Our Mission
TRUST is a youth-led movement equipping young people with the knowledge and practical skills they need to build the lives they envision. We bring the rigor and intentionality of academic education to the essential learning young people need to understand themselves, navigate life, and shape their futures.
We envision a world where access to essential life education never depends on a young person’s family circumstances, access to outside resources, or the luck of which teacher they happen to have. Every young person should leave school prepared not only to make a living, but to build a life.
Our Methodology
Our work combines research, young people's lived experiences, and community partnerships to make life-skills education more accessible. From developing curriculum to advocating for change in schools, here's how we are working to make that happen.
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Research
We identify gaps in life-skills education by looking at existing research, speaking with young people about their experiences, and gathering feedback from the communities we work with.
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Curriculum
We use what we learn to develop curricula that combine research with mini-lectures, discussions, interactive activities, and take-home resources. Our goal is to make what students learn as easy as possible to apply to their everyday lives.
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Workshops
We partner with schools and community organizations to bring our curriculum directly to young people. After each workshop, we gather feedback from students and our partners to understand what went well and what we can improve.
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Policy and Advocacy
We work with educators, school boards, and policymakers to understand how life-skills education is currently taught and identify ways to make it a more consistent part of what students learn in school.
What’s Next
We are currently working to expand TRUST across the country by establishing new university chapters, partnering with more schools and community organizations, and developing curriculum on additional life-skills topics. We are also expanding our research efforts to better understand the impact of our workshops and building our policy advocacy initiatives to work toward making life-skills education a fundamental part of every student's education.