Browse the questions we are asked most often. If you have additional questions about our program content, implementation strategies and what makes 220 programs different, please get in touch. We’re always happy to talk to new and current clients.
We totally understand your concern. You’ve likely tried programs that haven’t worked in the past or haven’t gotten the buy-in you wanted. We are happy to share a case study with you that shows how an organization similar to yours utilized our solution to triple its impact and increase funding and student engagement while reducing staff burnout. If you'd like to see a custom case study, please contact us.
Most programs teach static content based on what they think you need to know — and these get poor results. What truly sets us apart from other programs are the following:
We are not one-size-fits all: 220 programs focus on success strategies and frameworks that apply to any discipline. Students complement our content based on their unique strengths, talents and passions. This allows students to create a personalized plan for success that unlocks the motivation that helps them reach their full potential.
We are authentic and non-academic: Any content we develop and teach has been tested and proven by us, and then backed by research on other top performers in a wide variety of industries. We hear from customers that this comes through in our passion, makes our content very relatable to their students and, as a result, increases engagement and effectiveness, i.e., when students take our entrepreneurship course, they’re learning from people who run their own companies.
Our programs are designed for high school and college students ages 14+, although they have been used with mature middle school students. These courses meet students where they are now, which is why they've been used successfully with both high school and college students.
We've been researching, testing and refining our course content since 2009. We've used our own personal research and testing, refined that based on what doesn't work, and enhanced it by adapting expert strategies and examples used by top performers.
We design all of our programs using the following questions:
- What do we wish we would have learned in school?
- What are the critical skills students still aren't learning?
- What are the skills you actually need to be successful?
- What are the common patterns, strategies and routines of the top performers in the world, regardless of industry?
- How can we make this learning practical and immediately applicable to our students?
220 stands for second (2) to (2) none (0). The goal for all our programs is to help every single student create his or her 220 Life — the life that for them is second to none.
220 programs have been tested with students from affluent schools, urban afterschool programs and rural community organizations. Because we: (a) meet students where they are, and (b) teach them based on their potential — not where they come from — the programs have worked for over 5,000 students and more than 100 organizations.
The worksheets and workbooks are the most important part of each program because they help students personalize the concepts and apply them to their own lives. The good news is that these worksheets are printable! As long as students can print (or even if you have to print these worksheets and mail them to students), they can participate in these programs.
We ensure your students are progressing through the required course material in three ways:
- Course quizzes that are prerequisites before they can move on to the next lesson
- Course workbooks and templates to ensure students are relating the course material back to their own situation, life and future
- Progress reports to monitor how much of each course your students have completed
Yes, we provide an invoice that allows for mobile payments. We can also provide memoranda of understanding (MOUs), W9s, agreements or any additional paperwork you need for your organization's vendor contracts.
We provide several layers of support for your organization throughout our work together:
The 220 Onboarding Course has everything you and your staff need to get started. We go through the platform and all program components, including student enrollment and all key links.
Our weekly office hours are available to you and your staff. During office hours, you can ask our founders questions about the programs, anything specific to your program or how you're looking to make the most out of a specific module for your students. This time is set aside for our partners to get the customized help they need to use 220 effectively.
We provide post-purchase emails and check-ins that include regular updates from our team to make sure you're up to date in the course.
Additional support is provided through our:
- Professional development webinars
- Student webinars
- Parent info
- Instructor guidebooks
- Email — reach out at any time to get questions answered via email.
Many organizations across the country have used our program to support or exclusively provide SEL for their programs and students. Instead of students experiencing these skills through a "self-awareness" module, students learn by doing and build these capacities by pursuing goals based on choice — their choice. This results in natural motivation, increased persistence, and higher likelihood of goal achievement and incidental skill-building.
