User:Nicole McCormack/sandbox

Edward DeJesus (born on April 18, 1964) is a national youth workforce development expert, author, and speaker. He is the author of numerous reports on the issues of juvenile justice, employment and leadership. He is the author of the bset selling book - Makin iT, Making Connections Work, Alive and Free and COnnecting the Disicnneded.

Thirty years of experience in the trenches in some of the toughest neighborhoods and policy-making environments has prepared DeJesus to reveal the true social, political and cultural dynamics that keep so many youth from educational and workforce success. Through creative and inspirational storytelling mixed with cold hard facts, DeJesus argues that every community has the seeds to set up the structures that make a difference in their youth’s future. And, through his message, audiences learn how to make these seeds grow.

Edward DeJesus is the President of Edward DeJesus Solutions. DeJesus and his team work to improve programs and policies for youth and young adults.

DeJesus is a W.K. Kellogg Foundation National Fellow and holds a MS in management and urban policy analysis from the New School for Social Research. He is the author of the best-selling book, "MAKiN’ iT" as well as the author of several publications and books on issues affecting marginalized young adults. His work has been featured on NPR, in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and the Miami Herald.

DeJesus was born and raised in The Bronx, NY where he started his career in several major youth initiatives in the South Bronx, Harlem and Washington Heights sections of New York City. Later, DeJesus expanded his innovative and ground breaking work across the U.S., including rural areas everywhere.

He has blended his love for reaching youth with a special ability to impact policy by conducting research on effective programs that help youth acquire and maintain jobs. DeJesus served as a youth policy expert for the Sar Levitan Center for Youth Policy at John Hopkins University and served on the Task Force on Employment Opportunities for young offenders for the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. He has served as a consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the U.S. Dept. of Labor, and the National Education Association.

DeJesus is a father is six and a competitive Ironman triathlete.