Youth Opportunities Unlimited

In 1982, then Mayor George Voinovich convened an association of the region’s largest corporations to solve the problem of funding summer jobs for Cleveland’s teenagers. The group’s deliberations resulted in one of the city’s first public-private partnerships: Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.). In its first year, Y.O.U. matched 1,000 young people with local employers for paid summer jobs. Today, Y.O.U. serves youth year-round, having assisted approximately 160,000 teens and young adults in obtaining a job or internship, earning $60 million in salaries and stipends to-date. In 2021, the Mandel Foundation pivoted from providing small annual operating grants to providing targeted support for Y.O.U.’s Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates (JOG) program, an in-school program with a focus on career development, high school graduation, post-high school success, employability and leadership skills; and Y.O.U.’s High School Internship Program, which addresses the root causes of poverty by providing young people with opportunities to gain work experience and explore multiple career options. The Foundation’s partnership with Y.O.U. furthers its goal of investing in human capital development in Cleveland’s youth.