Wayne County Partnership Selected to Join National Initiative Focused on Strengthening Positive Youth Development Opportunities for Wayne County Adolescents

Wayne County Partnership expected to receive funding of approximately $6 million - $10 million to improve high-quality, interest-driven career awareness and exploration opportunities for youth outside the classroom

[Sodus, NY] – [10/08/2025] – The Wayne County Partnership has been selected for a new initiative that will help seven communities across the country reach their economic mobility goals by expanding enrichment and career-focused opportunities for young people. The Wayne County Partnership was selected following an extensive process, which started with an “Open Call” that drew interest from more than 1,700 communities.

Supported by The Wallace Foundation, the Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents initiative is a national effort that will explore how schools, nonprofits, government agencies, businesses, and other entities can deepen their collaboration with the afterschool, enrichment, and summer programs that comprise each community’s out-of-school sector.

The initiative also includes partnerships in Adams County and Broomfield County, Colorado; Akron, Ohio; Hamilton County, Tennessee; Poughkeepsie, New York; Monterey County, California; South Salt Lake City and Millcreek, Utah.

Wallace anticipates investing approximately $6 million to $10 million into Wayne County over the course of the initiative. Exact funding for Wayne County Partnership will be determined during the planning and pilot years (2026-2027) and based on factors such as poverty levels, number of youth being served, and other considerations. Funding from Wallace is intended to augment investments participating communities are already making for young people. In addition to funding, the communities will have access to additional resources and supports, such as peer learning opportunities and technical assistance.

The initiative aims to provide adolescents in the middle through early high school years with greater access to out-of-school opportunities that spark new interests, skills, and an awareness of potential future careers they may choose to pursue. Adolescents and their families will have more formalized support available to help them navigate across systems to find programs and resources they need.

“The Wayne County Partnership’s commitment to and sharp focus on increasing access to opportunity for youth in rural settings stood out to us and is one reason we invited them to participate in this initiative. The partnership’s STEADY Work program could serve as a national out-of-school time program model for cross-sector collaborators. The program not only leverages resources from several youth serving county agencies, but also offers apprenticeships that build personal, professional, and transferable skills youth could use throughout their lives. We are excited to begin this work with them.” – Gigi Antoni, vice president of youth development, The Wallace Foundation

Through the cross-sector partnership, which includes more than fifty member organizations, will build high-quality programs for adolescents in high-need locales—programs that embed youth development practices, such as centering positive relationships, encouraging youth agency and leadership, and offering opportunities for young people to learn and develop new skills and interests that can inspire career awareness, personal exploration, and preparation for the future. Young people spend more than 80 percent of time learning outside of school—at afterschool and summer programs, in libraries, museums, science centers, at home or in the community—and out-of-school time programs are uniquely positioned to provide these kinds of opportunities.

Following an initial year of vision-setting and planning, Wayne County Partnership will concentrate its efforts on a range of core activities, which include:

1.     Strengthening and Expanding Collaboration with Wayne County’s youth development sector, including expanding the quantity and quality of opportunities available to youth furthest from opportunity.

2.     Bolstering Youth Development Practices and Programs by identifying what interests young people and piloting efforts in one or two underserved areas, strengthening programming and focusing on professional development for adults working with youth.

3.     Establishing or Strengthening Relationship-Based “Navigation,” pairing each young person with a caring adult who co-creates a personalized, strengths-based plan with them and their support network. These adults will help connect adolescents to resources and opportunities that remove barriers they have and support their goals.

4.     Collecting and Analyzing Data across the community to track program availability, cost, participation, and more and to support continuous improvement and cost modeling.

5.     Executing a Strategic Communications Plan to build internal and external support, using compelling stories and data to promote understanding and sustainability.

6.     Planning for Sustainable Funding by mapping public and private funding sources (federal, state, and local) and identifying how to address gaps and develop strategies to sustain youth development and navigation efforts beyond the life of the initiative.

7.     Participating in National and Local Research to document the impact on youth outcomes, produce evidence-based tools and playbooks, and share lessons learned.

Jay Roscup, Director of Wayne County Community Schools, and longtime Co-Chair of the Wayne County Partnership, is thankful for the support from Wayne County families, schools, county government and local non-profits that comprise the Wayne Partnership.

“The Wallace AOA initiative is asking the right questions at the right time. Collaboration can make space for youth development programming. The Wayne Partnership created an ecosystem where our Community Schools efforts thrive. The cooperative intent of our partners has led to the betterment of individual programs, accurate installation of proven practices, and innovation of custom programs that fit our community."

This national research, led by American Institutes for Research (AIR), will span all participating communities’ efforts to document approaches and outcomes across systems, programs, and youth levels. Wayne County Partnership’s participation in this initiative aims to not only produce local insights for the community but also benefit the broader youth development field by capturing and sharing what is learned.

Dr. Ryan Heath, Associate Professor at the School for Social Work at Syracuse University, said,

“The Wayne County Partnership and Wayne County Community Schools has a truly novel and intricate foundation of cross-sector collaborations that spans schools, youth programs, community agencies and local government.

This investment from Wallace Foundation will help provide much-needed infrastructure and support so that this high-need rural county can provide the opportunities young people need and deserve.

Syracuse University School of Social Work is excited to continue to push our community-research partnership with Wayne County forward, and to help improve the lives of youth in Wayne County and beyond.”

At the local level, the Sodus Central School District and Finger Lakes Community Action Program will provide the backbone infrastructure to manage the logistical needs of the project. Leadership from Superintendent Nelson Kise at Sodus CSD, and CEO Janelle Cooper and COO Donna Robbins remains instrumental. The shared capacity of the school and the non-profit and a strong backbone agreement is illustrative of the cooperation that is essential to Wayne County’s success. The backbone leadership gives the broad partnership specific capacity to implement the AOA initiative and creates a pathway for a sustainable demonstration project to exist in Wayne County.

Organizations providing technical assistance and supporting the initiative as thought partners include Children’s Funding Project; Community Wealth Partners; Every Hour Counts; FrameWorks Institute; The Institute for Success Planning at The EdRedesign Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Education; and The Marlo Companies. Additional partners will be added as the initiative unfolds.

About Wayne Partnership

The Wayne County Partnership is a consortium of more than 50 agencies, organizations, and school districts who work together to achieve their common goal of supporting individuals and families. Their shared work seeks to improve the quality of life for people who live, work, and learn in Wayne County, NY. See www.waynepartnership.org to learn more.

About Wayne County Community Schools

Wayne County Community Schools transforms our schools into resource hubs. Key practices of strong student and family engagement, expanded and enriched learning, integrated supports, culture of belonging, community connected instruction, and collaborative leadership are drawn from national models and applied locally. Community Schools is a strategy for everyone to work together to help young people grow and thrive. See www.waynecountycommunityschools.org to learn more about local practice and https://www.communityschools.org/essential-resources-for-driving-community-schools-forward/ for information to build understanding about the strategy.

About The Wallace Foundation

Wallace is an independent, nonpartisan research foundation, with a mission to help all communities build a more vibrant and just future by fostering advances in the arts, education leadership, and youth development. We collaborate with grantees and research partners to design and test innovative approaches to address pressing problems in the fields we serve. The evidence-based insights we share—searchable online and free of charge—support policymakers and practitioners in their efforts to improve outcomes, enhance community vitality, and help all people reach their full potential.