The Communities Empowering Youth (CEY) program was established to promote capacity among partnerships of nonprofit organizations working in the areas of gang violence, youth violence, or child abuse and neglect. CEY was established in 2006 by the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), as part of the Compassion Capital Fund. The grants were, on average, $250,000 per year for three years. A total of 131 grants were awarded (100 in 2006 and 31 in 2007). On average, grantee partnerships consisted of a lead agency and six partner organizations.

The CEY program was evaluated over three years (2008–2010) by Abt Associates, Inc. (Francis et al., 2011). The evaluation consisted of a three-year longitudinal survey of a representative sample of all grant recipients, and a three-year longitudinal case study of ten partnerships.