Carolina Youth Development Center Receives $175,000 Grant

May 30, 2012 - PRLog -- PropelNext is a new venture of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (http://www.emcf.org), of New York, NY, that seeks to advance the programmatic impact of promising, primarily local youth-serving organizations across the country. CYDC is one of 15 organizations in ten states that were selected, out of 102 nonprofits invited to apply, to participate in PropelNext’s first cohort.

“We are honored to be selected to participate in the PropelNext learning community,” said Barbara Kelley Duncan, CEO of CYDC. “This grant provides an awesome opportunity to examine our work in the Bakker Career Center over the past six years and, with expert technical assistance from the foundation partners, to refine and evaluate our model. This data-driven initiative will help us to build organizational capacity, develop best practices, and strengthen our program performance outcomes.”

“The Carolina Youth Development Center is doing innovative and inspiring work with kids and young adults who desperately need help,” said Lissette Rodríguez, EMCF’s Director of Capacity Building, who developed and oversees PropelNext. “We are pleased to help this organization ensure, increase and broaden the impact of its work.”

About Carolina Youth Development Center (CYDC)
Founded in 1790 as the Charleston Orphan House, the Carolina Youth Development Center has served the Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties of South Carolina for 221 years by providing shelter, safety and treatment services to abused, neglected and abandoned children.  Today CYDC’s programs are primarily dedicated to housing and supporting victims of child abuse or neglect, and to helping these and other at-risk youth in the community, including foster youth, become successful adults. The Bakker Career Center, located on the CYDC campus, provides leadership training, career development, and academic programs to help children prepare for life after foster care.

About The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF)
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) seeks to transform the life trajectories of America’s most vulnerable young people and help them become independent, productive adults. EMCF has launched a new venture called PropelNext to help the next generation of promising nonprofits connect their passion for transforming young lives with the ability to use data for learning, self-evaluation and ongoing improvement so they can achieve greater impact. By coupling PropelNext grants with the establishment of a dynamic learning community, EMCF hopes to create a larger pool of organizations with the tools, capacity and programs to serve more effectively our nation’s most disadvantaged youth.