Policy Focus

  • July 22nd, 2024

In partnership with Annie E. Casey Foundation, we have recently launched a  state-based strategy to deliver OYSP programming in strategic states representing an important overlap of viable programs prepared to become OY schools and a comprehensive mix of school/program leaders ready to advocate for policy solutions with the potential to grow and improve OY schools. Specifically, we are in process of identifying states with receptive policymaking contexts to address:

1) Age & eligibility constraints limiting OY enrollment into schools in most states;

2) Ineffective state accountability systems that cannot be applied accurately or consistently to OY school outcomes in most states;

3) Mis-alignment between seat time and credit accumulation requirements for high school graduation and the learning needs, recovery & acceleration strategies, and workforce learning competencies or postsecondary credit accumulation areas of focus that have proven effective with Opportunity Youth; and

4) Cumbersome compliance and reporting systems for integrating education, workforce, and service funding streams.

Recent state legislation in New Jersey to establish and fund a new Office of Dropout Prevention and Re-engagement provides a potential roadmap toward a successful “schools for all campaign” with a statewide charter proposal for Opportunity Youth and integrated statewide investments in workforce development and education with OY.

Recent AECF policy work with Education Northwest provides additional areas to focus on promising state policies (existing and emerging) related to alternative accountability standards and competency based learning graduation requirements.

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Robert Clark

Robert Clark, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN), has spent over 30 years in youth workforce development, designing and implementing systems-level strategies to reengage and improve long-term outcomes for opportunity youth. Over the course of those years, he has served as National Program Advisor to YouthBuild USA and as a Senior Advisor to Newark Public Schools while at the same time growing YouthBuild Newark from a small direct service program into a multitiered intermediary, now doing business as NOYN.

Sangeeta Tyagi

Sangeeta Tyagi, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Youth and Communities at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Her work focuses on workforce, youth, and community development, education, and the organizational development of mission driven organizations. She brings decades of senior organizational development experience in leading national organizations and helping to grow the quality and capacity of networks. Her areas of interest and expertise include building cross-sector strategies for under- and unemployed youth and adult workers, postsecondary education access and success for first-in-family students, and youth engagement and leadership.

In addition to the U.S., she has worked in India, Kenya, and Ethiopia with local anchor partners on youth employment ecosystems and strategies and on innovation, scale, and sustainability of youth employment strategies.

Prior to her role at Brandeis, she was President of YouthBuild USA, a national network of over 230 community-based youth and workforce development programs where she had also served as Chief Program Officer, and Vice President for Education and Workforce Development during her 14 years tenure in the organization.

Additionally, since 2017 Sangeeta has served as Senior Advisor at Spring Point Partners, a social impact organization that seeks impactful change through grantmaking, investing, and professional and organizational development. In that role she coaches grantee partner CEOs and works with the organization’s program team on strategy and impact.

Sangeeta teaches in the MPP programs at the Heller School, chairs the Women, Gender, and Sexuality concentration, and is an invited external member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at MDRC. Earlier, she served as the Founding Board President at the YouthBuild Charter School of California for 13 years. She has a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Scott Emerick

Based on 15 years of work learning with Opportunity Youth in Philly and Boston, Scott Emerick is currently working with partners to launch the Opportunity Youth Schools Project. He most recently served as the CEO of Friends of YouthBuild Philly overseeing fundraising, financing and construction plans to complete the school community’s new and permanent home in North Philly. As the Executive Director of YouthBuild Philly, he oversaw the programming, operations, fundraising, and capacity building for the largest single-site Opportunity Youth program in the US. Before coming to YouthBuild Philly, he served as Senior Vice President for Education, Career, and Service Pathways at YouthBuild USA. In this role he oversaw program initiatives related to improving postsecondary access and success; implementing quality education programming; increasing STEM and career development capacity; and helping educators respond to learning differences.

Scott has provided technical assistance for school districts on teaching quality and teacher retention. He also has professional experience as an educator, as an advocate for improved teaching and learning conditions, and as a management consultant for clients investing in education. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.