Cities of Opportunity: Drivers and Priorities for Urban Youth Economic Inclusion
The global economic and demographic landscape warrants an increased focus on understanding the characteristics and accelerating the development of youth-inclusive cities. Youth experience the challenges of employment and economic inclusion differently or more acutely than other populations, and strategies should recognize and proactively address these challenges head-on. This is especially true for emerging and developing country cities. Critical issues to consider include, but are not limited to, informality and underemployment, inadequate education, crime and violence, and migration.
To learn more about this topic, the Citi Foundation supported Making Cents International to create a learning product that can help youth economic opportunity practitioners analyze their current and future urban-focused youth economic opportunity programs. This document draws upon research and best practices globally to frame the key activities necessary for improving urban youth economic opportunities, outline promising initiatives, and provide links to resources that can help practitioners refine their products and services.
The learning product's central research and learning questions are:
- What challenges do youth development practitioners face when working on youth economic opportunity programming in urban areas?
- What are the distinct issues or drivers of economic opportunity for youth in cities?
- What are the central considerations that should be used in programs specifically designed to advance youth economic opportunity in cities?
