Data-Driven Service Delivery: Using Population and Coalition Data to Reengage Opportunity Youth in Career and Educational Pathways

Opportunity youth, 16- to 24-year-olds who are neither in school nor working, are a population that is difficult to engage and retain in services. Population-level data and local data from coalitions play a critical role in helping human service organizations effectively plan, deliver and evaluate their programs. This case study of the Opportunities for Youth Coalition illustrates how a network of youth-serving organizations have been coordinating their service planning, delivery and evaluation since 2016 using annual data from both the American Community Survey (ACS) and local coalition as well as a collective impact approach. The authors propose strategies for administrators to replicate these data-driven, service-delivery approaches in other geographic areas.