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The challenge aimed to identify innovative solutions and strategies for helping Fairfield County young people achieve self-sufficiency by age 25. It encouraged anyone — young, old, students, workers, parents, retirees — to answer:
“What barriers prevent or challenge Fairfield County young people from achieving independence and success by age 25? What opportunities and support can we provide to improve the results?”
The following responses and winners were recognized at a recent luncheon:
- Winner: Tiny Homes, submitted by Alison Riith of Darien, recommends promoting home ownership for young people by removing regulatory and zoning barriers to allow development of micro homes and cottages built with reclaimed materials at a cost of $20,000 to $50,000 per house.
- Finalists: The first finalist is Positive Youth Development, submitted by Chrissy Cacace of Norwalk, which recommends pro-active before-school and after-school programs that teach students skills that prevent trouble and failure. The second finalist is Communal Living, submitted by Carol O’Connell of Ridgefield, which recommends developing housing that allows young people to live in group settings and share costs.
- Most Votes: High School and College Completion Network: 8th through Life, submitted by Quentin Ball of Greenwich, recommends connecting eighth grade students to an array of academic, guidance and mentoring supports that help them make a successful transition to high school and beyond.
“Congratulations to our winners and many thanks to all participants of the What Works Community Challenge,” said Juanita James, president and chief executive officer of the Community Foundation. “We greatly appreciate your effort and ingenuity in proposing ideas to help our county’s young people.”
Today’s older teens and young adults face unemployment rates from 13.6 percent in Danbury to 49.5 percent in Bridgeport, plus one of the most expensive housing markets in the nation. Up to 10,600 young people in Fairfield County are not in school, nor receiving job training or working.
“If our young people have to leave the county to support themselves, our population will decline, businesses will flounder, unemployment will rise, our tax base will shrink, and the need for government and nonprofit services will increase,” said James. “It’s a moral and economic imperative that our young people can remain in Fairfield County, support themselves and their future families, and energize our communities. We want to help our young people ‘thrive by twenty-five.’”
The What Works Challenge was announced in mid September and accepted responses through Oct. 3. Participants submitted their ideas via the What Works Challenge Hub.
Forty-eight ideas were submitted to the Challenge, 12 of which generated enough support to graduate to the expert review phase of the competition. The Community Foundation’s panel of outside experts then awarded three of the ideas high enough scores to qualify as finalists. A total of four ideas were recognized at the luncheon.
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