In Summer 2025, we: 

• Codified takeaways from 24/25 Improvement Labs - see what we learned about relationships and student networks 

• Hosted our Annual Network Meeting, where we confirmed our 25/26 Improvement Agenda

• Developed 25/26 Learning and Improvement Offerings 

• Concretized a partnership with NYCPS Office of Student Pathways to facilitate a Lab focused on improving how CBOs and schools partner to help students develop strong postsecondary plan

• Built a Network Member Directory, launching soon!

• Created an Empathy Toolkit to support practitioners in soliciting youth feedback, and spotlighted empathy interviews at Urban Dove Brooklyn

• Continued building the Coalition of Youth Development Intermediaries, offering a resource hub, a training fund, gathering and sharing data on needs with funders, and monthly “power hours” for senior leaders

In Spring 2025, we: 

• Wrapped our two Improvement Labs: Building Student Networks and Strengthening Student-Adult Relationships. Stay tuned for insights and takeaways learned from each! 

• Hosted 3 Network Exchanges: Creating High Quality Internships, Intergenerational Teams, and Leveraging AI. See notes here

• Hosted a workshop on SSN’s Future9 Competencies to help members think about how to build these in to their organizations in meaningful ways. See a turnkey presentation here.

• Partnered with NYCPS Office of Student Pathways to learn about the Career Navigation Roadmap and consider how we might foster a more coordinated, coherent system of support for young people 

• Led a workshop on Designing Effective Surveys, where we discussed how to design surveys that generate meaningful insights for program improvement

• Collaborated with 10 other “intermediaries” to coordinate action and support for youth-serving organizations navigating the acute and pervasive challenges in today’s climate, including a resource hub, a training fund, gathering and sharing data on needs with funders, and monthly “power hours” for senior leaders

In winter 2025, we...

• Partnered with Opportunity Network to host a Leadership Breakfast focused on navigating the impacts of the 47th administration together. Built a partnership with other intermediaries to coordinate convenings and trainings, resource sharing, and funder communication.

• Worked with ReDesign and a committee of Network members to create a final draft of SSN’s Future9 - a framework that will help us measure, foster, and communicate about the skills we want young people to gain in our programs. THANK YOU committee members!

• Made lots of progress on our priority around Building Student Networks: 

  • We developed a bank of survey questions that measure Christenson Institute’s framework for Social Capital (feel free to use these!) 

  • We launched a new Improvement Lab with 6 of our Network organizations, all focused on improving their ability to help students build their networks

• Hosted a Network Exchange focused on challenges and resources around sustaining staff and student wellness (see notes here)

• Hosted a workshop focused on Navigating School and Student Data

• As a follow-up to our fall conversations about engaging program alumni, we created a LinkedIn Group for any Network members who are building and managing alumni programs (join here) 

• Welcomed a new team member - Robert Zarate-Morales, Manager of Analytics & Operations - to help our network collect and leverage data 

In Fall 2024, we…

• Conducted focus groups with college-aged young people to understand more about how they defined success and what they need to get there. We learned that success means a lot of things, but a key component that popped up in every conversation is the need for strong social and/or professional networks. For more context, see the summary. 

• Led workshops for Network members on:

  • How to conduct youth focus groups. If you’re interested in doing focus groups in your organization, materials are here.  

  • Qualitative data analysis (we love qualitative data!)

• Scanned the Network to understand what folks are measuring, what they WANT to be measuring, and what they see as their biggest data and evaluation-related challenges. We learned that while we still center many social-emotional skills, our work pushes beyond our original focus to include financial literacy, networking, civic engagement, writing and computational thinking, postsecondary navigation, and more. We are using a lot of different terms and using varied measures, so there is an interest in coming together in both defining success and identifying strong practices.

• Convened the Network for Beyond SEL: Defining Student Success in a Changing World, where ReDesign helped us explore the skills young people need to be ready for the future of work and the opportunity to use common language and measures across our organizations

• Worked with ReDesign and a committee of Network members to draft SSN’s Future9 - a framework that will help us measure, foster, and communicate about the skills we want young people to gain in our programs. 

• Launched an Improvement Lab of transfer high schools and CBO partners focused on improving student-adult relationships - an essential lever for success. We worked with Search Institute to develop a “Cheat Code” full of promising practices that the cohort can test - we can’t wait to share what we learn with the entire Network.

• Hosted Community Insights: Building Student Networks, where we explored what it takes for young people to build strong, meaningful networks.

• Launched Network Exchange - a monthly space for members to share challenges and co-create solutions - with a conversation on Alumni Engagement.

• Drafted a self-assessment that organizations can use to build their capacity for improvement - like engaging youth as co-designers, creating routines for continuous improvement, etc