YouthBuild USA is a national nonprofit organization that supports more than 260 local YouthBuild programs across the United States. The YouthBuild USA Postsecondary Education (PSE) Initiative was a five-year effort to create new pathways to and through postsecondary education for low-income, educationally disadvantaged youth.

Study Goals:

This report is an effort to provide an in-depth understanding of the strengths and challenges of the YouthBuild PSE approach and a strong level of evidence of the program’s participant impacts. It also considers YouthBuild USA’s role in supporting the PSE sites and the prospects for the long-term sustainability of the PSE approach in the participating sites

Research Questions:

This report includes an implementation study and participant impact study.

  • The implementation questions were:
  1. Who are the YouthBuild PSE participants?
  2. How is the PSE model being implemented across the YouthBuild SIF sites?
  3. What are the key characteristics of the YouthBuild/Postsecondary partnerships?
  4. What can we learn about “what works” in terms of designing and implementing programs to effectively prepare YouthBuild participants for postsecondary success?
  5. What can we learn about the impact of the PSE program on participants’ attitudes and goals?
  6. What role has YouthBuild USA played in supporting the implementation of the PSE approach?
  7. What can we learn about the sustainability of the PSE approach?
  • Participant impact questions concerned:
  1. The impact of YouthBuild programs on educational attainment
  2. Emotional development and identity development (including civic engagement)
  3. Employment and earnings
  4. Selected social and behavioral measures such as involvement with the criminal justice system, family formation, and engagement in risk behaviors

Findings:

The report found the following:

  • The YouthBuild PSE sites successfully put the major elements of the PSE approach into place and continued to refine and adjust their programs to meet their participants’ needs.
  • Participation in YouthBuild’s PSE programs had a positive impact on participation in education and training services and on short-term educational outcomes, including postsecondary enrollment, for PSE participants.

For more information, download the full report and report brief

Full report

Full Report
2 - New Profit YouthBuild SIF.Final Report and Appendices.revised Nov2018_V1_508.pdf
New Profit YouthBuild SIF Report Brief_V1_508.pdf

Further information

Program/Intervention
Postsecondary Education (PSE) Initiative
Implementing Organization
YouthBuild USA
Intermediary(s)

New Profit, Inc.

AmeriCorps Program(s)
Social Innovation Fund
Age(s) Studied
13-17 (Adolescent)
18-25 (Young adult)
Study Type(s)
Impact
Implementation
Study Design(s)
Experimental (RCT)
Level of Evidence
Strong
Researcher/Evaluator
The Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University (implementation study) and MDRC (impact data and analysis).
Published Year
2018