Upstate New York’s Wayne County Partnership, which includes the University’s School of Social Work, will benefit from a multi-million-dollar investment that will help it and six other communities across the United States reach their economic mobility goals by expanding enrichment and career-focused opportunities for young people.

The Wallace Foundation’s Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents initiative explores how schools, nonprofits and other entities can strengthen school enrichment efforts, such as afterschool and summer programs. The foundation anticipates investing approximately $6 to $10 million into Wayne County over the course of the initiative.

The Wayne County Partnership is a consortium of more than 50 agencies, school districts and organizations that seeks to improve the quality of life for residents of the county, which encompasses the communities of Sodus and Palmyra.

Among the partnership projects that will benefit from the grant is Wayne County Community Schools and its STEADY Program, which connects high school students to local employers so they can gain workplace experience. Ryan Heath, associate professor of social work, helps to collect, manage and analyze data so schools can track progress and measure outcomes.

“The Wayne County Partnership and Wayne County Community Schools have a truly novel and intricate foundation of cross-sector collaborations that spans schools, youth programs, community agencies and local government,” says Heath. “This investment from the Wallace Foundation will provide much-needed infrastructure and support so that this high-need rural county can provide the opportunities young people need and deserve.”

The University’s  School of Social Work is “excited to continue to push our community-research partnership with Wayne County forward and to help improve the lives of youth in Wayne County and beyond,” Heath says.

The Wayne County Partnership was selected following an extensive process that drew interest from more than 1,700 communities. The initiative also will fund partnerships across California, Colorado, Ohio, Tennessee and Utah.

The Advancing Opportunities for Adolescents initiative aims to provide young people in the middle through early high school years with greater access to out-of-school opportunities that spark new interests, skills and an awareness of potential future careers. Additionally, adolescents and their families gain access to formalized support to help them navigate across systems to find programs and resources they need.

“The Wayne County Partnership’s commitment to and sharp focus on increasing access to opportunity for youth in rural settings stood out to us and is one reason we invited them to participate in this initiative,” says Gigi Antoni, vice president of youth development at The Wallace Foundation. “The partnership’s STEADY Work program—offering apprenticeships that build personal, professional, and transferable skills—could serve as a national out-of-school time program model.”

Jay Roscup, director of Wayne County Community Schools and co-chair of the Wayne County Partnership, says The Wallace Foundation is “asking the right questions at the right time.”

“The partnership has created an ecosystem where our community schools efforts thrive,” he says. “The cooperative intent of our partners has led to the betterment of individual programs, accurate installation of proven practices, and innovation of custom programs that fit our community.”