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Assessment Tool for Organizations

Design Principles Assessment

Step 1 of 18

5%

When it comes to supporting young people’s education and career pathways, what am I doing well? In what areas can I grow?

About the Designing Pathways with Young People: Assessment
This Assessment is designed to help you determine how well your work currently aligns with the Design Principles emerging from the Striving to Thriving research. This tool can help you reflect on your own journey toward co-designing your work with young people and ensuring that their wisdom and experiences are central to every phase. It is intended for use across a range of work areas, including program design, research, grantmaking, and communications.

Instructions
The Designing Pathways with Young People: Assessment will take you approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and must be completed in one sitting. Once you have completed the assessment questions, you can provide your contact info to receive an email with your results along with recommendations for deepening the Design Principles in your work. You begin by selecting the primary function of your work.

Consider using the Designing Pathways with Young People: Assessment with people who play different roles in your organization or multiple people who share a functional role in your organization. You could invite young people you work with to use the tool to assess your organization, or share this tool with your board of directors to deepen their familiarity with these design principles.

What is the primary function of your work?(Required)

Pick the one that most closely matches the role you play in the field in which you work.

Programs (including program development, program implementation or operation, curriculum design)

Research (including research and evaluation, public opinion/polling firms)

Communications (including organizational communications, creative content creation, narrative, journalism, message outlets and channels)

Investment (including philanthropy, government funding agency, private sector/VC)

Centering Young People

Young people are engaged as co-designers of policies and programs, rather than just participants, and adults serve as guides rather than gatekeepers.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Centering Young People(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Young people are engaged in shaping all aspects of programs from design to implementation to evaluation.
Young people have power to make decisions about the programs we offer that impact them.
Programs are asset-based, allowing young people to explore their identities, history, culture, and strengths.
Adults are positioned as guides and facilitators — not experts or gatekeepers — in relationship to young people as they explore, experiment and select career pathways.

Advance equity at an individual, community and systems level

Programs, research and policies pursue equitable outcomes for individual communities of young people while also working to dismantle systemic barriers to a more equitable future.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Advancing Equity(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Internally our organization’s staff and leadership reflect the racial, ethnic and cultural identities of the young people we are serving.
Externally we ensure our work is not siloed by collaborating with other organizations across sectors as well as across stages in young people’s career pathways.
In addition to services we may provide, we take an active part in systemic change efforts aimed at achieving equity for young people of color and young people from families with lower incomes.
Young people of color and young people from families living with lower incomes experience having power in our programs.

Foster connections and build networks

Young people have opportunities to access and cultivate diverse professional networks and expand peer connections.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Fostering Connections(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Our programs create a safe space for young people to explore and set their life goals.
Our programs help young people develop a broad and diverse network of supportive relationships that include all of the following: peers, near peers, and adults outside their family who have the time, power and influence to share resources and connections.
We ensure families of the young people we work with are aware of their children’s aspirations and/or we leverage families as key influencers in young people’s lives.
We go beyond teaching about networking to create opportunities to access and cultivate new professional relationships.
Programs deliberately consider ways to ensure that relationships and connections forged in the course of the program outlast the program.

Illuminate and provide opportunities for meaningful exploration of career pathways

Young people learn about, explore and experience a diversity of career pathways, which enables them to reach their vision of a good life.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Illuminating Pathways(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We use tools (such as career interest assessments and pathways navigation websites) that allow young people to recognize their interests/strengths and connect those to career options.
Through our own programs and collaborations with other organizations we ensure that the young people we serve are exposed to multiple career pathways.
The career options we promote include college and non-college pathways.
We help young people develop realistic understandings of the mindsets, skills and credentials needed for career pathways, including through meeting people in those careers.
Young people in our programs have hands-on, experiential opportunities to try on different careers, make mistakes and learn from failures.

Centering Young People

Young people are engaged as co-designers of policies and programs, rather than just participants, and adults serve as guides rather than gatekeepers.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Centering Young People(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Young people are engaged in shaping all aspects of research processes including developing research questions, data collection, analysis and interpretation, presentation, and identification of further areas of research.
Young people have power to make decisions about the research we do that impacts them.
We choose research methodologies that allow us to learn directly from young people not only from adults about young people.
Research questions reflect young people’s concerns, lived experiences and aspirations.

Advance equity at an individual, community and systems level

Programs, research and policies pursue equitable outcomes for individual communities of young people while also working to dismantle systemic barriers to a more equitable future.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Advancing Equity(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
The research and evaluation we engage in seeks to understand systemic barriers that young people of color (or the organizations that serve them) face in building career connections and accessing career pathways that allow them to thrive.
We disaggregate our data based on race, ethnicity, income and other key demographic factors that enable us to analyze data through an equity lens.
Our research and evaluation includes short cycles for feedback to practitioners that can support rapid improvements in program activities.
We proactively share our analyses and interpretations with practitioners and key influencers in the field so they can leverage our research.
We collaborate with young people of color and the organizations that serve them to ensure that research questions and metrics are informed by young people.
Our research explores long-term outcomes associated with increased opportunities for youth engagement in career exploration and experimentation.

Foster connections and build networks

Young people have opportunities to access and cultivate diverse professional networks and expand peer connections.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Fostering Connections(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
When measuring young people’s connections we take a multi-dimensional approach to understanding quantity, quality, and/or structure of young people’s networks and how they experience those connections.
We engage in research to understand how connections help young people access and navigate career pathways.
We are actively engaged in developing or testing new measures to understand and assess young people’s access to and cultivation of career connections.

