Turn youth voice into insight—and insight into action.
The Insights Lab helps schools, nonprofits, funders, civic partners, and community organizations hear young people responsibly, understand patterns, connect insight to youth-led innovation, and make better decisions.
Earlier collaborative strategy work that helped shape the Insights Lab approach.
1. Voice
Collect youth voice safely and inclusively through surveys, listening sessions, interviews, reflection, and other appropriate methods.
2. Insight
Interpret patterns with youth where feasible, identify themes and gaps, and connect what was heard to the context surrounding the question.
3. Decision
Name the decision or question the evidence should inform, clarify what the findings can reasonably support, and identify the people responsible for the next decision.
4. Action
Connect findings to a program, policy, investment, community response, or youth-led innovation opportunity, supported by usable briefs, dashboards, recommendations, or other agreed outputs.
5. Accountability
Track what changed, document follow-through, and communicate back to young people what was heard, what decision followed, and what happens next.
What partners can use the Lab for
- Youth surveys and listening sessions
- Youth-led research and challenge mapping
- Cohort dashboards and participation summaries
- Youth priorities and project-theme analysis
- Impact briefs and executive briefings
- Recommendations for action and follow-through
Engagement model: We scope the Lab around the question, population, decision, safeguards, and evidence needed. A focused pilot can combine listening, analysis, youth interpretation, and an action brief; larger engagements can add cohort dashboards, repeated listening cycles, or youth-led innovation follow-through.
Engagement scoping: Insights Lab pilots are scoped to participant count, research/listening requirements, partner support, safeguards, analysis, and reporting needs. We start with the smallest useful engagement and expand when the evidence supports it.
Data privacy & trust
We do not sell student data.
Youth insights are collected for defined mission-aligned purposes, shared with appropriate consent and partner terms, protected through responsible practices, and reported in aggregate whenever possible.
- Collect only what is necessary
- Use age-appropriate consent/assent
- Limit access and retention
- Protect youth and partner trust
Want youth insight that leads somewhere?
Tell us the question your organization is trying to answer. We use a PROVE-stage workflow—diagnostic → placement → learning → evidence → showcase → advancement → next opportunity—to shape a focused, responsible pilot around the decision you need to make and the action that should follow.