Opportunity Youth Network

Opportunity Youth Network Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Opportunity Youth Network, Nonprofit Organization, 60 Park Place, 17th Flooor, Newark, NJ.

Opportunity Youth Network (OYN) is New Jersey’s leading advocate of opportunity youth with a body of replicable initiatives that are designed to address youth disconnection. These initiatives are organized around four key elements and four key programs: Education - LEAD Charter School; Workforce Development - YouthBuild Newark; Policy Advocacy - My Brother’s Keeper Newark; and Systems Building -

Newark Youth Workforce Collaborative; which work in tandem to accomplish NOYN’s mission to re-engage opportunity youth while drastically changing systems that inhibit their success.

Last week, our Youth Policy Council brought the conversation about youth disconnection straight to the New Jersey Stateh...
06/01/2026

Last week, our Youth Policy Council brought the conversation about youth disconnection straight to the New Jersey Statehouse.
Students walked through the legislative process, learned the building's history, and asked important questions about how the issues affecting their lives can be addressed through policy.
As one student put it while looking up at the portraits of past governors lining the wall: "How do I get my face up there?"
We’re proud to empower our young people to ask this question.

Members of the LEAD/YouthBuild Newark Youth Policy Council are heading back to the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton this...
05/20/2026

Members of the LEAD/YouthBuild Newark Youth Policy Council are heading back to the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton this week to meet with legislators and see firsthand how state government works.
The Youth Policy Council brings together elected youth representatives, staff, and program leadership to shape our policy and elevate youth voice.
Young people in the Council will meet with legislators and bring the perspectives of opportunity youth into the rooms where policy is made.

“The only thing I can’t do is tell myself I can’t.” 💬 Meet Shandra Lora: Newark EMS Corps graduate, future firefighter, ...
04/30/2026

“The only thing I can’t do is tell myself I can’t.” 💬

Meet Shandra Lora: Newark EMS Corps graduate, future firefighter, and proof that real strength is built one quiet decision at a time 💪
After years of feeling a step behind, Shandra found her footing in OYN’s Newark EMS Corps program, where mentorship, hands-on training, and a community that wanted her to succeed helped her recognize what was always inside her.

She’s building the version of herself her younger self once needed and we are proud to be part of her story.
Read Shandra’s full Story of Transformation 🔗
oyn-nj.org/updates/for-the-smaller-me

Learn more about Newark EMS Corps:
​​newarkemscorps.org

04/13/2026

Yaneliz Cabrera was overlooked. Labeled as trouble. Never quite seen.

Now she's a LEAD Class of 2023 graduate and coordinator of the NJ Youth Voices Initiative, and she's making sure young people across New Jersey feel exactly what she never did: heard.

"I was once them. So to now be the voice that they can look up to — that just makes me feel good."

04/02/2026

Yesterday's LEAD Career Expo was a reminder that young people truly are the greatest resource available to a community. Our students arrived with industry-recognized credentials, genuine curiosity, and goals they are actively working toward.

Thank you to every employer and educator who met them there.

As Women's History Month comes to a close, we're celebrating the women who are making history right now, including our o...
03/31/2026

As Women's History Month comes to a close, we're celebrating the women who are making history right now, including our own Chief Program Officer, Jasmine Joseph-Forman.
Jasmine rose through the ranks at NOYN from Director of Program and Supports to CPO, and every day she brings her full self and lineage to this work.

Her grandmothers Gloria and Mary modeled quiet strength and faith. Her aunt Robin moved through the world in unapologetic confidence. Her mother built a legacy of community and service.
"These are the women whose shoulders I stand on, only hoping to build the same legacy for my daughter and generations after her."

Jasmine leads programs that serve Newark's opportunity youth who've often been written off in dysfunctional systems. When it comes to the young women in those programs, she is unequivocal: "You are worthy.
She knows their strength. She knows their capacity.
"The very traits you criticized these young women for... 'too much,' 'too loud,' 'too emotional' often carry their leadership, their discernment, their passion, and their resilience. You just have to learn how to help them mold it."

Jasmine was those young women and she had people who helped refine and mold her. Now she pays it forward.
"You don't have to become someone else to succeed. You just have to refine who you already are."



BREAKING: Nearly 104,400 young people across New Jersey are not in school and not working.A new data brief released toda...
03/30/2026

BREAKING: Nearly 104,400 young people across New Jersey are not in school and not working.

A new data brief released today by Measure of America, in partnership with OYN and NJOYC, reveals that NJ's youth disconnection rate rose from 9.4% to 9.9% between 2023 and 2024.

Behind every number is a young person whose potential is being left unrealized. The data is clear: this is not a trend to monitor — it's a call to action.

Read Building Brighter Futures in New Jersey:
measureofamerica.org/building-brighter-futures-in-new-jersey-data-preview/

Address

60 Park Place, 17th Flooor
Newark, NJ
07012

Telephone

(973) 297-0592

Website

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