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<br /> <br />1 | Youth Empowered Solutions <br />The information shared in this proposal is confidential and proprietary. <br /> <br />YES! Background and history: Young people under the age of 18 make up <br />more than a quarter of the U.S. population, yet their potential as a generation <br />to contribute to a better society is systematically ignored. Our nation is <br />suffering economically, creatively, and civilly as a result. Empowering young <br />people to participate in effective youth-adult partnerships is a proven, <br />replicable approach to solving community problems. Youth Empowered <br />Solutions (YES!) has developed a nationally-recognized model of social change <br />through youth empowerment and works to leverage the unique skills and <br />power of young people. <br />YES! is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization centered on the idea that <br />real community change cannot take place without the contributions of young <br />people. Using the YES! Youth Empowerment Model©, YES! works with youth <br />to develop a deep critical awareness about the root causes of the issues that <br />impact them, then works with them to develop the skills necessary to <br />understand these complex issues, and engage in collaboration to effectively <br />identify and advocate for solutions to those issues. <br />YES! also helps other adults and organizations understand the importance of <br />youth empowerment and build their own capacity to work with youth in ways <br />that support their mission. By engaging youth in our work, organizations and <br />communities become more creative, resourceful, tech savvy, powerful, and <br />successful at creating meaningful and sustainable solutions for community <br />challenges. <br />YES! is committed to creating community change through social justice and <br />an explicit, not exclusive, racial equity framework. We believe that structural <br />racism is the underlying root cause of inequities we seek to address across <br />many different sectors, including but not limited to, health, education, housing <br />and the criminal justice system. Our position is that racial equity is critical to <br />successful youth empowerment because of the many ways that youth of color <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 2A186D1A-DC0C-4AF3-A358-6DD18C89D561