All people, especially young people, benefit from consistent, positive experiences with any system or setting that supports their daily lives. Positive experiences begin with equitable opportunities for young people to show up as themselves, to be understood and supported. Sometimes systems leaders need support to deliver that type of experience, especially after the pandemic, and need guidance on how to best collaborate with other systems and across settings.

Creating Equitable Ecosystems of Belonging and Opportunity for Youth: An Action Guide for Cross-System and Sector Leaders and Practitioners aims to assist leaders from public systems and social sectors to reflect and assess how safe and supportive their environments are, if they provide the youth they serve with a sense of belonging and opportunity, and how well they collaborate with others in the youth ecosystem.

By placing youth’s perspectives and lived experiences front and center, this guide is designed to aid coordinated initiatives among multiple organizations or agencies. Whether it is a collaborative, collective impact effort, interagency initiative, Children’s Cabinet, or another type of partnership, each member and setting can intentionally foster belonging within their programming and service delivery to ensure young people feel connected and experience smooth transitions as they engage with other partners throughout their journey.