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From Crisis to Agency: The path forward begins with young people
How support from TK Foundation helped IYF build a model that reconnects young people with opportunity—and puts them in control of what comes next.
When crisis strikes, whether through community violence, the justice system, or sudden displacement, standard intervention playbooks often fail. Traditional programs often rely on fixed pathways, which can put immense pressure on vulnerable individuals to make major life decisions within unrealistic timeframes.
For years, the International Youth Foundation (IYF) has proven a different truth: real progress begins by putting people in control of their own futures. Through the vital support of the TK Foundation, what started as a localized response to a regional crisis has grown into a versatile, transferable model that restores agency and rebuilds lives.
The Origin: Rebuilding Pathways Through Skill Building
Back in 2010, systematic barriers and violence closed off education and employment opportunities for youth in Ciudad Juárez. With support from USAID, IYF launched Youth:Work Mexico to reconnect marginalized young people with education and employment. This initiative taught us a fundamental lesson: training alone cannot overcome violence, stigma, weak networks, or institutional distrust.
Young people needed practical capabilities, trusted relationships, and individualized support. They also needed a robust life skills curriculum—such as frameworks like Passport to Success®—to help them define their own steps forward.
Transforming a Project into a Scalable Model
Recognizing the power of this approach, the TK Foundation partnered with IYF through Orale to transform Youth:Work Mexico into a scalable model that other community organizations could operate, adapt, and scale.
This approach successfully brings together core elements of youth leadership training and experiential learning models for youth.
This framework didn’t stay in one place. It evolved into urban initiatives like JuventudES in Mexico City (which has enrolled over 2,100 participants) and traveled to the United States through the U.S. Department of Labor’s $5.1 million Growth Opportunities program, adapting to support justice-involved youth in rural New York and North Carolina.
Meeting New Crises at the Border
Today, IYF is bringing this framework back to the border communities where the story began—this time responding to the realities faced by migrants and returnees in Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, and Mexico City. Research demonstrates that employment support succeeds only when immediate barriers, such as missing documentation, protection risks, and trauma, are resolved first.
By partnering with trusted faith-based organizations that already possess deep community trust, this methodology builds complete pathways from arrival to stability:
Opening the Next Chapter with the TK Foundation
The evolution of this work highlights why public-private partnerships matter. Systems change is possible when philanthropy invests not just in a single program, but in building scalable models around human agency.
With a new 2025 grant for $50,000 from the TK Foundation, IYF is beginning work with migrant-serving organizations in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. This phase will strengthen case management, align services with labor markets, and build a coordinated network designed to protect and uplift vulnerable people.
Whether supporting youth development programs across urban centers or creating new pathways at the border, the vision remains clear: when young people and local communities are equipped with the right tools, possibility transforms into a path they can truly walk.
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