About Us

With youth crime on the rise, the need for services escalating, and the difficult economic environment, it will take smarter, more informed and more strategically aligned funding strategies to make a difference. State Street Foundation has brought together public and private funders, businesses and key stakeholders to share, learn and coordinate their work in an effort to have a sustained impact on this critical problem.

The YVP Collaborative’s goals are to:

Shine a spotlight on what businesses and funders can do to reduce youth violence

• Clearly define the issue and its causes for a broad audience of businesses and funders
• Promote a long term, systemic and sustained impact on causes
• Identify successful efforts and best practices
• Motivate funders and businesses to do more to address this critical issue

“Connect the Dots” to enable strategic alignment of funding

• Bring together a broad array of the diverse funder community to develop a shared knowledge of risk factors, best practices and effective strategies
• Identify critical gaps and needs in five “hot spot” neighborhoods
• Reduce duplication of effort among funders

Ultimately, do our part as funders to reduce youth violence

• Do more effective funding of programs and services

An important component of the YVP Collaborative effort is to evolve a shared leadership model.  Organizations joining the State Street Foundation in the leadership of working groups thus far are:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
• Boston Public Health Commission
• City of Boston, Office of Human Services
• City of Boston, Office of Jobs and Community Service
• Hyams Foundation
• The Boston Foundation
• United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley