Youth Opportunities Unlimited was featured in Cleveland Magazine as a Dominion Ohio East and Cleveland Magazine Community Impact Award winner.

Y.O.U. received $10,000 for its ProPath program, which places 10th– 12th graders with employer/mentors in 4-8 week internships that align with career pathways and allows them to apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to a professional work environment. During the 2015-16 academic year, ProPath provided internships for 102 Cuyahoga County teens with 37 different employers.

Each year, Dominion East Ohio and Cleveland Magazine recognize nonprofits that have worked to make Northeast Ohio communities better places to live, work, and play. Dominion East Ohio presented $110,000 in grants to 12 winning community organizations in its 22nd annual Community Impact Awards competition, co-sponsored with Cleveland Magazine.

Other Community Impact Award winners include the Up Side of Downs of Northeast Ohio, Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation, Summit County Historical Society, and Farmicos CARES (Community Access to Resolution and Expungement Services).

"THE RIGHT STEP Youth Opportunities Unlimited's Mission is to help teens and young adults succeed by providing educational workforce opportunities and more.

Originally founded in 1982 as a nonprofit providing Cleveland teens with their first paid summer job,  Youth Opportunities Unlimited has since evolved to a much loftier goal.  "YOU's goal is preparing the future workforce of Northeast Ohio," says March Nathanson, senior development executive.

To reach this goal, YOU offers workforce skills and training to youth ages 14-24 living in economically distressed communities.  YOU's 120-hour internship program, ProPath, provided internships for 102 teenagers in Cuyahoga County from 37 different employers in the 2015-2016 academic year.

Students have the opportunity to obtain valuable skills and network within their placements providing connections that could lead to employment.  "We work with employers to find projects that are important to their company's needs.  Internships are making a difference," says Nathanson.

Nathanson recalls a struggling student who received a full time job offer at University Hospital after interning.  The teen wanted to attend Tri-C but his mother was not originally open to both attending college and working.  Following conversations with the YOU team and her son, the mother fully supported the student attending Tri-C.  "[ProPath] affects how families look at  education, jobs and economic self-sufficiency," he says." - Molly Wilson