Urban Institute researchers study effective education and career-oriented programs for young people, often targeting those ages 16 to 24, commonly known as “opportunity youth,” who are not in school or meaningfully employed. Researchers also explore opportunities to enhance outcomes for young men of color.
Recent Analysis and Insights
Urban researchers have:
- Created a toolkit to help youth-serving organizations elevate the voices of youth workers.
- Evaluated the Back on Track model’s success in advancing youth education.
- Commented on the continued challenges of structural barriers to accessing higher education.
- Studied effective strategies to help young people build literacy and numeracy skills and offer remote learning in alternative settings and community-based programs.
- Characterized the youth workforce demographics, employment, industry sectors, and wages.
- Identified opportunities for summer youth employment programs to better engage employers to strengthen their connections with the workforce.
- Reviewed decadelong evidence on increasing economic opportunities for young men of color and examined how to use employment and training strategies to expand economic opportunity.
More Research
This area of research also connects closely with research on young parents:
