The current youth-serving ecosystem is comprised of a multitude of siloed systems that are designed to address problems or provide opportunities to the same young people and families.  While many states are engaged in efforts to coordinate and collaborate across the ecosystem, too often agencies are focused only on the issues that fall within their mandate.

The Forum for Youth Investment’s BEST Youth Initiative is an opportunity for states to create enabling environments for true system alignment that comprehensively and equitably meet the needs of youth and their families.  Designed to engage and amplify the voices of people with lived experience, the Forum and its national partners convene state teams representing leadership across systems, youth and families, and other stakeholders to work together and build a more effective, nimble youth-serving ecosystem.

To support states, the Forum will partner in:

• Operating as a neutral convener for developing shared visions and goals.
• Providing dedicated staff and expert consultation on systems-change strategies.
• Facilitating a vibrant peer learning community that elicits sharing knowledge through collaborative inquiry and reflection.
• Providing support in authentically engaging and partnering with people with lived experience.
• Building policy agendas that will inform policymakers about how to create a supportive policy environment to advance and sustain reforms/innovation.