Yelena Nemoy is the Senior Program Manager for the Opportunity Youth Forum at the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Yelena was the Project Manager at the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC). In her role, Yelena oversaw NYEC’s expanding education options work and focused on issues of policy and practice that promote quality secondary and postsecondary education and training options leading to living wage careers. While with NYEC, Yelena worked with the Postsecondary Success Initiative, a national pilot that strengthened the ability of ten Community Based Organizations (CBOs), in partnership with local community colleges, to provide postsecondary transition support, college bridge programming, and personal and academic supports to students formerly disconnected from education.  In this role, Yelena developed papers and briefs, planned convenings, delivered technical assistance, and supported the grantees’ data collection and analysis efforts.

Previously, Yelena was a youth services provider with CBOs that focused on dropout prevention and homelessness. Yelena coordinated a student internship program for youth at risk of dropping out of high school and conducted outreach to educate the business community about the value of youth in the workforce at the Goodwill Industries of Denver in Denver, Colorado. Prior to that, Yelena provided crisis intervention support and transitional living case management to homeless and marginally housed youth in shelter and transitional housing programs at Urban Peak Denver in Denver, Colorado.

Yelena holds an M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver and a B.A. in Psychology from Pace University.