Pathways for economic inclusion?: Community based youth serving organizations, the social economy, and youth economic opportunity in rural America

This paper considers how voluntary sector organizations impact economic integration of highly marginalized populations in rural economies, and argues that understanding how the voluntary sector impacts economic integration is important to supporting rural economic development. Through an original multi-method qualitative 6- year study of disconnected youth and Community Based Youth Serving Organizations (CBYSOs) in rural California, the study identifies 6 key strategies used by voluntary sector organizations to influence economic integration of highly marginalized young adults into the local political economy to understand three interrelated aspects. One, the types of strategies used by these organizations and the points of contact they create between marginalized older youth and the voluntary sector. Two, the relationalities that occur as a result of these points of contact and how these may shape individual trajectories of integration. Three, how these strategies influence broader political, social, and economic forces to influence youth economic integration in rural economies. The analysis shows CBYSOs offer a number of key critical strategies, but that the success of such strategies depends on the type of relationality created between Community Based Youth Serving Organizations and disconnected youth, as well as the relationalities that occur and exist between these organizations and broader political economic environments in which they are embedded. The analysis argues that youth economic integration is itself − in part − the presence of connection of ties to CBYSOs in rural and peri-rural areas which holds significant implications for policy and research.