Youth opportunity sounds impressive in a lot of boardrooms. We talk about leadership academies, college access programs, career exposure and civic engagement initiatives. The goals are meaningful. The investments are often significant.
But sit with a group of teenagers, especially those from low-income and first-generation households, and you hear a different reality. They are thinking about groceries, phone bills, transportation, younger siblings who need care, and whether they need to pick up another shift at work. For many young people, the most immediate afterschool commitment is not enrichment, it’s earning money to help their families stay afloat.
This is the tension youth-serving organizations and funders must confront:
We say we want to expand opportunity, but many programs are still designed around the assumption that young people can participate if the program is free.
That assumption leaves many teens behind. It is not a motivation gap. It is an income gap.
The hidden cost of “free” programs
“Being a Youth Champion, I have developed a new positive outlook on life. The program provided me with the opportunity to read empowering books and to meet leading professionals from various industries and get personalized advice. I also learned financial management skills so I could better save money to pay for my college while also being able to treat myself.”
— Angel Rodriguez, Youth Champions Alum
A program may have no registration fee, but participation still comes with costs. A three-hour workshop can mean lost wages from a job, transportation expenses or simply fewer hours available for family support — including but not limited to childcare. For teens with financial stability, those tradeoffs may be manageable. For teens contributing to household expenses, they can be impossible.
The disparities begin before a young person ever enters a workforce program. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that teens from higher-income families were nearly twice as likely to hold summer jobs as teens from families with incomes below $20,000, highlighting how access to early work opportunities is shaped by economic circumstances.
[Related: From training to education: College credit for youth workers]
When a young person chooses work over an unpaid leadership program, that decision is not short-sighted. They are not simply rejecting opportunity. They are weighing the immediate realities in front of them. Too often, youth programs unintentionally select for financial flexibility. The students who can afford to participate show up. The students who cannot are filtered out before they ever enter the room.
If the goal is to reach young people facing the greatest barriers, programs must account for those barriers from the beginning.
Paying teens is an investment, not a bribe
“Through the healthcare professional workshops, I have realized that I really want to help my community and even though it’s not an easy path, it is achievable. Because of guidance through Youth Champions, I feel ready to face the challenges college brings and pursue a major in molecular biology to one day become an optometrist.”
— Priscilla Riscajche, Youth Champions Alum
Some people still worry that paying teens changes the nature of youth programs or that young people should participate solely because they are motivated to learn, grow or serve their communities. However, this rationale fails to realize that compensation allows teens to participate without choosing between a paycheck and an opportunity to learn and grow.
A stipend can turn a program from something they would like to attend into something they can realistically attend without sacrificing their family’s well-being.
More importantly, paying young people recognizes them as valued contributors. It reinforces responsibility, builds confidence and creates opportunities to practice workplace skills in environments designed for growth. For many youth workforce programs, apprenticeships and career exploration initiatives, compensation is not an afterthought but an integral part of the model.
What funders and programs can change
“What motivates me to continue participating in [Youth Champions] is the valuable experience and knowledge that I gain through the weekly workshops, as well as the incredible staff and facilitators. I hope to attend college majoring in Business and Computer Science. Receiving the stipend has benefitted me greatly by teaching me how to manage my money properly through saving and investing.”
— Kaycee Nguyen, Youth Champions Alum
If youth organizations and funders are serious about economic mobility, youth compensation has to be treated as core infrastructure, not an optional budget item. This recommendation may seem out of reach for organizations struggling to compensate their staff fairly. It is important, however, for programs to ask questions about both staff and youth compensation during program design:
Are participation costs such as transportation, equipment and food being covered?
Would a teen who needs to work or provide sibling care be able to participate?
Are we designing programs around young people’s actual lives or around institutional assumptions?
Are we compensating youth for their contributions as peer leaders and organizational designers?
Funders can make this shift by requiring applicants to include youth compensation plans in grant proposals and by treating stipends as essential program costs alongside staffing, curriculum and evaluation.
The youth programs that create the greatest impact will be the ones that reach youth farthest from opportunity because they recognize the full reality of young people’s lives. Organizations can pair compensation with financial education, helping teens build skills around saving, banking and managing income. In these cases, a paycheck can become more than immediate support; it can become an early step toward financial independence.
Opportunity must be designed for the young people we want to reach
Communities need stronger pathways into education, employment and leadership. Employers need young people with experience and skills. Funders want investments that create lasting mobility.
Courtesy of Jack Cline
Jack Cline
If we want youth opportunity to be equitable, we have to remove the barriers that prevent participation. Paying teens for their time is not charity. It is a practical strategy for making opportunity real for those it keeps passing by.
At Youth Champions, we have put this belief into practice by designing a program around both opportunity and stability. We work with high school students across Los Angeles, many of whom come from low-income and first-generation households, and we know the barrier is not talent. Our program is intentionally designed to expand what students see as possible, help them build confidence and real-world skills, and surround them with relationships that can carry forward long after the program ends.
- Stipends. Every student can earn a stipend of up to $1,000 based on participation, so they do not have to choose between investing in their future and taking a work shift or helping at home.
- Virtual workshops. Participants complete 24 virtual workshops focused on financial literacy, communication, goal setting, leadership and other life skills that are not always taught in traditional classroom settings.
- Mentors. They are paired with mentors, often giving them direct access to professionals in fields they may not have previously imagined for themselves.
- Post-secondary guidance. We provide college and trade school application guidance and organize six in-person field trips.
- Core skill strength maintenance. We encourage participation in a summer book club to keep skills fresh.
- Alumni support. We have an active alumni network that continues supporting students after graduation.
The tag line on our website is “Ignite Potential.” Providing stipends removes a barrier. But, as the quotes convey, it is the relevant, relationship-rich programming that provided the sparks that grew into passions.
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Jack Cline is the co-founder of Youth Champions and president of Lee & Associates | Los Angeles – Downtown. In 2017, he and his wife, Cambria, founded Youth Champions, a nonprofit dedicated to helping underserved students unlock their potential through mentorship, education and career readiness. A respected leader in Southern California commercial real estate with more than four decades of experience, Jack is passionate about creating opportunities for the next generation and serves on the boards of the AltaMed Foundation, The BFC, and the City of Vernon’s Business and Industry Commission.
