Inspiring Solutions for Adolescent and Young Adult Health

We are youthink—an innovation hub powered by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles that supports changemakers in cultivating new ideas and bold solutions to advance adolescent and young adult health.

We believe everyone is an innovator. Our programs guide cohorts of youth-serving professionals and young people through an impactful innovation process informed by design thinking—an approach to problem solving that uses empathy and creativity to come up with meaningful solutions. We provide the training, tools, and coaching that help teams and individuals go from challenge to change. Here’s how:

  • Incubator Program: We partner with teams of youth-serving professionals and young people across the U.S. and its territories so they can develop and test innovative solutions to complex adolescent health challenges in their community. Over eight months, teams receive specialized training, tailored support, and $50,000 in funding.
  • Fellowship: We support young adults ages 18–25 in innovating new solutions for selected adolescent sexual and reproductive health issues. Over seven weeks, fellows learn from adolescent health experts, collaborate in small teams, gain hands‑on experience, and receive a $5,000 stipend.

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We Connect You With…

Innovation Frameworks

Education and resources about design thinking and other innovation principles to approach challenges creatively

Community

An expansive network of passionate professionals and peers for collaboration

Trainings and Tools

Interactive workshops and materials to practice new skills and ways of thinking

Funding

Financial resources to fund your innovation process

Subject Matter Experts

Adolescent health professionals and direct service providers to discuss your unique interests and needs

Coaching

Individualized support to guide you through your innovation journey

Hear from youthink Participants:

youthink has been personally and professionally inspiring – I have gleaned a lot of knowledge and passion from our cohort and coaches. Design thinking helps broaden my thought process and tackle problems open-mindedly.

youthink Incubator Program participant

2024

Overall, it has been one of the best experiences that I’ve had in my professional life. I only wish I was younger so that I could have used it more often in other ways.

youthink Incubator Program participant

2024

When I talk about this project, I often focus on how different this setup is from any other [opportunity] I’ve been involved with [including] the level of communication, the ongoing [technical assistance], the continuous feedback, and the creation of a community. I often struggle to remember even the name of our grant manager on most [projects] so it’s nice to know the entire team that’s part of this.

youthink Incubator Program participant

2024

The team is amazing – so smart, so kind, so empathetic – just wonderful, and the care and thought that has gone into trainings is so appreciated! I have adored my time working with this group and have learned so much! If only all teams worked this way, guided by these values.

youthink Incubator Program participant

2024

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