A JRX Academy Quest · With YouthLed Community Solutions
YCS QuestYouthLed Community Solutions
- Identify it.
- Understand it.
- Organize.
- Build the solution.
- Make the move.
Young people are not only preparing to inherit communities. They can help improve them now. YCS Quest gives students the structure, relationships, skills, and real opportunities to identify community challenges, listen to the people affected, develop solutions, organize others, take action, evaluate results, and contribute to larger movements for community improvement.
The central question
What is happening in our community that young people believe should be better — and what can we actually do about it?
Question 1
What is happening in our community that young people believe should be better — and what can we actually do about it?
Question 2
Who else needs to be part of the solution?
Question 3
What can we change together?
This is not
- — A pretend civic project
- — A classroom-only assignment
- — Volunteering selected entirely by adults
- — Adults deciding what young people should care about
- — A one-day service project without deeper learning
- — Partisan political organizing
This is
Youth-led community improvement.
Students study a real issue, listen to the people living it, build a response with them, act, and show what changed.
The YCS principle
Youth lead. Adults support. Communities participate.
Adults should
- Companion
- Coach
- Connect
- Teach
- Safeguard
- Provide resources
- Help remove barriers
- Offer expertise
Adults should not automatically
- — Select the issue
- — Determine the solution
- — Control every meeting
- — Speak for youth
- — Make every important decision
- — Take over when the work becomes difficult
This is real community work.
- We saw something.
- We learned about it.
- We talked to people.
- We listened.
- We studied the evidence.
- We brought people together.
- We developed a solution.
- We organized.
- We acted.
- We measured what happened.
- We learned.
- We made our next move.
The YCS action pathway
Local to action, in five phases.
- Teach-In
- Community Conversation
- Local Leaders Network
- Action Team
- Community Action
Phase One
Teach-In
Learn before you lead.
Students study a locally identified issue before proposing anything. Local priorities come first — no national issue agenda is handed down.
- Issue File
- Reed the Community
- Community Asset Map
- Root Cause Lab
- Show and Prove
Phase Two
Community Conversation
Listen.
The purpose is not to present a finished solution. Students bring together the people closest to the issue and understand what they are experiencing.
- Conscious Companioning
- Conversation Builder
- Question Bank
- Listening Wall
- Cruz Check
Phase Three
Local Leaders Network
Who needs to move together?
Students map the people and organizations who need to be part of the work — with or without formal titles — and build real relationships.
- People Map
- Does Something Already Exist?
- Conscious Influencing
- Story + Data
Phase Four
Action Team
Build the solution.
A shared opportunity for action emerges. The team defines the change it is pursuing, tests several possible solutions, and takes ownership.
- Solution Lab
- Solution Test
- Conscious Organizing
- Action Team Roles
- YCS Action Budget
Phase Five
Community Action
Make the move.
The team executes. Some problems require service, others require systems change, and some require both. Then the team measures what actually changed.
- Community Action HQ
- Next Move
- Impact Board
- After-Action Review
- YCS Story Bank
Students can always see: where are we? What have we completed? What comes next?
Phase one · Teach-In
Learn before you lead.
- Education
- Neighborhood safety
- Youth opportunities
- Transportation
- Food access
- Housing
- Environmental conditions
- Loneliness
- Community belonging
- Mental wellness
- Recreation
- Technology access
- Economic opportunity
- Violence prevention
- Inclusion
- Community beautification
Issue File
- What is happening?
- Who is affected?
- How do we know?
- How long has this been happening?
- What has already been tried?
- Who is already working on it?
- What information are we missing?
- Why does this matter?
Show and Prove
A student says: “Young people don’t have enough opportunities.” The response is always: show and prove. What evidence do we have?
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Public data
- Observations
- Maps
- Photographs
- Testimony
- Attendance
- Records
- Research
- Community conversations
- Lived experience
Lived experience matters. Evidence strengthens our ability to understand and act.
Reed the Community
Eleven dimensions of a real place.
- People
- Who lives with this issue?
- Place
- Where is it happening?
- Systems
- What systems affect it?
- History
- How did we get here?
- Assets
- What strengths already exist?
- Challenges
- What is making things difficult?
- Power
- Who can make decisions?
- Resources
- What is available?
- Voices
- Who has been heard?
- Missing Voices
- Who has not been heard?
- Opportunities
- Where could movement occur?
Community Asset Map
Start with assets, not only problems.
