Country of Residence
United States
Age
17
Project title
Youth Connect CLE Find Your Thing Fair
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Youth Connect CLE helps Cleveland teens find their people in person, through a free fair where every table hands you a bead and a first conversation, and a playbook so teens in any city can build their own.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
youthconnectcle.org
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Pilot-Stage (We’ve tried an activity or two)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
I was sitting on a swing at the playground when I found out school was closing for three days. Three days turned into a year on screens. I had friends and family nearby, and I still felt profoundly alone. It was a quiet kind of loneliness. I missed my friends in a way I could not explain, and I worried that saying so would make the distance feel more real. When school reopened, being around people again made me feel like myself. But I never wanted to feel that isolated again. I started reading about loneliness and learned it is a health issue, not a personal flaw. Then I joined Better Together at my local Friendship Circle, where teens, older adults and peers with special needs make crafts together. I left every week feeling useful, and I realized connection is something you build by showing up. The aha moment came during my two year capstone research. I kept finding the same thing: being near people is not the same as connecting. Cleveland has dozens of organizations built for teens, yet most teens never walk through their doors. They need a front door. So I decided to build one: a fair where teens meet local organizations face to face, and where every table creates a real human moment.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
Teens spend far less time together in person than they used to. The U.S. Surgeon General reported that time young people ages 15 to 24 spend in person with friends fell almost 70 percent between 2003 and 2020. Loneliness is linked to depression and anxiety, and the pandemic wiped out many of the small, familiar relationships that make a place feel like home. In Cleveland, the problem has a specific shape. The city has dozens of youth organizations, from theaters to sports leagues to service groups to LGBTQ centers. But a teen has to already know what they want, find the organization online, and walk in alone. Many never do, and organizations struggle to reach them. There is no front door. Screens make it harder. Scrolling can feel like being near people, but it lacks eye contact, body language and presence. I fell into that during the pandemic. This matters to me because I lived it, and because I have seen what changes when a teen finds a place to belong. Teens here also live across neighborhoods that are often divided by economic and social lines, so there are few easy ways to meet people from different parts of the city. I want every teen in Cleveland to have a real way in.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
My solution is the Find Your Thing Fair, a free connection fair for teens ages 13 to 18, plus an online directory and a playbook. It works like a college fair, but instead of recruiting, the goal is connection. How it works in action: teens register for free and see which organizations will be there. At check in, each teen gets a name tag and picks interest stickers. Then they visit tables run by local youth organizations. At every table, a host hands the teen a bead directly, face to face, so the bracelet a teen wears home shows who they met. Handing a bead, instead of leaving a bowl out, is the key. A bowl lets you stay anonymous. A hand starts a conversation. Between tables, teens can join low pressure activities: a community wall written on windows, a draw yourself poster, and board games. Teen volunteers act as connectors, not facilitators. They notice who is standing alone and help them join in. Our first fair was on October 10, 2026, at the Cleveland Public Library. 15 organizations tabled and 9 teen volunteers ran the floor. Beyond the fair, an online directory keeps every organization and event in one place all year, so a teen who missed the fair can still find a way in. A playbook, which I am writing, will explain how to run a fair from the first email to the thank you notes, so teens in other cities can build their own. Next version, based on what teens, volunteers and organizations told us: a 90 minute fair, an org mixer before doors open, phones away for everyone including exhibitors, and a small group game for teens who find tables intimidating.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
At our first fair on October 10, 2026, 66 teens registered and 28 signed in. I estimate about 40 teens attended in all. 15 youth organizations tabled, and 9 teen volunteers ran the floor. We surveyed teens, volunteers and organizations afterward and got 18 responses, 6 from each group. 5 of 6 teen respondents found an organization they want to follow up with, and 5 of 6 said they did not feel isolated or lonely during the fair. Org reps reported about 145 to 150 conversations with teens, and 5 of 6 said they would table again. All 6 volunteers said they would volunteer again. We also learned what did not work. About half of registered teens did not show up. The 4 hour day ran too long, the space was too big for small conversations, and 3 of 6 org reps said the fair felt only somewhat worth their time and resources. Most attendees were older teens, so we are not yet reaching younger ones. Each survey group had only 6 responses, and I had no baseline, so I cannot say the fair reduced loneliness. I treat the results as direction, not proof. What I can say is that teens left with specific organizations they wanted to contact, and organizations want to come back.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Today, each youth organization in Cleveland recruits teens on its own, through flyers, social media and school announcements. College fairs and club fairs exist in some places, but they are built to recruit. Nothing I could find in Cleveland gives teens one friendly place to meet many organizations in person with connection as the goal. What is new is the design. It is built on one idea from research on weak ties: being near people does not create connection, structured contact does. So every activity is built to create a human moment. A table host hands each teen a bead face to face. Volunteers are trained as connectors, not facilitators. Teens who feel shy get a way in that is not walking up to a stranger. Second, it is run by teens. I am a teen, my volunteers are teens, and the survey questions, the activities and the next version all come from what teens told us. Third, it is built to spread. The fair is free for teens. The directory runs from a simple spreadsheet, so it keeps working without code. The playbook is meant to let another teen in another city run the same fair. Fourth, it measures and changes. We survey teens, volunteers and organizations after every fair, publish what did not work, and redesign. After the first fair, that meant a shorter day, an org mixer, a phones away rule and a small group game.
How many people are on your team?
4
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
I founded and lead Youth Connect CLE. Shaashwatiyaa Balamurugan is our Inclusion and Welcome Lead, Priyasha Ghosal is our Impact Director, and Simon Bahl Prosak is our Outreach Coordinator. Nine teen volunteers ran the first fair in defined roles: welcome and check in, roving connection boosters who help shy teens join in, set up crew, and behind the scenes floaters. Two adult volunteers supported them, and 15 partner organizations ran their own tables. I give each person a role they own.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, I plan to: Run a spring fair in April 2027 that fixes what we learned: 90 minutes, an org mixer first, phones away for everyone, and a small group game for shy teens. Launch the online directory so every Cleveland youth organization and event is in one place all year. Finish and share a playbook so teens in other cities can run their own fair. Reach younger teens, since most of our first attendees were older, by working with middle schools and families earlier. Add a short loneliness question at registration, with a follow up weeks later, so we can measure change instead of guessing. Develop a teen changemaker network and a small micro grant program so teens can start their own connection projects. Finish nonprofit status. We operate under a fiscal sponsor now. Build a leadership team that outlasts me. I leave for college next fall, so I am training a second lead and a younger apprentice, with staggered terms. Success looks like more registered teens actually showing up, most teens reporting they met someone new, most organizations wanting to return, and at least one other teen running a fair of their own.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
I invite people in by giving them a real job, not a flyer. At our first fair, 9 teens volunteered, each with a role, and all 6 who answered our survey said they would volunteer again. 15 organizations joined as partners and ran their own tables, and the Cleveland Public Library and the Mayor’s Office Thriving Youth Series supported the event. To reach teens, I worked through school administrators, partner organization networks, Eventbrite, Instagram at @youthconnectcle, Reddit, and teachers, with a teacher referral incentive. I also write about what I learn on Substack and our website, including the lessons from what went wrong, so other teens can see that this is something they can do too. To teach others about the problem, I wrote a research brief, The Practice of Belonging, from my two-year capstone project. The fair itself teaches it: a teen who gets handed a bead experiences structured contact and does not have to read about it. Going forward, I will keep a list of teens and organizations who want to stay in the loop, recruit school ambassadors for the spring fair, build a youth advisory board so teens help decide what comes next, and share the playbook so other teens can start their own.
