This report was published by Search Institute.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

With support from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Search Institute partnered with six youth and young-adult serving organizations (BASTA, Beyond 12, Braven, Climb Hire, COOP, and nXu) to better understand how social capital and strong peer-to-peer networks help youth and young adults secure education and employment opportunities.

Search Institute conducted focus groups with the six organizations to elicit knowledge about (1) barriers that get in the way of young people reaching their education or career goals, (2) the key relationships needed for helping young people reach their goals, (3) the type of resources and support these relationships provided, and (4) how participants personally changed while also building social capital over the course of their programs. The report describes the qualitative themes that emerged from these focus groups and provides recommendations for social capital measurement based on qualitative findings.