- Residents
- Young people
- Elders
- Organizations
- Businesses
- Schools
- Faith communities
- Nonprofits
- Government
- Neighborhood leaders
- Artists
- Coaches
- Parents
- Mentors
- Informal leaders
- Spaces
- Traditions
- Knowledge
- Networks
- Resources
What is already strong here?
Root Cause Lab
Problem or symptom?
What we see
Young people have nowhere to go after school.
- Why? The programs that existed closed.
- Why? Funding ended and no one carried them forward.
- Why? No stable local structure owned them.
- Why? Youth needs were not represented where decisions were made.
A symptom is what we see. An underlying condition is what keeps producing it.
Teams do not design a solution before they understand what they are actually trying to change.
Phase two · Community Conversation
Listen.
- Young people
- Parents
- Residents
- Teachers
- Business owners
- Nonprofit leaders
- Elected or appointed officials
- Community advocates
- Elders
- Service providers
- People directly affected by the issue
Conscious Companioning
YCS’s first training practice.
- Listen deeply
- Ask instead of assume
- Respect lived experience
- Make space
- Remain curious
- Understand before attempting to influence
- Recognize dignity
- Build relationships
- Avoid treating people as problems to solve
What do we need to understand from the people closest to this issue?
Community Conversation Builder
- Purpose
- Why are we bringing people together?
- Who
- Whose voices need to be present?
- Questions
- What do we need to understand?
- Space
- How will we create a welcoming environment?
- Facilitators
- Who will guide the conversation?
- Listeners
- Who will document what is heard?
- Follow-up
- What happens after the conversation?
Questions before answers
Examples to build from. Students develop their own.
- What are you experiencing?
- What is working?
- What is not working?
- Why do you think this is happening?
- What have people already tried?
- What would meaningful improvement look like?
- Who needs to be involved?
- What resources already exist?
- What would you change first?
- What should young people understand before acting?
Listening Wall
What we heard.
- Strengths
- Concerns
- Ideas
- Needs
- Questions
- Disagreements
- Opportunities
- Possible partners
- Next moves
Do not erase disagreement to create artificial consensus. Record it honestly.
Cruz Check
- What do we know?
- Evidence.
- What do we think?
- Interpretation.
- What can we prove?
- Support.
- What did the community tell us?
- Community voice, in their words.
This is what keeps a team from confusing its own assumptions with community voice.
Phase three · Local Leaders Network
Who needs to move together?
- A student
- A parent
- An elder
- A neighborhood resident
- A teacher
- An organizer
- A business owner
- An elected leader
- An artist
- A coach
- A nonprofit leader
- A faith leader
- Someone with lived experience
People Map
- Name
- Relationship to issue
- What they know
- What they can contribute
- Who knows them
- Relationship status
- Next move
Relationship status
- Unknown
- Introduction needed
- Connected
- Listening
- Interested
- Partner
- Active
Do not build alone
A solution becomes stronger when the people affected help build it.
- People already doing related work
- Organizations with expertise
- Potential collaborators
- People with resources
- People with different perspectives
- People directly affected
Does something already exist? If yes — should we strengthen, connect, improve, or expand it instead of creating something new?
Conscious Influencing
Influence is not manipulation.
- Storytelling
- Public speaking
- Dialogue
- Presenting evidence
- Persuasion
- Communicating across differences
- Media
- Interviewing
- Writing
- Listening while advocating
- Understanding audience
- See.
- Understand.
- Consider.
- Act.
Data
38% of surveyed students say there is nowhere to go after school.
Story
What that reality feels like at 4pm for one student, in her own words.
Story without evidence can be incomplete. Data without people can become abstract. Use both responsibly.
Phase four · Action Team
Build the solution.
Every Action Team defines
- Issue
- Purpose
- Desired change
- People
- Strategy
- Action
- Timeline
- Resources
- Responsibilities
- Evidence
- Measure of progress
Solution Lab
Teams generate several possibilities before choosing. For each one:
- What would it change?
- Who benefits?
- Who could be harmed?
- What would it cost?
- What resources are required?
- Who needs to participate?
- Is anyone already doing it?
- Can young people actually influence it?
- Is it sustainable?
- How would we know whether it worked?
Solution Test
- Impact
- Could it matter?
- Feasibility
- Can we actually do it?
- Youth leadership
- Can young people meaningfully lead?
- Community support
- Do people want it?
- Resources
- Can we obtain what is needed?