Illuminate and provide opportunities for meaningful exploration of career pathways

Young people learn about, explore and experience a diversity of career pathways, which enables them to reach their vision of a good life.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Illuminating Pathways(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We measure longer-term outcomes related to thriving for young people, such as youth agency, in addition to shorter-term metrics such as acquisition of specific skills or credentials attained.
We are actively engaged in developing or testing new metrics to measure “success” informed by how young people define their life goals and aspirations.
We engage in research to understand how young people explore, experiment with, and select college and non-college career pathways.

Centering Young People

Young people are engaged as co-designers of policies and programs, rather than just participants, and adults serve as guides rather than gatekeepers.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Centering Young People(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We use asset-based framing to describe young people, their families and their communities.
Young people tell their own stories in their own voices and actively participate in creating content for our communications.
We have an ongoing process for listening to young people so that our communications reflect our deep understanding of their needs, interests, and values.

Advance equity at an individual, community and systems level

Programs, research and policies pursue equitable outcomes for individual communities of young people while also working to dismantle systemic barriers to a more equitable future.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Advancing Equity(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
The people in our organization who communicate about our work reflect the racial, ethnic and cultural identities of the young people we are serving.
Young people and their families see people like themselves reflected in our communications.
Young people of color are positioned as experts in their own lives who can speak about their own lives, rather than having others speak about them or for them.
We listen to and build authentic relationships with young people of color.
We have developed an analysis of systemic racial inequities and ensure that our communications interrupt narratives that reinforce systemic racism.

Foster connections and build networks

Young people have opportunities to access and cultivate diverse professional networks and expand peer connections.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Fostering Connections(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We are actively engaged in developing or testing new measures to understand and assess young people’s access to and cultivation of career connections.
We practice a show-don’t-tell approach to communications to explain how our programs help young people build a diverse web of supportive relationships that help them broaden their professional relationships.
We use stories and data to show how “who you know” matters in career pathways — and we expose the ways this reality reinforces inequities based on race.
Young people have opportunities to hear from and learn from peers and near peers about their lived experiences in exploring, experimenting with and selecting career pathways.

Illuminate and provide opportunities for meaningful exploration of career pathways

Young people learn about, explore and experience a diversity of career pathways, which enables them to reach their vision of a good life.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Illuminating Pathways(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Our communications spotlight stories of young people navigating through stages of exploring, experimenting and selecting career options.
Our communications validate that there are multiple career pathways, including college and non-college paths, that enable young people to achieve their life goals.
We tell stories featuring people reflecting on the twists and turns in their career pathways, how they made mistakes along the way, and how those experiences helped them refine their career goals and aspirations.

Centering Young People

Young people are engaged as co-designers of policies and programs, rather than just participants, and adults serve as guides rather than gatekeepers.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Centering Young People(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We fund, directly or through pooled funds, organizations that center youth voice and leadership.
We employ participatory grantmaking processes that enable young people to make decisions about where we direct our resources.
As a funder, we develop a pipeline of youth grantmakers and grantseekers by hiring young people as interns or fellows and/or training young people to access grants.

Advance equity at an individual, community and systems level

Programs, research and policies pursue equitable outcomes for individual communities of young people while also working to dismantle systemic barriers to a more equitable future.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Advancing Equity(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
Internally our organization’s staff and leadership reflect the racial, ethnic and cultural identities of the young people we are serving.
We are transparent about the organizations we fund.
We track the impact of our investments in communities of color and low-income communities.
We empower organizations serving communities of color to define what their most important needs are and determine the impacts that they want to work towards.
We collaborate with others, including other funders, civic leaders, and community leaders across multiple sectors to use our voice and power to advance system-level change for youth of color and those from families living with lower incomes.
We directly fund organizations working to advance racial and economic equity in education and career pathways for young people of color and youth from families living with lower incomes.
Our grantmaking is open to all (not by invitation only) and processes are streamlined in order to reduce barriers to accessing our funding.

Foster connections and build networks

Young people have opportunities to access and cultivate diverse professional networks and expand peer connections.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Fostering Connections(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We explicitly fund programs or interventions that enable young people to cultivate and access professional relationships and networks.
We invest in research initiatives or programs that measure the development of a broad and diverse web of relationships for young people as an outcome alongside skills and educational attainment metrics.
The staff and leaders of our organization work personally to cultivate connections with young people of color and youth from families living with lower incomes.

Illuminate and provide opportunities for meaningful exploration of career pathways

Young people learn about, explore and experience a diversity of career pathways, which enables them to reach their vision of a good life.

Assess the degree to which your organization is enacting the Design Principles using the rankings below.
1 = Not present
2 = Nascent
3 = Emerging area of practice
4 = Deeply embedded

Illuminating Pathways(Required)

	1 – Not present	2 – Nascent	3 – Emerging	4 – Deeply embedded
We fund grantee collaboration and/or intermediaries in order to ensure young people have an integrated experience navigating education and career pathways.
Internally, in our organization, we work to ensure that funding streams related to outcomes for youth in education achievement, career pathways and economic mobility are integrated and collaborative, not siloed.
We create opportunities for young people to try on philanthropy or social impact investing as a career pathway.

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