An Update on the Global Youth Leadership Fellowship
The impact of our work is stronger than ever. The college matriculation outcomes for our fellows continue to exceed the national average by over 40% and we have seen an over 560% increase in the number of students served since we shifted our programmatic model to incorporate the access online platform. What’s more, with the initial pilot of the CAP Community in collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, we are seeing consistent growth quarter over quarter in the number of students enrolled in the Access Online platform, as well as deepening our support of CAP advisors at almost 10 schools across the County.
Despite these exciting and substantial gains, sustainable fundraising efforts, particularly after supporting two fellowships in 2022 due to the pandemic, have not progressed in tandem with our rate of growth. As such, our team made a hard decision to re-evaluate the timing of the travel portion of the fellowship for this year (and future years), as well as re-imagine the structure of our fellowship entirely moving from a 10 month to 14 month program reflecting the following focus areas:
Summer I - Leadership Lab Retreat Weekend
Fall - Access Coaching
Spring - Career Pathway Mentorship
Summer II - Leadership Lab Global Experience
Additionally, after conducting a series of focus groups with select advisors and fellows, our team believes in the long term these changes will result in:
More time for fellows to work through college essays and prepare for competitive scholarship programs like Questbridge and Posse in late summer
Stronger cohort bonds and cohesion during the international leadership experience due to increased touchpoints for relationship building
Dedicate more time for advisor/mentor engagement pre-travel
Reduce the participation drop off rate in fall access coaching following summer travel
Increase ROI of our investment in Fellows (approx. $30K per fellow cost of support) by incentivizing participation for a full year before traveling
Longer fundraising cycle and increased opportunities for patron connections with Fellows
Though bittersweet, we’re enthused about this shift, in part because the last curveball we were thrown (e.g., the global pandemic) resulted in Access Online— the program expansion that attracted over 20,000 course enrollments and our largest corporate partnership with Verizon of $175K. We’re eager to use the reset this summer to re-engage stakeholders and strategic partners, and are open to discussions with those wondering about the programmatic changes made.
We thank you for your ongoing support and belief in our work to ensure that access changes lives.
-Nyah Project Leadership Team