- Sustainability
- Could it continue?
- Equity
- Who benefits and who might be excluded?
- Evidence
- Why do we believe this solution could work?
Conscious Organizing
- Individual concern
- Shared priority
- Collective action
- Building teams
- Establishing shared priorities
- Assigning responsibility
- Recruiting
- Communicating
- Meetings
- Relationship-building
- Coalition-building
- Project management
- Mobilization
- Resolving conflict
- Collective action
Action Team roles
Older youth increasingly facilitate, organize, and mentor younger participants.
- Listening Lead
- Research Lead
- Community Relationships Lead
- Story Lead
- Data Lead
- Action Lead
- Resource Lead
- Communication Lead
- Project Lead
- Documentation Lead
- Evaluation Lead
The three YCS capacities
Companion. Influence. Organize.
Capacity 1
Companion
Understand people.
Capacity 2
Influence
Communicate meaning.
Capacity 3
Organize
Move people toward shared action.
Phase five · Community Action
Make the move.
- Creating a new service
- Improving an existing program
- Organizing a community event
- Building a youth space
- Community beautification
- Public education
- Resource distribution
- Policy recommendation
- Advocacy
- Awareness campaign
- Mutual aid
- Mentoring
- Environmental improvement
- Community art
- Research
- Civic engagement
- Neighborhood initiative
- Coalition campaign
Community Action HQ
- Community issue
- Desired change
- Current YCS phase
- Action Team
- Community partners
- Current goal
- Next move
- Owner
- Deadline
- Resources
- Evidence
- Results
- Challenges
- What we are learning
Next Move
What’s the next move?
- Action
- Owner
- Support
- Due date
- Expected result
Good intentions without ownership rarely become action. Every meeting ends with: what’s the next move?
Decision architecture
Every meaningful decision is labeled.
- Youth decision
- Young people decide.
- Intergenerational decision
- Youth and adults decide together.
- Adult responsibility
- An adult makes the final determination because of safety, legal, fiduciary, employment, contractual, or organizational responsibility.
Adult responsibility is never used as an excuse to unnecessarily remove youth leadership.
Resources make action possible
YCS Action Budget & resource mobilization.
Students learn to manage
- Project costs
- Supplies
- Transportation
- Events
- Communication
- Stipends where applicable
- Grants
- Donations
- Sponsorship
- Revenue where appropriate
Recognizing youth contribution, as YCS funding permits
- Support for adult infrastructure
- Youth stipends
- Paid youth employment
What do we need? Who could help us get it?
- Money
- People
- Knowledge
- Materials
- Space
- Equipment
- Connections
- Communication
- Authority
- Time
- Talent
Resources are more than money. Students learn to mobilize resources rather than letting the absence of money automatically end an idea.
Partner Pitch
A real presentation to potential partners, built from the team’s own evidence.
- The problem
- What we learned
- What the community said
- Our solution
- Why we believe it can work
- What we are doing
- What we need
- How you can help
Nonpartisan civic engagement
Study the issue. Use evidence. Participate responsibly.
Students may
- Research policy
- Meet public officials
- Examine government decisions
- Communicate concerns
- Recommend changes
- Advocate around community issues
- Learn about public systems
What we teach
- Study the issue.
- Understand different positions.
- Use evidence.
- Participate responsibly.
YCS Quest is nonpartisan. It is never used to tell students which political party, candidate, or ideology to support.
Service or system?
Relief and changed conditions are not the same thing.
Immediate need
Provide food.
System question
Why are families consistently without enough food?
Both can matter. YCS helps young people understand the difference between providing relief and changing conditions.
Power Map — who can change this?
- People affected
- Decision-makers
- Influencers
- Institutions
- Supporters
- Possible opposition
- Funders
- Implementers
- Who has formal power?
- Who has informal influence?
- Who has lived experience?
- Who controls resources?
- Who could stop the solution?
- Who could accelerate it?
- Who is currently missing?
CO4 — difference is part of the work
Disagreement is not failure. Community solutions usually involve people who do not agree about everything.
- Coexist
- We may disagree and remain in relationship.
- Collaborate
- We create together.
- Cooperate
- We coordinate around shared interests.
- Compete
- Different ideas may compete for support while dignity remains intact.
One model, three divisions
Community Explorers. Community Builders. Youth Solution Leaders.
