Youthful Impact was recently featured on WTEN as one of the key programs addressing pandemic learning loss in New York. The news clip describes how Pandemic learning loss highlights importance of summer programs.

Youthful Impact, a non-profit founded in 2020, uses a community-driven approach to create solutions that fill learning gaps formed during the pandemic. The program prepares youth for future employment by providing foundational skills and a robust STEM curriculum.

A national study released in July shows school districts are continuing to grapple with learning loss from the pandemic. On average, students need an additional 4.5 months of math instruction and four months of reading instruction to catch up to where they should be.

Youthful Impact’s summer program helps fill in the gaps by providing real world experience and college-level work in a youth friendly environment.

Key Highlights from Summer 2023:

• Students in the Youthful Impact Entrepreneurial-Mindset Program spend the summer working on personal business projects that solve problems in their community. The projects are presented on the final day of the program.
• Youth are guided by a lead coach, peer mentor and a tech facilitator. The curriculum was created by former college professors and business experts.
• Students are encouraged to work collaboratively in order to build up social interaction skills which were also negatively impacted by the pandemic.
• This is the second year of the Albany summer program. The summer program includes 12 high school aged students and seven 18–24 year olds. Students come from throughout the Capital Region.