After a conversation with my family members at the dinner table about the extremely low voter turnout among young voters in the 2020 election, I frantically ran off to my room to start my first initiative, believing I had experienced my “Aha!” moment. I was wrong. 

I created Newsian, an informational newsletter introducing teenagers to politics, back in the summer of my freshman year. With hopes of impacting as many lives as possible, I spent hours each day churning out weekly articles to guide America’s future voters through the complex political process. Although I had an important idea, constructed an appealing website, and advertised my project through social media on a daily basis, I found myself struggling to receive sufficient readership and build an effective audience. 

I had my true “Aha!” moment when I pivoted to launch Youthward after learning that the hardest part about crafting a sustainable and impactful enterprise comes from finding enough people to foster a community around the issues you care about. Many of my friends who were founders of nonprofits and other organizations agreed that the main roadblock in their work was garnering enough support to enact effective change. Intrigued, I consulted with the other side: the members. I was surprised to find that many teenagers wanted to be involved in a cause, but the opportunities were limited.

Youthward addresses the problem of logistical barriers that activists and organizations experience in trying to connect with one another — we enable youth to efficiently find their perfect organization to connect while simultaneously building communities of support for existing projects. 

The problem derives from the inability of youth organizations to sustain a sufficient audience. Activism, especially through young adults, has been on the rise, and it is imperative to keep this progress moving forward. Unfortunately, this trend will decline if these teenagers do not see meaningful impacts with their work. Finding solutions to provide these changemakers with the growth they need is crucial to maintaining a high number of involved students addressing our world’s most pressing concerns. 

Additionally, there is a lack of support for youth actively searching to join an organization. Enthusiasm indeed exists among teenagers to serve their local communities. However, the options are quite limited, and these would-be participants in making the world a better place are discouraged from continuing their explorations simply due to logistical barriers. Streamlining the process to match passionate youth with an initiative that fits their preferences is critical in amplifying youth voices that want to confront societal problems.

I am actively tackling this problem by providing a medium for the two communities to thrive and help each other out. While I’m in the process of experimenting with other solutions, my main approach is connecting youth organizations with interested members.  

After spending the first two months of Youthward advertising my project through social media and in-person events, I was able to acquire a steady stream of youth organizations looking to leverage their initiative with my support. Most teen entrepreneurs fill out the Google form linked to my website, which is a brief questionnaire that asks for a general description of the student’s project. Once the form is submitted, one of our members sifts through the responses and pairs the organization with a potential teen activist who fits within the target audience. 

The approach is quite similar with the youth activists. These teenagers reach our website and fill out a different Google form that asks them questions about the areas they want to take action in. However, this group receives an additional step: they are given the ability to choose from three organizations related to their overall mission. After selecting their choice, one of our members pairs the organization with the activist and monitors the progress. 

An email is sent after the initial connection, where each person reflects on the success of the pairing.

My approach to addressing the problem of youth representation has provided Youthward with the necessary building blocks to scale exponentially. Our team consists of seven diverse youth entrepreneurs who are dedicated towards creating changemakers in all communities and developing sustainable organizations that will make long-lasting impacts. Our goal is to serve as the foundation for a ripple effect, promoting entrepreneurs who will inspire many in their own communities to take action and address the problems they see. 

Through Youthward, I’ve been granted the opportunity to revitalize youth-led projects and watch these inspiring and ingenious thoughts turn into physical initiatives. As one example, The FinLit Foundation, a student-led organization dedicated to providing financial literacy education to under-resourced communities, was able to achieve its goal of delivering an effective 3-month curriculum to 5,000+ students worldwide; they obtained a number of their teenage members with the aid of Youthward.

With 1,000 total clients located internationally, Youthward has the potential to reach more activists and youth organizations in additional countries and to lend a voice to whoever wants to inspire change. Several goals our project hopes to reach include fostering an online community of young entrepreneurs and a mentor system in which an expert mentors a student.

Youthward is a fundamental stepping stone in unleashing the potential of thousands of projects. Founders of organizations achieve their mission statements and gain large followings that they utilize to better the world. Moreover, teenagers who originally came into Youthward for the sole purpose of joining an organization were inspired to create their own initiatives instead. 

Our goal is to push changemakers to take action in their respective communities. Youthward serves as the bridge between the idea and the impact: our whole organization is about inspiring those affected to the problem to act and influencing others to create their own solutions to the issues I am addressing. 

The other components of Youthward play a substantial role in incorporating the voices of all our members and participants. For instance, the team’s community Discord creates a helpful environment where teens can give and receive advice regarding their organizations or the process of creating a project. This community extends beyond the realm of activism: young leaders come to the table to talk about current events, the college application process, and more. 

On the same note, our bi-weekly newsletters inform future leaders of the world's problems that must be addressed and spread awareness over the demographics that need help the most while also providing tips on running an impactful organization.