Ages 5–8
Community Explorers
- · Noticing
- · Caring
- · Asking questions
- · Identifying community strengths
- · Helping
- · Listening
- · Simple problem-solving
- · Participating in collective action
Adults provide substantial structure. Young students still have authentic choices. Guiding question: what could make our school, block, park, or neighborhood better?
Ages 8–14
Community Builders
- · Researching issues
- · Conducting interviews
- · Participating in surveys
- · Facilitating conversations
- · Analyzing findings
- · Proposing solutions
- · Joining Action Teams
- · Managing responsibilities
- · Communicating with partners
- · Evaluating results
Students carry increasing responsibility for the work and for each other.
Ages 14–19
Youth Solution Leaders
- · Leading Teach-Ins
- · Facilitating Community Conversations
- · Organizing networks
- · Conducting research
- · Building partnerships
- · Developing strategy
- · Leading Action Teams
- · Communicating publicly
- · Engaging institutions
- · Developing budgets
- · Mobilizing resources
- · Evaluating impact
- · Mentoring younger students
Older youth increasingly facilitate, organize, and mentor. Formal YCS leadership roles beyond the school Quest follow established YCS eligibility, competency, contribution, values, and readiness requirements.
YCS leadership pathway
- Participant
- Trained contributor
- Committee / Action Team leader
- National leader
Advancement is not earned merely through attendance. It reflects:
- Contribution
- Competency
- Character
- Readiness
- Responsibility
- Demonstrated leadership
Local first
National work grows out of local experience.
- One community
- Multiple communities
- Shared pattern
- Shared priority
- Collective action
We are working locally, but we are not working alone.
YCS Story Bank
Students help tell the story of youth-led solutions.
- Photos
- Interviews
- Student reflections
- Community voices
- Before / after evidence
- Data
- Milestones
- Challenges
- Outcomes
- Quotes
- Videos
- Audio
- Journalism
- Student-created media
Ethical storytelling
People are not content.
- Do we have permission?
- Are we representing the person accurately?
- Are we protecting privacy?
- Are we showing dignity?
- Are we presenting people only through their problems?
- Is the person able to speak for themselves?
Measure change
What changed?
Outputs
What did we do?
- · 50 residents attended
- · 100 surveys completed
- · 25 trees planted
Outcomes
What happened because of it?
- · New relationships formed
- · Access increased
- · Behavior changed
- · Policy changed
- · Knowledge increased
- · A service was created
Impact
What longer-term condition are we attempting to improve?
- · The condition itself, tracked over years
Impact Board
- Problem
- Baseline
- Action
- Evidence
- Result
- Community feedback
- What changed
- What didn’t
- What we learned
- Next move
After-Action Review
What happened?
- What did we intend?
- What actually happened?
- What worked?
- What did not?
- What surprised us?
- What did the community say?
- What evidence do we have?
- Did we create any unintended effects?
- What would we do differently?
- What is the next move?
When something does not work
The work is not over because the first solution failed.
- Adjust
- Rebuild
- Expand
- Partner
- Stop
- Try something different
- Investigate again
Returning to the Teach-In is intelligent when the evidence shows the team misunderstood the problem.
My YCS Portfolio & the YCS Solution File
What did you actually help change?
Every student’s portfolio saves
- Issues explored
- Teach-Ins
- Research
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Community Conversations
- Leadership roles
- Partnerships
- Action Teams
- Projects
- Presentations
- Stories
- Resources mobilized
- Community actions
- Results
- Impact evidence
- Reflections
- Skills demonstrated
Every initiative keeps a permanent record
- Issue
- Community
- Youth leaders
- Adult companions
- Partners
- What we learned
- Community voice
- Proposed solution
- Action
- Resources
- Results
- Evidence
- Current status
- Next move
Status
- Listening
- Learning
- Connecting
- Organizing
- Building
- Acting
- Measuring
- Improving
- Sustained
Where the Quests converge
YCS is learning applied to community.
- Leadership
- Organize people.
- Law
- Understand systems, policy, rights, and responsibilities.
- Academics
- Research, calculate, analyze, write, and communicate.
- Arts
- Tell stories and imagine possibilities.
- Technology
- Build tools, map information, communicate, and analyze data.
- Hospitality
- Welcome people and create belonging.
- Athletics
- Apply teamwork, discipline, health, and community-building.
YCS Quest success rubric
Ten dimensions, four levels.
- Listening
- Did they understand before acting?
- Research
- Did they gather credible information?
- Community voice
- Did affected people participate?
