Eskolta School Research and Design released a new, comprehensive report showcasing actionable strategies to help communities reengage opportunity youth — young adults ages 16–24 who are not connected to school or the workforce. With generous support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and commissioned by the National League of Cities and New Ways to Work’s National Reengagement Initiative, the report highlights four field-tested promising practices designed to build staff stability, standardize tracking data, and scale graduation rates across the country.
As community, school, and municipal leaders continue to navigate systemic student disengagement, this new research provides public and private partners with a clear framework of practices that make a difference. The report extracts critical lessons from leading reengagement hubs, including:
- The D2 Center (Omaha, NE): Scaling trust-first, non-financial benefits to reduce frontline staff burnout and maintain average staff tenures of over eight years.
- SOAR Centers, Chicago Public Schools (Chicago, IL): Creating data-driven, youthled “Individualized Support Plans” that balance numbers with student narrative without forcing rapid milestones.
- Elevate 361 (Corpus Christi, TX): Building immediate frontline trust by training and employing youth participants to lead center intakes.
- The Book Works (Louisville, KY): Decentralizing local, cross-sector partnership management so that community networking is shared across the entire staff layout.
“Reengagement centers face many challenges in their ability to fully support students: funding uncertainties; staffing; and a lack of integrated data infrastructure necessary to identify needs, track progress, and guide effective interventions,” said Nada Ahmed, CEO, Eskolta. “By investing in staff retention, standardizing user-friendly data, and letting youth lead the frontlines, leaders can move away from short-term fixes and establish permanent local ecosystems where young people safely reconnect and persist. We are so proud of and grateful for these research partners, and hope that this report can help transform organizations — and lives — across the country.”
The full report, including comprehensive implementation checklists and site metrics, is available for immediate download.