CREATING AN EQUITY-FOCUSED TALENT STRATEGY

Futures and Options is a NYC-based youth workforce development nonprofit organization that aims to empower underserved youth by providing paid internship opportunities to high school students. Since 1995, Futures and Options has worked with over 7,000 students and 500 businesses. The organization has expanded to provide additional programming that includes career essentials and college counseling. The organization partnered with a team to create a strategic plan that reduces employee turnover and equitably recruits, retains, and develops employee talent. The team conducted market research and an environmental scan on current competitors, mapped the trajectory of former employees, researched talent retention best practices, developed and implemented a survey, and conducted interviews with current employees. Using this data, the team produced a report outlining recommendations for strengthening Futures and Options’ talent pipeline by creating consistent and transparent organizational processes.