The Cause Research Institute will help United for Youth, a collaborative initiative supporting foster youth, measure progress, strengthen its model, and share practical lessons with other organizations and funders.
United 4 Youth is a strategic collaboration conceived of and funded by Lucky Duck Foundation and Prebys Foundation, with additional financial support by the David C. Copley Foundation.
There are moments when a community comes together to act and learn together in service of something bigger.
United for Youth is one of those moments.
When the initiative launched last fall, it marked something meaningful for San Diego County: a $5 million collaborative bringing together more than 40 organizations around the shared purpose of helping current and former foster youth thrive. Built around housing, employment, and mentorship, the work is designed to support more than 500 young people through a more coordinated, connected system of care.
That belief remains at the center of this effort. And now, as the initiative continues to take shape, United for Youth is entering an important new chapter.
We are proud to partner with National University’s Cause Research Institute (CRI) to support the learning and evaluation of United for Youth.
This partnership is about more than measurement. It is about understanding what is working, strengthening what can work better, and capturing lessons that can help this effort grow stronger over time.
From the beginning, United for Youth has been built around a simple but powerful idea: when people come together with shared purpose, new possibilities open. But collaborations of this scale do not happen every day. They require trust, coordination, and a willingness to keep learning alongside one another.
That is why this learning partnership matters.
As United for Youth moves forward, CRI will work alongside youth and initiative partners to support a learning approach that evolves with the work itself. Young people helped shape United for Youth from the beginning, and their voices will continue to play an integral role in how the initiative learns, adapts, and grows stronger. Early efforts will focus on how the collaborative is being built and where it can improve. Over time, that learning will deepen to better understand program performance and outcomes, helping partners see both how the model works and what difference it is making.
The Cause Research Institute is a strong partner for this next phase. As the applied research and evaluation arm of National University, CRI brings deep experience in equity-centered, participatory, and systems-focused learning. Guided by Drs. Angela Baldasare and Ritika Bhawal, the team understands that strong evaluation helps communities learn in real time, make better decisions, and build toward lasting impact.
The goal is larger than accountability alone.
United for Youth is also building something that can be shared. By documenting what we learn about collaboration, infrastructure, and outcomes, we hope to offer practical insights for other organizations and philanthropy partners working to create stronger, more coordinated pathways for young people leaving foster care. Because collaborations of this scale are still uncommon, the lessons from this work have the potential to extend far beyond a single initiative.
United for Youth is about creating the conditions for young people to thrive: stable foundations, meaningful opportunities, and a community that sees their potential clearly.
This new partnership helps ensure that as we build that future together, we are also learning how to make it stronger and how to share that learning with others committed to doing the same.
Because when a community commits to action and to learning together, it becomes better equipped to create lasting change.
This $5 million partnership brings together more than 40 youth-serving organizations across San Diego County, all committed to a shared vision: creating the conditions for young people leaving foster care to flourish.
While the scale of the collaboration is impressive, the most important number is one—one young person at a time, supported with the relationships, stability, and opportunities they need to step into their power.
