The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is thrilled to announce that it is the new publisher of Youth Today and is now the fiscal sponsor of the Alliance for Youth Thriving as part of deeper partnership with Karen Pittman and Merita Irby, thought leaders in youth development and education who are joining IEL as senior fellows.
The work and legacy of Pittman and Irby is synchronous with IEL’s 60+ year history of building and supporting movements in service of lifting up leaders and equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to transform their communities through education with collaborative solutions.
Pittman and Irby are perhaps best known for co-founding the Forum for Youth Investment (in 1998) and, more recently, serving as governing partners of the Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance. In 2022, the duo left the Forum, joining forces with Katherine Plog Martinez to create Knowledge to Power Catalysts (KPC), a nimble consulting firm. Together they pursued big swing projects like the launch of the Alliance for Youth Thriving and the stabilization of Youth Today, the 35-year-old publication for the allied youth fields that was on the verge of being shuttered.
The duo will continue to lead these interconnected efforts as IEL Senior Fellows. Pittman, who has been a regular columnist in Youth Today since 1992, will continue her role as Editor-in-Chief. Irby will continue her role as the Alliance’s Managing Partner, engaging 40+ national partners in collaborative action.
Launched in 2025, the Alliance for Youth Thriving is a coalition of coalitions, campaigns, networks and leaders that work together to align efforts, share resources, and drive cross-sector change to build community-wide learning ecosystems where all youth can thrive.
Youth Today is an essential go-to resource for leaders and practitioners across the allied youth fields, providing timely news and thought leadership “from and for people who believe that when youth thrive we all thrive.”
“Through this partnership, IEL, the Alliance for Youth Thriving, and Youth Today are better positioned to change systems through people,” shared IEL President Eddie Koen. “This work will have several focal points, but most immediately will focus on engaging IEL’s various networks of Community Schools, Family Engagement, and youth development leaders as ready champions of learning ecosystem stewardship and incorporating the science of learning and development principles into the various strategies and frameworks that support and improve learning for all children and youth.”
“Having IEL as our fiscal sponsor is the gift that keeps on giving,” shared Pittman. “Knowledge to Power Catalysts was created to look for catalytic opportunities to galvanize the allied youth fields. We are proud to have been able to launch the Alliance for Youth Thriving and acquire Youth Today. And we are thrilled to join forces with IEL to add capacity as these big bet projects mature.”
“It’s an honor to become a small addition to IEL’s 60+ years of movement building,” added Irby. “Every program and initiative within the IEL family that we uncover as we move forward reinforces our excitement. The potential for partnerships within IEL that can further strengthen the Alliance is amazing. IEL embodies what we’ve always believed: that maximizing the success of young people means optimizing the people, places, possibilities, and systems across the whole learning ecosystem. Community-wide, year-round, never-too-late learning is essential for our young people to thrive.”
We invite our collective networks to engage with KPC and our new partnership:
- Sign up to receive the free weekly Youth Today newsletters in your inbox and connect with us on LinkedIn Youth Today: Overview | LinkedIn
- Join the “Community-Connected Learning & Community Schools: Activating the Full Learning Ecosystem”pre-conference session atIEL’s National Community Schools & Family Engagement Conference to explore opportunities for Community Schools to continue to break down the walls between school and community by identifying and activating the full range of people, places, and possibilities in community-wide, year-round learning ecosystems.
- Learn more about the Alliance for Youth Thriving’s big ideas and on-the-ground examples, including their trio of resources on learning ecosystems:
- Too Essential to Fail: Why Our Big Bet on Public Education Needs a Bold National Response – This seminal publication synthesizes the converging perspectives and foundational research that led to the creation of the Alliance for Youth Thriving.
- When Youth Thrive, We All Thrive: Why Ecosystems for Anytime, Everywhere Learning are Too Important To Ignore. – Honed with input from the Alliance National Partners, this case statement highlights the key ideas and call to action from the Alliance for Youth Thriving. Updated version just released.
- Learning Ecosystem Intermediaries: Cultivating Connections across Systems and Ecosystems to Help Youth Thrive. From ideas to impact, this piece explores the “how we built this” stories of four mature local ecosystem intermediaries that have had significant impact in strengthening powerful learning experiences and pathways for youth and young adults in their communities.