- Challenges and Barriers
- Death, loss and uncertainty
“Money…There is not enough of it; you need it to do other things; you need to exist.”
Participant:
- Atlanta, GA
- white
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
Youth Quote Search
Welcome to the Striving to Thriving Youth Quote Library. Here you’ll find a curated collection of more than 5,700 quotes from young people ages 15-22 living in communities across the United States. In the library you can see how young people describe their multifaceted identities, how they understand and apply meaning to language around job, work and career, how they think about and assign value to relationships, networking and connections, and their future goals and the education and career choices they believe will lead them there. You can also view additional notes on curation, categories and filters.
- Learning About Work
- Sources of Information
“Mostly my parents because before my dad became disabled he was in an oil field in Texas, and it was very physically straining. I don’t think I would want that.”
Participant:
- Pueblo, CO
- Hispanic
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
“[At 25] I live in Louisiana. I live in Texas. I am a nurse. The important things to me are good health, family, safety and security, good paying job, God, and friends. My family, God and friends are important to me.”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
[At 25] “It’s going to be, I know I’m going to be out of school, but then but after, like after that I don’t really look super far because I’m like the type of person that changes my mind about a lot of things. So like I’m just working towards like, I’m kind of going day by, more day by day.”
Participant:
- New Orleans, LA
- Black
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Perceptions of the term 'work'
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“Requirements.”
Participant:
- Online
- Hispanic
- female
- 26-29
- mixed income
- Perceptions of the term 'job'
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“Cleaning because sometimes you have to manage cleaning your store or wherever you work at.”
Participant:
- Online
- Hispanic
- male
- 15-22
- mixed income
- Impact of peers
- Pathways
“Definitely my creative friends who have been supportive.”
Participant:
- Online
- Hispanic
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Characterizations of a good job
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“I wrote work your way up. I wrote passion, hopefully, because hopefully you are passionate about what you’re career is or what you’re working towards. I wrote your job and work towards a career, yeah.”
Participant:
- New York, NY
- white
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Learning About Work
- Sources of Information
“For an internship, this year I was working in an after school program for elementary kids, and how I got it is through this staff member. I didn’t really know her, but she kept trying to reach out to me like oh, you look like you want to do something for your summer, make money and stuff. So I decided to go and get help from her.”
Participant:
- Oakland, CA
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
[At 25] I’ll probably be working on my dissertation at that point for some type of cancer research, not too far from here. Hopefully, it will be at Northwestern. And probably very nervous because I’ll have so much work to do at that point.”
Participant:
- Chicago, IL
- Black
- male
- 15-22
- higher income