Self-Management and Self-Awareness: The Leadership Course challenges students to look inward and examine their emotions, thoughts, values and behaviors like never before. Students identify their natural interests, existing passions, unique strengths and strong beliefs; how these things impact their thoughts, actions and relationships; and how they can leverage these things to develop their purpose and create an extraordinary life. Then, our additional courses provide the frameworks and tools to help them achieve their ultimate professional, financial and relationship goals — whether that's through working at their dream company or becoming a freelancer or entrepreneur. Students learn how to set audacious, measurable goals; how to break those goals down into smaller, actionable steps; and how to build the support team they need to start working toward that extraordinary life.
Social Awareness and Relationship Skills: Our courses help students set life-altering goals that guide their thoughts, actions, values and relationships. These goals provide a meaningful reason for students to choose optimism, positive relationships, healthy behaviors and mutually beneficial relationships instead of destructive behaviors or negative choices. Students demonstrate leadership through leading by example (building skills and accomplishing goals); developing empathy by asking, answering and listening to deep, personal goals, beliefs and experiences; and working in teams to accomplish exciting projects that will benefit their peers and their community.
Responsible Decision-Making: Students’ life-altering vision from The Leadership Course provides the foundation for their decision-making. By having a higher purpose, students are incentivized to make positive near-term decisions that benefit themselves and others, so they stay on track toward their long-term goals. Our courses challenge students with limited structure and student-driven content so they learn to evaluate the quality, diversity and ambiguity of information before making decisions. They also learn to make decisions more quickly, so they get more comfortable with failure and being wrong, which gives them the ability to course-correct and get to the ultimate goal faster.
220 collects data from its users for the sole purpose of facilitating the program, and this data is not sold or repurposed in any way. Access controls, data encryption and other data protection controls are managed by our hosting platform, Kajabi. Additional information on 220 Youth Leadership's Privacy Policy can be found here.
We wanted to create a for-profit business to provide the ultimate impact for our partners, students and communities. While the nature of our work is typically seen as "non-profit work," we didn't want to rely on grant funding to do the work we knew was necessary to shift the future of education. Our business model allows us to grow our programs and reach young people through the needs we identify in the marketplace while allowing us to give back financially to programs and students who need it most.
220 donates 2.20% of net profits each year to support WagiLabs programs and students. WagiLabs is an organization that uses its 100% free and open-source curriculum to teach entrepreneurship to young students across the world. WagiLabs helps students unlock curiosity, compassion and courage to come up with ideas that “do good” to help people, animals and the environment. Click here to learn more about WagiLabs.
We have worked with a multitude of organizations from across the country. Most of our partners are progressive educational organizations. We've worked with charter schools, public schools, local workforce boards, Job Corps centers, private schools, religious-based organizations, Greek organizations, out-of-school-time groups (e.g., YMCAs, YWCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs), STEM-focused organizations, sports-based youth development groups and large-scale initiatives (i.e., city-, state- and national-focused youth initiatives).
At this time, we are not offering programs to individual families. Please contact us to sign up for our waiting list if you'd like to be notified when we have programs available for individual students and families.
We get this question a lot, and we love answering it. We work with many at-risk, low-income and first-generation students. We don't treat them any differently. Conventional practices say we need to adjust the way we talk to and work with these students because of what they're experiencing or what they've been through. While trauma-informed practices are absolutely helpful, what we NEVER should do is make them feel like they are different and less capable than other students. Maybe they're starting from a lot further behind. Maybe they're going through incredible obstacles. But that should never diminish their potential and we need to help them realize this. The equalizers for all students of all races, backgrounds and personalities are these:
- Every student has the right and opportunity to pursue a meaningful and exciting life.
- Every student starts from somewhere, and every student has goals he or she wants to achieve (whether he or she realizes it yet or not).
- Every student faces obstacles.
- Every student has unique gifts, talents and passions.
- Every student can be intrinsically motivated to use these gifts, talents and passions if we help them unlock an exciting future.
Our job is to help all students uncover what a compelling future means to them, then help them work backward to connect this future to your program, their school and their near-term goals. Starting points are starting points. Obstacles are obstacles. But these should never impact the audacity or excitement of their goals and what we can do to help them get there.