- Collaboration
- Did they build relationships?
- Leadership
- Did young people exercise genuine responsibility?
- Strategy
- Was the proposed action connected to the actual problem?
- Action
- Did they move from idea to execution?
- Evidence
- Can they Show and Prove what happened?
- Reflection
- Did they learn and adjust?
- Character
- Did they act with dignity, humility, responsibility, courage, and respect?
- Beginning
- Developing
- Proficient
- Advanced
The question after every project
Not “project complete.” What now?
- Did the problem improve?
- Does the action need to continue?
- Who should own it next?
- Should it become a program?
- Should another organization carry it forward?
- Is policy change needed?
- Should it expand?
- Is the issue appearing in other communities?
- Could this become a shared YCS priority?
State of Our Community Solutions
Published at the end of each year.
- Issues investigated
- Teach-Ins
- Community Conversations
- Young people engaged
- Community members engaged
- Partners
- Action Teams
- Actions completed
- Resources mobilized
- Solutions built
- People served
- Changes documented
- Stories captured
- What did we learn about our community?
- What did we learn about leadership?
- What should we work on next?
Core YCS philosophy
Notice. Listen. Learn. Connect. Organize. Solve. Act. Measure.
01
Notice
Something should be better.
02
Listen
Understand people and place.
03
Learn
Study the issue.
04
Connect
Find the people.
05
Organize
Build shared purpose and responsibility.
06
Solve
Design a response.
07
Act
Make the move.
08
Measure
Determine what happened.
09
Learn again
Use evidence.
10
Build again
Improve the solution.
A student completing YCS Quest can say
- I learned how to understand a community issue.
- I listened to people affected by it.
- I researched before deciding what should happen.
- I brought people together.
- I helped develop a solution.
- I accepted responsibility for part of the work.
- We took real action.
- I can show what happened.
- I understand what still needs to change.
- I know how to make the next move.
- Listen deeply.
- Lead with others.
- Organize with purpose.
- Build the solution.
- Show and prove.
- Make the move.
Reading the field
Reading the field: the conditions students are solving for
48%
Lee County, Florida · All households · 2023
United Way of Lee, Hendry & Glades / United For ALICE
ALICE means Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — households that work yet earn less than the cost of basics in their county.
View source and methodology
- Statistic
- Lee County households below poverty or classified as ALICE
- Geography
- Lee County, Florida
- Population
- All households
- Data year
- 2023
- Source
- United Way of Lee, Hendry & Glades / United For ALICE — ALICE in Lee County
- Methodology
- The 48% figure is 12% of households below the federal poverty line plus 36% above poverty but below the ALICE household survival budget, as published in the 2023 county report. Some press coverage cites 42%; JRX publishes the figure that the primary report's own table supports.
- Accurate wording
- Approximately 48% of Lee County households fall below the poverty line or meet the ALICE threshold (12% in poverty, 36% ALICE, 2023 data).
- JRX verification
- Verified by JRX on 2026-08-22
15.8%
Lee County, Florida · Children under 18 · ACS 2024 one-year estimate
U.S. Census Bureau
View source and methodology
- Statistic
- Lee County children living in poverty
- Geography
- Lee County, Florida
- Population
- Children under 18
- Age range
- Under 18
- Data year
- ACS 2024 one-year estimate
- Source
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey Table B17001 (poverty status by age)
- Margin / CI
- ±2.3 percentage points
- Accurate wording
- Approximately 15.8% of Lee County children under 18 lived in households below the federal poverty threshold in the 2024 ACS one-year estimate.
- Source link
- Open U.S. Census Bureau
- JRX verification
- Verified by JRX on 2026-08-22
16.3%
City of Fort Myers, Florida · All residents · ACS 2024 one-year estimate
U.S. Census Bureau
How to read it: City-level figure. Fort Myers data must never be presented as Lee County data, or the reverse.
View source and methodology
- Statistic
- Fort Myers poverty rate
- Geography
- City of Fort Myers, Florida
- Population
- All residents
- Data year
- ACS 2024 one-year estimate
- Source
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey Table B17001 (poverty status)
- How to read it
- City-level figure. Fort Myers data must never be presented as Lee County data, or the reverse.
- Accurate wording
- Approximately 16.3% of Fort Myers residents lived below the poverty threshold.
- Source link
- Open U.S. Census Bureau
- JRX verification
- Verified by JRX on 2026-08-22