The YCB strives to be a data driven organization. We value both quantitative and qualitative data to help inform our decisions. Recently, we produced ward summaries for all 13 wards in Minneapolis. In these ward summaries you will find information like youth population by age, youth population by race, and maps showing youth spaces in each ward. We hope these ward summaries are useful to you and that we can all work together in the future to collect data and better understand our city. Please find PDF versions of all 13 ward summaries HERE (scroll down to the bottom of the page). 

On April 30, 2022 we helped host the Minneapolis Teen Job & Opportunity Fair. The Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board hosted us at their headquarters on a rainy day, but that didn't stop a bunch of youth and families from coming out to power up their summer job search. Uncle Franky's food truck came out and provided lunch for everyone in attendance as well. A big thanks to all the employers that came out to share exciting summer opportunities with young people; Minneapolis Parks for sharing their space; CPED for taking the lead on planning the event; and to the Minneapolis Youth Congress for adding youth voice to the planning and providing entertainment the day of the event. Please check out the photo gallery. 

As you may have heard by now, negotiations between Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) did not conclude and a strike began on March 8, 2022. Our immediate concern is finding safe places for our children and young people to be. We are working with partners to provide the most up-to-date information and as many resources as possible. Please click the PDF on the right to read our full statement and for a list of resources. Thank you for joining us to ensure our young people have everything they need during this time. 

In summer 2021, the YCB was presented with an opportunity to support children and youth outside of the school day when the Minneapolis City Council allocated $940,000 of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act (SLT-0825) dollars to YCB. After a rigorous vetting process with many people involved, we are able to award 4 amazing organizations with money to help their programming. We are excited for Asian Media Access, Minneapolis American Indian Center, Minnesota African Women's Association, and WE WIN Institute, but also understand we couldn't meet the needs of everyone that applied. In total the YCB received $17 million in requests from 48 Minneapolis organizations. Please read the PDF below for our full award announcement. 

On November 20, 2021, the YCB helped organize an event to celebrate World Children & Youth Day. Along with UNICEF and other cities across the world, we got permission to light up landmarks across Minneapolis to honor this day. If you were out that day, you might have seen these locations glow blue: Lowry Bridge, 35W Bridge, Nicollet Mall, Target Plaza, Target Field, Capella Tower, and Minneapolis Convention Center. A volunteer photographer also went out that night to capture a beautiful photo. Please check out more of Ophelie Echelard's work HERE. 

We are becoming more of a data driven society. We hope that data will inform the work we all do so that we can see greater impacts in our community. On our new Data Page, you will find data that we have collected across public bodies in Minneapolis in one place to explore data trends and learn more about the young people of Minneapolis. Data is pulled from sources like the U.S. Census, Minneapolis Public Schools, Hennepin County, City of Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Student Survey and compiled into different dashboards to more easily access and understand outcomes for young people in Minneapolis. You may also download raw files of most of the charts and graphs in Excel format. We hope this will be a useful resource to the community, and we will continue to keep this page updated as we compile new data and update existing data. 

International Youth Day 2021 was on August 12th this year and we could think of no better way to celebrate the day than to raise youth voice. We asked members of our Minneapolis Youth Congress to speak about this year's theme — "Transforming Food Systems" — and of course they had something insightful to say. Please check out our video with the Minneapolis Youth Congress (video on the right) and United Nations' page on International Youth Day HERE.