Community Highlights: Meet Craig Dorn of Youth Opportunities Unlimited

Today we’d like to introduce you to Craig Dorn.

Hi Craig, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in Cleveland Heights in the 1970s. It was a very diverse community racially and religiously. Growing up my family was working poor and we struggled to make ends meet. My mother taught me that education would be my ticket out of poverty and to the middle class. So I became first generation college student and attended Bowling Green State University from 1981 to 1985. During this time, I had a chance encounter with a fellow student who was African American. She shared her experience with subtle racism at the college. I was upset to hear this and conducted a senior research project investigating what we now know to be systemic or institutional racism. I determined there was systemic racism at the college and was motivated to dedicate my career to reversing this ill. I joined Y.O.U. in 1989 with a goal of working for three years and then moving on to “bigger and better things”. Thirty-two years later it turns out Y.O.U. has been perfect place for me to accomplish my personal mission to eradicate poverty and racism. I have worked directly with youth, as a program manager and now as CEO. Each day I know I am contributing to an organization that is helping the youth of color overcome barriers to achieve a better life.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been an adventure marked by continuous learning and improvement along the way. In the early 1990s I was a Career Coach at Rhodes High School in Cleveland and each day I was anxious about my performance to make sure I was doing a good job helping the students on my caseload. I can still feel the pit in my stomach as I pulled into the parking lot each day. However, as we now know the story has a happy ending. I was part of the early days of Y.O.U. when we were expanding beyond just providing summer jobs and starting to provide year-round programming with staff housed in the schools. I did not realize I was one of those pioneers and today, Y.O.U. has almost 20 staff housed directly in local high schools. Another pivotal moment on the Y.O.U. road was 2009. Newly elected President Barack Obama passed the Recovery Act and Y.O.U. had the opportunity to quadruple the number of youth we served in our summer jobs program from 1,000 to 4,000. It was an enormous struggle to bring our infrastructure and operations up to speed to handle more youth. What it meant for me and my colleagues was month after month of 15-18 hour days. Family members were annoyed at our absence. Missing my 7 and 4-year-old children during this precious time. And lots of stress and swearing. We survived and thrived. Today Y.O.U. can provide 4,000 summer jobs in our sleep.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Youth Opportunities Unlimited?
We provide teens and young adults ages 14-24 with career coaching, instruction, job placement and mentoring that leads them on a path to economic self-sufficiency. Our programs range from 4 weeks to 3 years and always include a paid work experience and follow up to make sure youth are on the right path. What sets us apart is our ability to deliver very high quality at scale. We are known nationally for our summer jobs program that provides youth with opportunities to learn more about what it takes to be successful in the workplace. CWRU also conducted a study that proves our summer job program leads to better school outcomes and less involvement in the criminal justice system.

How do you think about luck?
A few examples where luck has played a role. Early in my career (1993) I was ready to leave Y.O.U. An interesting opportunity for growth emerged and it was offered to a colleague. He declined. It was offered to me as the second choice. Had I not accepted this position, I would have left Y.O.U. Instead, it energized me and was to this date my favorite role. I helped create a very innovative career development program aligned to getting young people interested in careers in manufacturing. In 2015 our board passed an ambitious new strategic plan to engage more with young adults ages 19-24. We thought it would be a slow process to develop this new business. One month after board passes resolution, Cuyahoga County asks us to double our size and lead their young adult consortium. If our board had waited another two months to pass resolution, Y.O.U. would be 7 million dollar organization vs. 14 million dollar organization.

Contact Info:

• Email: cdorn@youthopportunities.org
• Website: youthopportunities.org
• Instagram: @youcleveland
• Facebook: @Y.O.U.Cleveland
• Twitter: @YOUCleveland