Youth Today

What Youth Today does

Youth Today is an independent, nonprofit digital news publication founded in 1989 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., serving practitioners, advocates, educators, and policymakers in the youth-development field. The platform covers a wide vertical span — child care and development, child welfare and foster care, education, gun violence, health and mental health, juvenile justice, out-of-school-time programs, race/ethnicity/gender, youth homelessness, youth with disabilities, and youth leadership — through news articles, opinion pieces, field reports, and reports. Beyond core journalism, the publication operates a grants database for youth-serving organizations, plus three specialized resource surfaces: the OST Hub (out-of-school time), the Nonprofit Toolbox, and multimedia channels including the Thriving Youth Knowledge Exchange podcast and video content.

Underlying the publication is a standard CMS-based digital news platform (youthtoday.org) with an open-access reading model and an email newsletter subscription funnel, supplemented by social media distribution on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. The publication's business model is consistent with nonprofit trade media: monetization surfaces include donations and sponsorships, advertising, sponsored guest contributions, and (likely) subscriptions; pricing is not publicly disclosed. The company historically operated independently and, as of 2025, operates under the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) as its permanent publisher while also serving as fiscal sponsor of the Alliance for Youth Thriving thought-leadership initiative co-led by Karen Pittman and Merita Irby.

Technology depth is modest: the platform is a content-first publishing site with an archive of 2,731 news pages and an assigned ISSN (10896724). No proprietary AI/ML, integrations, mobile app, or API surface is documented, and no headcount, revenue, or funding data is publicly disclosed.

Name

Youth Today

Legal name

Youth Today

Website

https://youthtoday.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Youth Today is an independent, nonprofit national digital news publication serving youth-development practitioners, nonprofit organizations, educators, and policymakers with news, opinion, field reports, a grants database, podcasts, and resource hubs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Trade Digital Media Publication (Youth Development)

akta.pro primary industry

Children’s News & Current Affairs Programming (MPABAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Teen/Young Adult Educational Nonfiction (College/Career, Health, Civics) (EDAGAIAI), Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

Keywords

• Youth development news
• Nonprofit digital media
• Child welfare journalism
• Out-of-school time resources
• Youth grants database

Headquarters

HQ city

Kennesaw

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Youth Today is an independent nonprofit digital news publication that produces and distributes journalism, opinion, field reports, and curated resource content focused exclusively on the U.S. youth development sector, covering child welfare, education, health and mental health, juvenile justice, out-of-school-time programs, and youth policy. Its core deliverable is a continuously updated website supplemented by a grants database, multimedia videos, podcasts, and resource hubs such as the OST Hub and Nonprofit Toolbox, targeted at practitioners, administrators, and policymakers in youth-serving organizations.

Product overview

Youth Today is a single unified news publication focused on youth development and advocacy. The platform provides independent journalism through multiple content formats including news articles, opinion pieces, reports from the field, grants information, videos, and podcasts. The publication covers a comprehensive range of topics including child welfare, education, health and mental health, juvenile justice, out-of-school time programs, and youth leadership. Content is organized into topic-specific sections and supplemented by specialized resources like the OST Hub for out-of-school time professionals and a grants database for funding opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Thriving Youth Knowledge Exchange podcast: A podcast series discussing how to rebuild well-being, groundedness and agency for youth.
• OST Hub

Products and services

• Youth Today Digital Publication An independent digital news publication providing continuous coverage of youth development topics, including child welfare, education, health, juvenile justice, and youth advocacy through news articles, opinion pieces, field reports, and grants listings for practitioners, administrators, advocates, and policymakers.
• Thriving Youth Knowledge Exchange Podcast An audio podcast series within the Youth Today publication that discusses how to rebuild well-being, groundedness, and agency for youth, targeting practitioners, educators, and policy leaders in the youth development field.
• OST Hub An out-of-school-time resource hub providing a curated collection of tools, resources, and information for OST program operators and practitioners working in the youth development field.
• Nonprofit Toolbox A dedicated resource section within the Youth Today publication that aggregates tools, guides, and practical information for nonprofit organizations working with youth populations.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIEL is the new permanent publisher of Youth Today as of March 2025, succeeding Knowledge to Power Catalysts which provided temporary hosting. IEL is a thought leadership organization focused on educational leadership and youth development. Karen Pittman and Merita Irby joined IEL as senior fellows as part of this deeper partnership.
• Knowledge to Power CatalystsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvided temporary home for Youth Today in March 2025 to secure its 35+ year legacy before the permanent partnership with IEL was established.
• Alliance for Youth ThrivingcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth Today serves as fiscal sponsor of the Alliance for Youth Thriving, a thought leadership initiative co-led by Karen Pittman and Merita Irby.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• EdSurge: A digital media and research organization covering education technology and innovation. Peer: targets similar education-adjacent professional audiences with editorial content, newsletters, and events, though with a stronger product/tech lens that intersects with Youth Today's OST and education coverage.
• The 74: A nonprofit news site covering K–12 education and the broader forces shaping American education. Peer: nonprofit media model serving an education-adjacent professional and policymaker audience, with overlapping subject matter (education, equity, youth outcomes).
• The Conversation: A nonprofit, editorially independent news outlet that publishes academic-authored articles. Peer: shares the nonprofit media model and editorial independence positioning, with broader topical reach but similar reliance on institutional partnerships and grants.

Direct peers

• The Nonprofit Times: A trade publication serving nonprofit management and operations professionals. Peer: shares the professional nonprofit audience and provides news and how-to content that overlaps with Youth Today's Nonprofit Toolbox and operational coverage.
• The Hechinger Report: A nonprofit, independent news outlet focused on education and youth-related inequality. Strong peer: similar nonprofit/grant-funded model, similar professional and policymaker audience, and overlapping topic scope (out-of-school time, education equity, youth development).
• The Imprint: An independent news publication covering child welfare, juvenile justice, and youth services policy and practice. Direct peer: nearly identical audience of practitioners, policymakers, and child welfare professionals, and overlapping editorial scope (foster care, juvenile justice, youth services).
• Fostering Families Today: A specialized publication serving foster, kinship, and adoptive families and the professionals who support them. Direct peer for Youth Today's child welfare and foster care coverage, with a narrower focus but similar professional reader base.

Broad incumbents

• Education Week: A leading national news publication covering K–12 education. Comparable as an editorial media brand serving education professionals, with substantially larger scale and a more established paid-subscription model; covers adjacent topic areas (education policy, teaching, student well-being) that overlap with Youth Today's education coverage.
• Chronicle of Philanthropy: The leading news source for the nonprofit sector, including foundation and grantmaking activity. Comparable as a specialized nonprofit media brand serving the same reader type (nonprofit leaders, grantmakers) that Youth Today also targets, with overlapping grants and funding-coverage content.
• Child Welfare Information Gateway: A federally funded information service providing resources on child welfare, adoption, and child abuse prevention. Comparable as a high-authority information resource for child welfare professionals — an audience Youth Today directly serves — though operating as a government resource rather than an independent news publication.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/youth-today
• Xx.com/YouthToday

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Youth Today