Victor C. Young
Strategist, Coach, Collaborator

 

Victor C. Young is a social entrepreneur and nonprofit leader with over 40 years of experience in various roles related to education, community development, and philanthropy. He has worked extensively in the United States and Puerto Rico, as well as internationally in Europe and West Africa. Victor's expertise lies in building cross-sector collaborations, program evaluation, strategy development, professional development, public policy, and finance.

 

Some of Victor's notable accomplishments include:

• Co-authoring the State of Ohio's Education 2000 Commission Report, leading to significant changes in high school graduation standards and statewide proficiency testing.

• Building and leading the Education Enhancement Partnership, now known as the Stark Education Partnership, one of the first, county-wide preK-16 education collaboratives, raising substantial funding from the National Science Foundation and local campaigns.

• Designing and launching St. Philips Academy (now Philip's Academy Charter School), a private alternative K-8 school in Newark, NJ, focused on preparing low-income, underserved children for competitive independent secondary schools and colleges.

• Creating and leading technical support organizations that established cross-sector collaboratives in several communities across the United States for over a decade, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundations.

• Establishing Cornerstone Literacy, Inc. (CLI) to scale up the impacts of intellectual property developed by the Cornerstone Initiative, advancing and developing  instructional coaching and supports for teachers rooted in the science of reading

• Chairing the Council on Foundation's Pre-collegiate Education affinity group and subsequently playing a key role in creating Grantmakers for Education, the nation's largest network of education grantmakers.

• Contributing to the planning, development, and governance of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning (CFTL), a bipartisan education policy think tank impacting teacher policy in California for over a decade before merging with WestEd.

• Creating a bilingual journal, Learning Communities Narratives, to amplify the voices of stakeholders in comprehensive school improvement and community interventions.

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Victor C. Young served as senior program officer for precollegiate education at the Cleveland Foundation, and senior staff consultant at the Rockefeller Foundation.  He has advised and consulted with the Heinz Endowments, Pittsburgh Foundation, Stuarts Foundations, Ford Foundation, and Rockefeller Foundation and partnered with many others.

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Victor is currently managing director of VCY Stratagem LLC. This boutique consulting firm works with school districts, governments, philanthropies, and high-net-worth individuals looking to apply the practices of collective impact to achieve locally agreed-upon outcomes, improving the lives of families and communities. He is a vocal advocate for personalized learning as a means to achieve equity and systematize it. He is also a driving force in efforts to improve reading outcomes for all children using evidence-based approaches dramatically.  Victor is highly sought-after as a public speaker and has addressed diverse audiences, including the Council on Foundations and the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

 

Over his career, Victor has led and helped build a number of organizations.  He currently holds various leadership positions, serving as chair of the board of directors of KnowledgeWorks, as a board member for the  Charleston Literary Festival, a member of the State of South Carolina Broadband Advisory Council, and the Renaissance Learning National Advisory Board.

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Victor graduated from St. Paul's School and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He earned an Ed.M. in Administration, Social Policy, and Planning from Harvard University and completed his doctoral studies in management at Harvard. He has been recognized for his contributions, including receiving the St. Paul's School Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Beyond his professional achievements, Victor enjoys a fulfilling personal life. He is married and has two adult children and one granddaughter.