Caregivers Outreach: Youth Empowerment

Who We Are

Caregivers Outreach: Youth Empowerment (COYE) is the youth division of Caregivers Outreach, Inc., created to support, educate, and advocate for children and teens who provide caregiving responsibilities at home. Launched in 2025 and built upon a decade of foundational programming, COYE is the first initiative in New York dedicated exclusively to youth caregivers.

What Is a Youth Caregiver?

A youth caregiver is a young person, typically ages 10–18, who provides regular emotional, physical, or household support to loved ones who are aging, ill, living with a disability, or experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder.

They help manage medications.
They supervise siblings or vulnerable adults.
They translate at medical appointments.
They hold families together.

Yet most remain invisible to schools, healthcare systems, and policymakers. COYE exists to change that!

Our Story

In 2015, Caregivers Outreach uncovered a hidden reality:
In Bronx schools, 43% of surveyed students were providing caregiving support at home. To respond, we launched the Youth Caregivers Initiative one of the first programs in the state to identify and support youth caregivers in classroom and community settings.

What began as a pilot program transformed into a youth division in 2025 expanding our reach, research, and systems-change work to ensure every youth caregiver is seen, supported, and valued.

Our Program Pillars

COYE advances youth caregiver support and recognition across five interconnected pillars:

Direct Services & Support: Providing case management, peer groups, and resource navigation
Education & Training:Equipping teachers, healthcare providers, and youth with tools to thrive
Respite & Wellness: Creating space for youth to recharge, connect, and just be kids
Research & Evaluation: Gathering evidence to make youth caregiving visible statewide
Advocacy & Policy: Advancing legislative and school/health system recognition

Together, these pillars build a supportive pathway for academic success, emotional well-being, and healthy development.

Join the Movement for Youth Caregiver Equity

Together, we can ensure that young caregivers do not navigate their responsibilities alone and that their futures are filled with opportunity, not sacrifice.

Testimonials

“1) What I really enjoy the most about the program is that it makes me feel like the care that I give is appreciated

2) I enjoy that we have a talk session with everyone about what we do because I don't feel so alone

3) I like that we have trips because it makes me realize how much I have in common with the other

caregivers

4) I enjoy that we all spend time with each other realizing we are there for each other with our needs.”

-Viany P.

youth caregiver

“Ms. Cooper the CEO of the Program has provided a service that is truly needed in support of children taking on the role of caregivers and trying to keep up with their schoolwork and social activities. The children look forward to the monthly support group services and monthly trips. I believe the services that the Program offers would be of value to all students in the educational system.”

-Brandon Muccino,

Principal of PS 83 The Donald Hertz School

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