The 5 Critical Shifts From The 2024/2025 Forum On Youth Investment: A Dual-Focus Agenda For Economic Mobility

As of December 21, 2025, the global conversation around "youth investment" is undergoing a significant transformation, moving from simple program funding to comprehensive systems change. This shift is driven by influential bodies like The Forum for Youth Investment, a national "action tank" in the U.S., and the emerging, entrepreneurship-focused Youth Investment Forum in the Caribbean, with its highly anticipated 2025 event. This dual focus—on policy reform in the U.S. and enterprise development internationally—defines the current landscape of how capital and strategy are deployed to ensure young people thrive. The core intention of these forums is to ensure that all young people are "Ready by Design," possessing the skills and support systems necessary for success in the modern economy. The latest initiatives, particularly those rolled out in 2024 and planned for 2025, reveal a commitment to Robust Equity and a multi-system approach that touches education, health, and justice, marking a new era of strategic investment rather than just charitable giving.

The American "Action Tank": The Forum for Youth Investment's 2024/2025 Agenda

The Forum for Youth Investment (FFYI) is a seminal organization in the United States, founded in 1998 by youth policy leaders Karen Pittman and Merita Irby. It operates as a nonpartisan "action tank," creating research, policy recommendations, and tools to improve the systems that support young people.

A New Leadership and Policy Focus

The organization has recently seen a shift in leadership roles, with co-founder Karen J. Pittman now serving as a Senior Fellow, continuing her long-standing dedication to youth issues. This leadership continuity ensures the Forum's foundational concepts, such as the "Ready by Design" framework, remain central to its mission. In 2024, the Forum released its Inaugural Federal Policy Agenda, a critical document outlining recommendations for Congress and the Administration. This agenda is not about single-issue reform but about a coordinated effort to improve systems across the board. The goal is to prioritize youth economic mobility and overall well-being.

The BEST Youth Initiative: Building Ecosystems

The most significant recent development from the Forum is the launch of the BEST Youth Initiative (Building Ecosystems Statewide for Thriving Youth). This initiative marks a major step in the Forum’s strategy of systems change. It recognizes that youth success is dependent on the quality and coordination of multiple state and local systems. The BEST Youth Initiative kicked off with a two-day in-person convening in Washington, D.C., in July 2024, bringing together state-level representatives. States like Colorado and Indiana were announced as initial participants, signaling a commitment to a holistic, statewide approach to youth development. The core principle is that improving partnerships, policies, and practices must happen across five critical systems:

• Education
• Workforce Development
• Human Services
• Health
• Justice

This multi-system focus is a key takeaway from the Forum's recent work, emphasizing that addressing issues like access to food, housing, and medical care is fundamental to a young person's development and economic future.

The Global Focus: St. Lucia's Youth Investment Forum 2025

While The Forum for Youth Investment focuses heavily on U.S. policy and systems, the term "Youth Investment Forum" also points to a rapidly growing, distinct international movement focused on entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.

A Caribbean Hub for Youth Enterprise

The Youth Investment Forum in Saint Lucia, supported by Invest Saint Lucia and the Youth Economy Agency (YEA), is a prime example of this global focus. This forum is highly current, with its 2025 event scheduled for November 26, 2025. The previous 3rd Annual Forum centered on the theme: "Youth Enterprises for Visibility, Value, and Investment." This event brings together over 100 young entrepreneurs from various sectors, including agri-business, technology, and creative industries, to connect them with capital and mentorship.

The Youth Economy Agency (YEA) Model

The St. Lucia forum highlights the power of a dedicated government-backed structure, the Youth Economy Agency (YEA), which provides grants, loans, and training programs specifically for young people. The collaboration between the YEA, the Taiwan Embassy, and Invest Saint Lucia underscores a commitment to fostering a sustainable Youth Economy. The 2025 theme is an urgent call for "Building the Future through Collaboration and Strategic Investment," signaling a shift from small-scale funding to large, long-term economic strategy.

Key Investment Pillars: The Path to Youth Economic Mobility

The research, policy agendas, and international events related to the "forum on youth investment" all converge on several key pillars that define effective strategies for youth economic mobility. These concepts represent the cutting edge of youth development funding.

1. Systems Change, Not Just Program Funding

The primary takeaway from the Forum for Youth Investment's 2024 policy agenda is the necessity of systems change. It is no longer enough to fund isolated programs, such as after-school or Out-of-School Time (OST) programs. The focus must be on ensuring that the entire ecosystem—from education to justice—works in a coordinated, equitable way for every young person.

2. The "Ready by Design" Framework

This long-standing framework from the Forum for Youth Investment is continually updated and remains highly relevant. "Ready by Design" emphasizes that youth readiness is an outcome of intentional design, synthesizing research on young people's character development and learning. It is the "science and art" of preparing youth for college and career readiness.

3. Investing in Robust Equity

The Forum's recent conceptualization of youth success centers on Thriving, Robust Equity, and Transformative Learning & Development. Robust Equity means tackling the structural barriers that prevent access to opportunities, ensuring that investment is targeted to close gaps in outcomes based on race, geography, and socioeconomic status.

4. Workforce Development and Skill-Building

Both the U.S. and international forums heavily emphasize workforce development. In the U.S., this is a critical component of the Federal Policy Agenda. Internationally, the focus is on practical skill-building and enterprise creation, as seen with the Youth Economy Agency's training programs in St. Lucia. The goal is to create pathways to sustainable employment and entrepreneurship, not just temporary jobs.

5. Youth Leadership and Voice

A recurring theme is the power of supporting youth leadership. The Forum for Youth Investment has highlighted studies showing the transformative power of involving young people in the design and delivery of programs and policies that affect them. This ensures that investment decisions are grounded in the real-life experiences and needs of the youth they are intended to serve. The collective work of these forums in 2024 and 2025 demonstrates a powerful, coordinated push to redefine youth investment as a strategic economic imperative. By focusing on systems change, robust equity, and youth economic mobility, these organizations are setting the global standard for building a future where every young person can thrive.

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