Opportunity Youth Network

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Opportunity Youth Network (OYN) is New Jersey’s leading advocate of opportunity youth with a body of replicable initiatives that are designed to address youth disconnection. These initiatives are organized around four key elements and four key programs: Education - LEAD Charter School; Workforce Development - YouthBuild Newark; Policy Advocacy - My Brother’s Keeper Newark; and Systems Building - Newark Youth Workforce Collaborative; which work in tandem to accomplish NOYN’s mission to re-engage opportunity youth while drastically changing systems that inhibit their success.

10/20/2026

Tajae Gilford-Rogers once believed college wasn't for him. At LEAD Charter School, he earned certifications in construction and fiber optics, found a goal worth his full attention, and is now studying cybersecurity at Essex County College.
For opportunity youth like Tajae, more than one road forward made the difference. Read his story: https://oyn-nj.org/updates/making-the-connection

10/05/2026

Young people know better than anyone why school stops working for them.
Over the past year, 343 of them in Newark, Trenton, and Camden joined conversations with peers and youth facilitators through the New Jersey Youth Voices Initiative, a project of the New Jersey Opportunity Youth Coalition.

What they shared sends a clear message: opportunity youth need schools where they feel supported and belong.

Explore their findings and recommendations: https://njyouthvoices.portal.cortico.ai/

09/16/2026

Terron Williams leads every conversation he facilitates by going first. He names his own experience before inviting other young people to name theirs.

Through the New Jersey Youth Voices Initiative, he's helping build spaces where young people across New Jersey feel safe enough to say what's true about their education and why so many of them disconnect from it.

Read Terron’s op-ed at oyn-nj.org/updates/more-than-our-scars

08/24/2026

PGIM has been rooted in Newark since Prudential was founded here in 1875, and for more than twenty years, that commitment has extended directly to YouthBuild and LEAD Charter School's students.
Our latest feature traces the partnership from its earliest Build Days to today's full engagement series, revealing what young people can achieve when given real exposure to the professional world.

oyn-nj.org/updates/invested-in-newark

08/20/2026

Last year, Yaneliz Cabrera — LEAD Charter School graduate and Youth Voices Initiative Sensemaking Fellow — took the stage at Aspen Ideas: Economy to talk about youth-centered change and fostering the voices of young people.

Her message: youth written off as "troubled" often carry the most powerful voices. They just need the chance to learn how to direct that power.

That's the work.

08/12/2026

Today is International Youth Day!
Across New Jersey, opportunity youth are graduating, building careers, and shaping their own futures, often without the recognition they deserve.

We see them, and we're proud to stand behind their work.

08/06/2026

LEAD Charter School and YouthBuild Newark's latest cohort of solar panel installation trainees spent the week on a live job site with national partner Step-Up Solar, applying weeks of classroom instruction to hands-on installation work. The program gives students exposure to the construction, planning, and teamwork skills that carry into sustainable green energy careers.

Despite the heat, the group pushed through the full installation and came away with their certifications in hand, another example of what it looks like when young people can access industries shaping the future.

07/27/2026

$22.7 billion. That's the lifetime return to taxpayers and communities from a single year of reconnecting opportunity youth to school and work, according to recently released research by the Aspen Institute's Opportunity Youth Form (OYF) in partnership with Equal Measure.
The case for investing in young people has never been clearer.

06/29/2026

Behind the number is a person. Behind the person is a path forward.

06/24/2026

Young people facing barriers to staying in school deserve clear information about the support available to them.

The newly launched DPSR webpage from the NJ Department of Education offers concrete steps for students currently struggling in school, and pathways for those who've already left.

For young people currently in school and facing challenges:
✅ Request a meeting with a school counselor or Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) team
✅ Ask about credit recovery, alternative scheduling, and wraparound supports
✅ Reach out to [email protected] for guidance on local resources

For young people ages 16 to 24 who've already left school, multiple pathways forward exist:
✅ Re-enrollment in a local district (under age 21)
✅ GED through the NJDOE's adult education programs
✅ Alternative education programs with flexible scheduling
✅ Workforce and career training through NJ's WIOA Youth Program

Every young person deserves a path forward. This is one step toward making sure they know one exists.

🔗 Visit https://www.nj.gov/education/safety/sandp/attendance/disconnection/

Address

60 Park Place, 17th Floor
Newark, NJ
07102

Telephone

(973) 297-0592

Website

http://oyn-nj.org/

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