Freechild Institute for Youth Engagement

Our vision

The Freechild Institute envisions a world where every young person is engaged everywhere, all of the time with positive purpose, power, passion and possibilities.

Our story

Every great journey begins with a story and Freechild’s is no different. Established in 2001, a group of youth advocates from across the North America sought to transform youth-serving organizations by providing highly ethical, effective and engaging services.

Since then we have partnered with more than 500 youth-serving organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Nigeria, Brazil and beyond. Our activities, including programs, training, tools and technical assistance, have served more than 1,000,000 children, youth and adults in 1,000 communities worldwide.

Founded by a group of youth advocates from North America, today Freechild is led by co-founder and director Adam F.C. Fletcher. The hard work, dedication and unwavering support of our team and community has brought us into the future. Today we partner with K-12 schools, nonprofits, government agencies and other organizations to support nontraditional youth engagement throughout society, especially for low-income young people.

Our approach

Freechild stands as the foremost provider of strategic youth engagement solutions around the world, consistently delivering exceptional and customized services with our partners. Whether you’re starting a new project, or your organization is poised to expand youth engagement, Freechild’s commitment is to collaborate and propel you towards your goals.

Anchored by our vision that all young people are engaged, everywhere, all of the time with purpose, power, passion and possibilities, the Freechild Institute focuses on highly ethical quality capacity building for individuals and organizations around the world. We connect youth, youth workers, leaders and others with the training, tools and technical assistance they need to foster just and equitable youth engagement throughout society through personal and organizational capacity building.

After more than 20 years, Freechild continues to provide boutique services for our partners that are laser-focused on our mission. They are:

1. Building the movement for youth engagement among youth and within communities without access to services, funding, strategies or other mechanisms provided elsewhere.
2. Developing the skills, building the knowledge and nurturing the abilities of individuals and organizations to engage nontraditionally engaged children and youth with highly ethical training, tools and technical assistance, along with more.
3. Advocating for the youth ecosystem to actively keep young people themselves at the center of all activities, all programs, all decision-making and more that affects children and youth.