Did you know that more than four million young people, ages 16 to 24, are disconnected from the economy? Or that these “Opportunity Youth” are neither working or in school?

Until last fall, we were unaware of the scope of the challenges this group faces in starting their careers or about the transformational work the Schultz Family Foundation is doing to help. Through the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, the Schultz Family Foundation has set the audacious goal of connecting Opportunity Youth to 1,000,000 jobs by 2021, via a mix of hiring programs, opportunity fairs and a digital hiring platform, JobLaunch.org.

We learned about this substantive work when our team was hired to deliver Miami Youth Hiring Days—securing participation from different youth empowerment non-profit organizations, agencies, Miami Dade County Public Schools, civic and government institutions, and the media. Miami Youth Hiring Day, which was held virtually, and as a pop-up event in Wynwood, the 100K Opportunities Coalition and JobLaunch.org helped at-risk young adults in Miami overcome a key barrier to employment by connecting them to companies seeking to fill more than 1,000 entry-level positions.

After securing the participation of more than 65 agencies, non-profit organizations, and schools, engaging the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office, and arranging the attendance of more than 1,000 young adults, 90% of the attendees left the events with job offers.

Schultz Family Foundation adviser, Jason Rzepka, commented, “Several leading American companies committed to join large-scale virtual and in-person job fairs happening in Miami just 5 weeks later…and basically (we had) no way to pull it off. Sol rode in on a white stallion and not only helped me deliver one of the events I’m most proud of from my career, but she took it to heights I didn’t think possible. We went from a few non-profit partners to over 60 basically overnight. As a result, we had thousands of the most in-need young people in Miami participate, with many beginning their careers. And we had some of the highest exhibitor satisfaction and NPS scores of any event I’ve done with Schultz Family Foundation. If you have a chance to work with Sol, the answer is yes.”

From coordinating all of the diverse constituent groups to creating the communications between the foundation and all participants (public relations agency, production company, vendors, etc.) and creating a post-event report, our team delivered a superlative event.

This sentiment is echoed in the feedback we received from Yeri Yun, Communications Director, Schultz Family Foundation, “I had the privilege of working with Sol on an innovative youth-focused hiring day in Miami. Her energy, passion, and can-do attitude were palpable from the start. And throughout the project, she was an absolute treasure. She can strategize at the highest levels, as well as roll up her sleeves for the nitty gritty details. She is a kind and genuine connector of people, and I would work with her again in a heartbeat.”

We were delighted to help The Schultz Family Foundation build audiences, create connections and change lives. Of course, COVID19 brings a host of considerations that make community engagement more challenging, and we have helped clients such as ViacomCBS navigate these issues.

Would a community outreach plan or corporate social responsibility strategy help you achieve your social impact, employee engagement, business development, and marketing objectives?

It can. And, we can help.

Let’s talk and hatch a plan together.