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October 31, 2022 2022 Giving Guide

Our Piece of the Pie®, Inc. (OPP®)

Mission:

Empowering youth with the key competencies needed to overcome barriers and succeed in education and employment.

Who are you helping, and how?

OPP offers support services to underserved youth in Greater Hartford and Eastern CT. Every young person enrolled in OPP services is paired with a youth development specialist. Together, the young person and their specialist identify goals and create an individualized success plan. OPP offers services in personal development, academic success and workforce readiness. These service areas include workshops in financial capabilities, career competency development training, post-secondary support and cognitive behavioral-based training. OPP propels youth on their unique journeys to success.

Goals for the next 12 months

Goal 1: Offer in-house clinical support services to OPP youth.

Goal 2: Strengthen youth leadership, diversity, equity & inclusion frameworks as we strive to be a deliberately developmental organization.

Goal 3: Strengthen board ambassadorship and engagement.

Goal 4: Strengthen staff capacities at every level of the organization.

Goal 5: Utilize and monitor internal and external data management systems to align with our Theory of Change metrics.

Goal 6: Codify research-based best practices to align with nationwide youth development organizations.

Giving Opportunities

OPP seeks year-round community support to fulfill emergency youth needs; program expansions and enhancements; staff development; ongoing needs and the OPP Future Fund.

Here’s how you can give:

1. Register to become a monthly donor by visiting our website.

2. Make a one-time donation through our website or mail checks to our address.

3. Donate to our Endowment Fund by visiting EndowHartford21.com or sending a check to Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and specifying “OPP Endow Hartford 21” in the memo. We are a beneficiary of Endow Hartford 21.

4. Attend our Champions of Youth Event, which is held every November. More information is available on our website.

5. Support OPP on Giving Tuesday by connecting with us on Facebook and donating to our Giving Tuesday fundraiser!

6. Support OPP on AmazonSmile by setting OPP as your “Charity of Choice” when shopping on Amazon. Amazon donates .5% of the purchase price on all eligible AmazonSmile purchases to your specified charity.

7. Purchase goods listed on our Amazon charity list to support our youth and programs.

Post-pandemic

During the pandemic, we provided laptops and wifi hotspots to youth, offering 99% of our services virtually. We quickly learned that while this model worked well for some services, our youth still thrived better with in-person support. However, the increased use of technology has led to the unexpected expense of upgrading equipment sooner than originally planned.

As a result of the isolation and increased stressors during the pandemic, many students fell behind, mental health struggles became more prevalent and the need for in-person support was clear. Over the past year, we have made strides in supporting youth to get back on track and have committed to bringing much-needed, in-house clinical services to our youth.

“I grew up across the street from Trinity College. Every day I saw students coming and going, but none of them looked like me. I still dreamed of attending that university. I credit a lot of my success to OPP, because they believed in me. I graduated from Trinity and went on to earn a master’s degree. I remember my youth development specialist coming to my dorm with a snack basket every year at finals time. This year, I was nominated as one of Hartford Business Journal’s 40 under 40. OPP has been with me every step of the way.”

Rashani Swaby, OPP Program Alumnus, Raytheon Technologies and OPP Board Chair