YouthBuild USA Case Study by Duke University's
Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship
Abstract:
From its roots in 1978 as a project of the Youth Action Program in East Harlem, by early 2003, the YouthBuild movement had grown to encompass a network of over 200 local sites nationwide. This case study was designed to tell the YouthBuild story in a way that provides a learning experience for others who are interested in scaling social innovations. The case has been written to highlight the strategic decisions made in this scaling process, with particular attention to the challenges and opportunities associated with collaborating across sectors to achieve national scale. The case has been divided into eight parts, with supplemental material provided in three appendices. While the case unfolds roughly in chronological fashion, each part focuses on specific strategic dimensions of the scaling process. Thus, readers will encounter occasional temporal overlaps as separate parts look at different questions that arose during the same time period. We recommend that interested readers work through the decision-oriented parts in order, referring to the appendices when they are mentioned in the text.
