ULC celebrated the Creating Youth Opportunities initiative at the 2025 Annual Leadership Forum, where attendees were able to hear about the benefit of CYO programming in the participants' own words. View the video now.
There are young people in every community who could benefit from targeted programs and services. This interactive map overlays CYO member library locations with national youth disconnection data. You may use it to learn more about library programs to support opportunity youth that may be replicated in other communities.
"Taking on the role of Young Adult Coordinator for a library system was both a rewarding and challenging endeavor, especially stepping into a role that had been vacant. As the new system-wide coordinator, I had to reimagine young adult (YA) services to meet the needs and interests of our community while offering meaningful and engaging activities that aligned with our library’s mission to inform, enrich, and empower."
"The challenge of opportunity youth is not just about crime, however; it’s about the future and how bleak it becomes for someone when they lack work experience coupled with low educational attainment. That is what our library system, Memphis Public Libraries, had to consider when thinking about ways to address the opportunity youth numbers in the city."
On November 6-8, 2024, 11 leaders from public libraries across North America convened in Washington, D.C., for the 2024 convening of ULC’s Creating Youth Opportunities (CYO) initiative. With a dynamic mix of presentations, panels, and discussions, the convening showcased innovative strategies to improve outcomes for opportunity youth—young people disengaged from both work and school and navigating systemic barriers to education and employment.
A message from ULC Board Chair Pilar Martinez, Chief Executive Officer, Edmonton Public Library As we approach Canada's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday, September 30, I want to ref...
As part of its partnership with ULC and Barbershop Books, the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) hosted a Hair Resource Fair on Saturday, March 23, 2024, for children and families. The afternoon offered several opportunities for attendees to learn more about the library, participate in storytimes and meet local authors, get free haircuts from CML’s barber partner The BarberZone Barber Studio, and interact with community organizations.
In reflecting on their participation in the Barbershop Books Pilot for Libraries, Shreve Memorial Library agreed that their greatest success was the partnerships and relationships built with their barbers. The library recruited 10 barbershops as part of the initiative
In partnership with Barbershop Books, ULC’s Barbershop Books Pilot for Libraries supported a small cohort of libraries in 2023 and 2024 to provide reading opportunities to Black boys directly in barbershops in their local communities. The Cleveland Public Library knew participation would be beneficial as it aligned with the library's goal to put books into the community and possibly create change.
Through ULC’s Creating Youth Opportunities Initiative, 11 libraries participated in a peer-learning cohort and developed individualized program plans to specifically reach opportunity youth — those defined as young people between the ages of 16 to 24 years old who are disconnected from both school and work, frequently face challenging home or community environments.
