ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible to apply, State Teams must:
- Include at least three agencies within the ecosystem, including education, workforce development, human services, behavioral health, child welfare, and/or juvenile justice. At minimum, there needs to be one upstream system that affects all youth, such as education and workforce development.
- Include at minimum four individuals with lived experience, including at least one youth with lived experience from each represented system and a family member/caregiver from one of the systems. (Youth and family member/caregiver’s time, transportation costs and childcare expenses will be reimbursed for all virtual and in-person meetings.)
- Have as system representatives state leaders who have decision-making authority – either directly or by proxy.
- Propose reforms/innovations that target youth ages 5-24.
- Demonstrate a track record of partnering with people with lived experience or make developing this capacity an explicit goal of the project. (See “Partnering with People with Lived Experience in Systems Change” and “Roles for People with Lived Experience in BEST Youth Initiative.”)
- Provide evidence of State Team members’ commitment to participate in the Initiative. (See “Letter of Participation”.)
SELECTION CRITERIA & PROCESS
The BEST Youth Initiative is a pilot. As such, it seeks to select a group of states and proposed reforms/innovations that will provide broad learnings for the field as well as consider geographic and political diversity.
One application per state will be accepted.
Based on the written applications and virtual visits, the Forum will score applications according to the selection criteria below. NSC partners will then review applications and provide feedback.
Criteria
The selection criteria are:
- Experience and/or plan for engaging/partnering with People With Lived Experience.
- Receptivity and willingness to dedicate time and political capital towards innovation and reform.
- Capacity to develop and implement cross-system, cross-sector solutions.
- Level of need for the youth in the systems involved in your proposal.
- Strategic Alignment/Strength of proposal for reform/innovation.
Process
Proposals will go through a multistage assessment process as follows:
- Review to ensure applications meet eligibility criteria.
- Applicants who have met eligibility criteria will be invited for a 60-minute virtual visit to discuss their proposed reform/innovation with the Forum Team and NSC partners. This will be an informal conversation that will allow state teams to better understand the Initiative’s components and expectations, and for the Forum Team to learn more about the State Team and the issues at the center of their proposed cross-system reform/innovation.
- Based on the written applications and virtual visits, the Forum will score applications according to the selection criteria below. NSC partners will then review applications and provide feedback.
- The Forum and its national public sector partners will invite up to five states to participate. States will be notified by June 28, 2024.
- The BEST Youth Initiative will be launched at an in-person convening on July 30-31, 2024 in Washington D.C. Selected State Teams, including a person with lived experience from each represented system, will be invited to attend the National Launch. We request that applicants take the necessary steps to make team members available on these dates to attend in person, in the event their state is selected to participate in the BEST Youth Initiative.
- Travel and lodging expenses will be covered for up to 7 members to attend the National Launch and three additional in-person convenings of the Initiative Wide Peer Learning Community throughout the Initiative.
- The Forum will also provide compensation to participating youth and family/caregivers and cover childcare costs related to their in-person and virtual engagement.