Encore Fellow Helps Past SVP Investee Gets Funding for Creative Social Enterprise
New Avenues for Youth , a former SVP Investee, was selected for the new portfolio of the venture philanthropy organization REDF in February, after a rigorous national competition for social enterprises to receive grants of at least $100,000 annually for up to five years. The multi-year grant will allow New Avenues for Youth to expand their social enterprises and increase work experiences for the youth they serve by 50% over the next five years.
New Avenues for Youth is a downtown Portland nonprofit that addresses youth homelessness through direct service, community partnership, advocacy, and data-driven evaluation. The organization has impacted the lives of 20,000 foster, at-risk, and homeless youth through a range of services including basic needs and safety, opportunities for education and career, and help achieving self-sufficiency skills. In 2007, SVP invested in New Avenues for Youth to help launch their Fostering Independence Project, which was designed to prevent teens from leaving foster care before they have the support and skills necessary for successful self-reliance. This early project laid the groundwork for what is now New Avenues for Youth’s comprehensive approach to helping young people move from foster care to self-sufficiency.
A unique and innovative approach that New Avenues for Youth has taken in fulfilling their mission is through Social Purpose Enterprises that provide employment opportunities as well as creative outlets for the youth they serve, which is what the REDF grant will help them grow. They have a soup cart, a screen printing business, and two Ben & Jerry’s ice cream PartnerShops. In June 2015, New Avenues for Youth launched the INKubator, a pilot project focused on channeling the artistic talents of homeless youth who receive training in graphic designed alongside professional design mentors. Through workshops, curriculum, and mentorships, the youth are able to tap into their artistic passions, develop their creative abilities, and learn how to turn it into a career. As part of her fellowship, SVP Encore Fellow Carlyn Mitas recruited artists and designers to conduct workshops in which youth learned about creating designs with commercial appeal and received a stipend for participating.
The INKubator model has great potential for growth, even internationally. Carlyn engaged the international branding agency AKQA to collaborate on the launch of DFRNTpigeon, a youth led apparel brand that provides a business outlet for the products created in the INKubator. "AKQA and New Avenues for Youth are now forming a partnership with New Avenues for Youth providing youth recruitment and design training and AKQA providing their marketing and business acumen to sell the youth t-shirt designs," says Carlyn, "I can’t think of a better outcome for the Inkubator Project!" The brand supports the growth of the INKubator program and drives revenue into youth pockets through the sale of their merchandise. AKQA and DFRNTpigeon are collaborating with some of Portland’s coolest heritage brands to create a collection of limited edition t-shirts in celebration of Design Week, to be sold at the brand’s Design Week party on April 21st. All proceeds at the event will go to New Avenues for Youth in support of DFRNTpigeon.
The ultimate goal is that the INKubator model will be proliferated around the world. AKQA, which donated more than $70,000 in kind to New Avenues, has offices in 11 other countries and can use the INKubator model to deliver graphic design curriculum to nonprofits internationally, who can then submit apparel designs to DFRNTpigeon. We are anxious to see New Avenues for Youth expand the impact of their programs on a global scale!