on Leadership, Belonging and Justice. “Belonging is about agency. It’s about a shared vision of transformation. We’re not setting the table and inviting people. We’re co-creating the table." For Miles, rooting justice and belonging deeply as foundational organizational values “is how we move from transactional to transformative.” Read More: https://lnkd.in/eHr7X-vk

Highlights from the #OYFConvening Fall 2024 I Aspen, CO Our plenary on, "Operationalizing Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing and Purpose (BMWP) Across the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) Ecosystem for Impact" delved into the ways community partners within the OYF ecosystem are actively operationalizing the principles of Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing, and Purpose (BMWP) in their programs, initiatives and systems-change approaches to improve outcomes for youth and young adults. With a focus on shared learnings from the field, the plenary aimed to highlight successful strategies and innovative approaches that are fostering these essential elements in service of improving outcomes for, and with, #opportunityyouth in a variety of community contexts. We are two years into a three-year BMWP learning phase and this conversation brought together diverse voices from across the #OYF network who shared emergent learnings on this journey, through concrete examples of this work in practice. Moderated by The Aspen Institute VP and Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Managing Director - Monique Miles, this conversation featured insights from Dr. Kevin James - President of Morris Brown College, Krystal McCalla - Miss Morris Brown College, Lauren 'Cloud' Benn - Youth Master Plan Expert, Lizzie Mills-Low, Youth Fellow and Honorable Judge Jessi Hall, First Circuit, State of Hawai`i. The plenary explored the practical applications of BMWP, addressing both the successes and challenges faced by communities in implementing these concepts on the ground. Visit Our Website to Learn More About Our BMWP Framework: https://lnkd.in/eYziciiE

Highlights from the #OYFConvening Fall 2024 I Aspen, CO This year's opening plenary, 'Redesigning Systems to Support Thriving Youth: A Roadmap to Advancing Mental Health, Wellbeing and Agency' featured the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Chair - Melody Barnes in conversation with keynote speaker Dr. Pamela Cantor MD - Founder and CEO of The Human Potential L.A.B., Cristal Salcido - Homeopathic Healer at Live Well Clinic and Brooke Solomon - Young Adult Organizer and Advocate. In December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health calling attention to a national crisis impacting the wellbeing of young adults across the United States. Given that mental health and wellbeing are shaped by a variety of factors, from our genes and brain chemistry to our relationships with family and friends, neighborhood conditions, and larger social forces and policies, it is critical to pay attention to the forces at play that are working together to undermine wellbeing outcomes for youth and young adults. The opening plenary brought attention to these forces and narratives, while calling on us to reimagine systems and structures that meet the whole needs of young people while unlocking potential and fostering a deep sense of purpose. The plenary extended an invitation to The Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum network to consider our role in the redesign of systems and structures in order to achieve better outcomes for young people and ensure a thriving future for our democracy.

Highlights from the #OYFConvening Fall 2024 We're thrilled to kickoff the?Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) Convening?in?Aspen, Colorado,?from?October 28th-30th, 2024.??We are honored to gather our network and convene for a national conversation on a broad range of issues and themes relevant to our collective work and vision including, centering holistic health and healing efforts, belonging, meaning, wellbeing, and purpose (BMWP) interventions?alongside effective philanthropy initiatives that positively transform?and improve intergenerational outcomes for youth and young adults. We invite you to learn more about our featured plenary speakers and lean into the wisdom of nationally renowned leaders in the Opportunity Youth (OY) movement that inform our present journey, and the future learning arc of our national network. Link: https://lnkd.in/edVAcjgw

?? This Week's Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Invitation: Call for Applications Are you leading a #placebased collaborative with a strong commitment to equity? Seeking opportunities to strengthen your #leadership? Looking to #connect with other leaders doing similar work? If you answered yes to all three, we are excited to share a new opportunity with you! The Collective Impact Forum, a partnership between FSG and The Aspen Institute Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) is launching the Collective Leadership Advancing Racial Equity (CLARE) Program running January 2025 - October 2025. The 10-month leadership #accelerator is designed to invest in the capacity and well-being of 20 individuals leading #collaborative work in place (e.g., “backbone leaders”) focusing on healing and wellness as well as building social networks and collective power to advance systems change. Applications are now open for the 2025 cohort through Tuesday, November 12th. Learn more, take your leadership to the next level, and apply at this link: https://lnkd.in/ecvgtcAE

?? This Week's Team Highlight: Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS)' leadership is paving the way forward for effective philanthropy! Tomorrow, Monique Miles - Vice President and Managing Director at The Aspen Institute will be leading a conversation on "Bridging the Gap: Grantee Perspectives on Intermediary Funders" w/ the Center for Effective Philanthropy as a panelist. During this webinar, panelists will reflect on the data from a first-of-its-kind study of grantee perspectives on intermediaries before joining a conversation about the strengths and opportunities of these organizations. Moderated by Stephanie Beasley of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, we’ll hear perspectives from both sides of the intermediary-grantee funding relationship and invite open conversation about the possibilities and limitations of funding through intermediaries. Register and join the webinar ?? https://lnkd.in/eymnNq4N Stay tuned for more updates from the event!

Last Monday, MyPath & Aspen co-hosted a webinar highlighting lessons from our Community of Practice on Financial Capability & Wealth Building.? We had a great turnout, with over 120 practitioners, partners, funders, and field leaders joining us!? We are excited to continue engaging with opportunity youth-serving partners as we work toward closing the wealth gap through impactful FinCap models. Thank you to Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS), Prudential Financial Foundation, AECF, and to Monique Robinson, LMSW from Reconcile New Orleans (Café Reconcile) and Julianne Dunn, MPS, MPH, PCED from Rural LISC. #OpportunityYouth #FinancialCapability