Led by Executive Director Alicia Modestino, C2C was recognized for its innovative use of data to improve youth employment outcomes and influence public policy.
The Community to Community Impact Engine (C2C) at Northeastern University has received the 2025 Data Champion Award from the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), recognizing its innovative use of data to improve youth employment outcomes and influence public policy.
The award was presented during NYEC’s annual forum, “Empowering Youth, Transforming Communities,” held this week in Minneapolis.
Lynn Sanders, global director of C2C, accepted the award on behalf of the team and its partners.
“This award recognizes not just our team’s efforts,” Sanders said in her remarks, “but the power of community-centered research to drive meaningful change.”
Led by Executive Director Alicia Modestino, C2C has spent more than a decade partnering with the city of Boston to study and expand summer youth employment programs. The initiative has produced compelling evidence that such programs improve employment and academic outcomes while reducing disparities, particularly for Black and brown youth. Research from C2C also found reductions in criminal justice involvement among participants.
“C2C was designed to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice by using data and analysis to push the needle forward on complex problems found in the communities near each of Northeastern’s global campus locations,” said Modestino, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs.
“Our long-standing partnership with the city of Boston, supported by $1 million in external funding from William T. Grant Foundation, is a prime example of how higher education can harness both knowledge and resources to make meaningful impact that affects people’s everyday lives.
“We are so proud of this accomplishment — it really shows that Northeastern is leading by example in so many ways.”
Sanders said the research helped drive a historic $20 million investment in summer jobs by the city of Boston and inspired a citywide commitment to youth employment.
“This evidence has catalyzed an unprecedented investment in summer jobs,” she said, “and led to Mayor Michelle Wu’s ‘Summer Jobs Guarantee,’ promising a paid summer job to every Boston Public Schools student who wants one.”
Among its innovations, C2C has developed a job-matching algorithm that increases job placements and diversifies the youth served. The team also uses Youth Participatory Action Research to place young people at the center of evaluation and program design.
C2C’s impact extends beyond Boston. In 2023, the initiative expanded to Northeastern’s Oakland campus, where its summer jobs program has tripled in size over the past three years. This summer, C2C will launch a “Bridge to AI” training program for high school students in Oakland, in collaboration with the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Department.
“We believe data and effective models should be shared across cities and communities,” Sanders said. “This recognition from NYEC strengthens our commitment to using data and analysis as tools for equity, opportunity, and systems change.”
More than 150 high school students participate annually in C2C’s summer employment programs in Boston and Oakland, with approximately 90% identifying as people of color.