Tech education for deaf community in Jos—here's how DTF confronts odds

The Peniel Foundation virtually connects people with disabilities with mentors to help them learn to achieve their goals, level up their career skills to access to better jobs and become financially independent. Since forming, the foundation has seen thousands join the program and go on to have great success in their careers and personal lives.

Code Queens is a 10-week hands-on coding course designed to get young women interested in STEM careers. To graduate, students must participate in a hackathon that asks them to solve a real-world business challenge through coding.

A digital literacy training program in Nigeria, the Gina Mata, Gina Al'umma, is bridging the country’s technology gender gap by teaching women and girls about the gig economy, STEM, graphic design, storytelling, and how to sell products online.

The staff of the Jackson Free Press used a Solutions Journalism Network grant to explore juvenile justice issues and solutions taking place around the country. This piece offers an overview by the publisher of what they found, including a youth media program in Utah and a group in Seattle that offers alternatives for keeping young people out of the criminal justice system when they start to get in trouble. It puts it in the context of the specific challenges facing young people in Jackson and why city and state leaders should pay attention to how other communities are meeting these challenges.

The non-profit program Year Up is getting low-income young people into jobs by training them in the culture of work. The organization pairs companies—which help fund the training period—with interns from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Nonprofits Manufacturing Renaissance and Youth Crossroads provide vocational training that Chicago's public schools have largely abandoned, particularly in disinvested communities. Manufacturing Renaissance runs free seven-week metalworking cohorts that include stipends, tools, job placement support, and an alumni network, and has trained more than 1,200 young adults since 1982. Youth Crossroads offers multiple workforce tracks, including HVAC certification and paid internships, and 88% of trade program graduates report feeling prepared to enter the workforce.

In an effort to address online violence children face in the digital age, initiatives across several countries, including Spain, Romania, and Ukraine, are getting creative using theatre, media literacy training on AI and algorithms, anonymous reporting hotlines and classroom phone bans, among other strategies to help youth cope. The various initiatives have proven successful. For example, the school-wide phone ban in one Spain region resulted in a 27.42% decrease in cyberharassment cases between 2023-2024.

Floare de Cires addresses the employment barriers people with disabilities face by training them in culinary and hospitality skills that help them integrate into the workforce and build a sense of independence.

An AI-powered robot chef created by the startup goodBytz can prepare up to eight dishes at once and up to 3,000 meals a day, virtually 24/7, ensuring hospital workers, patients and their families always have access to freshly cooked food.

Nigeria's digital payment ecosystem, particularly Point of Sale (POS) operations, has emerged as an entrepreneurial solution to help young people find sustainable employment and income to support themselves and their families. With the POS systems, people can establish small hubs for cash withdrawals, bill payments and other financial services. With the help of these new ventures, youth unemployment has dropped from 53.4% to 6.5% over a four-year period.