**Building a Comprehensive Youth Employment Delivery System-Examples of Effective Practice

8/7/2019 **Building a Comprehensive Youth Employment Delivery System-Examples of Effective Practice

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Building a Comprehensive Youth

Employment Delivery System: Exmple Efectve Pctce FEbruary 2010

Linda Harris

dect yth Plc

rHonda Tsoi-a-FaTT

se Plc alt

sara HasTings

Plc alt

www.clp.



About CLASPSince 1968, CLASP has been a trusted resource, a creative architect for systems change, and one of the country’s most effecti ve voices for low incom

people. CLASP’s mission is to develop and advocate for policies at the feder al, state, and local levels that improve the lives of low income people. In

particular, we seek policies that work to strengthen families and create pathways to education and work.

Acknowledgements This paper was written in partnership with the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and Greater Washington Research at Brookings, as part of a Brookings-

led project to strengthen career and educational pathways for Washington, DC youth. We also wish to acknowledge the Charles Stewart Mott

Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies for their ongoing support of our disadvantaged and disconnected youth work.

About the AuthorsSara Hastings is a former CLASP Policy Analyst. Her work focused on supporting communities to create cross-system collaborations to serve

disconnected youth.

Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt is a CLASP Senior Policy Analyst. She specializes in approaches to address the high school dropout issue. Her current work focus

on community and systemic solutions to support youth, with particular attention to youth of color in high poverty communities.

Linda Harris is the CLASP Director of Youth Policy. Her work focuses on ways communities, systems, and resources can come together to create

solutions at scale for disconnected and disadvantaged adolescents and youth in high poverty communities.







1200 18th Street NW • Suite 200 • Washington, DC 20036 • p (202) 906.8000 • f (202) 842.2885 • www.clasp.org

The situation for young people in many of ournation’s communities of high poverty and high youthdistress is a tragic one. Exposed to a tremendousnumber of risks and negative environmental factorstheir passage to adult success is often impeded. Fora significant proportion of these youth, academicfailure and detachment from school predominate themiddle school years culminating in high dropoutrates in high school. Without the academic skillsand credentials and with few options in the laborforce so many of these youth spiral downwardresulting in increasing involvement in gang orcriminal activity, involvement with drugs, and earlychildbearing. This describes the landscape for youthin many of the high poverty urban communitiesacross the country.

Across the nation, only about 7 in 10 young peoplegraduate from high school on time. In manydistressed communities, less than half of studentswho begin the 9

thgrade will graduate 4 years later.

i

For African American and Hispanic youth, thescenario is much the same. It is estimated that 8% of teens ages 16-19, or 1.4 million youth, are notworking and not in school, with no educationcredential and few skills.ii There is no question thatyoung people want to work judging from themillions of youth who sign up for employmentprograms in the summer, though many are turnedaway due to lack of sufficient resources. Thequestion is whether the subset of youth who havedropped out of school and lack the skills to be viablein the labor market, can be better served if thatsummer job served as a portal to a range of education, training and support services that wouldprepare them for adult success as civically engagedcommunity residents, responsible parents and skilledworkers.

Many communities have shown a tremendouscommitment to youth employment as evidenced bytheir quick response in implementing a high quality

jobs program in the summer of 2009, extendingservice to older out of school youth. The return onthat investment and effort, however, can be greatlymultiplied if summer funding is used in tandem witother federal youth funds, discretionary funding,resources from other youth serving systems, andcommunity resources to build a comprehensiveyouth employment support system for those youth imore vulnerable situations for which a summer jobalone is simply not enough.

A comprehensive youth employment delivery systepulls together the resources and funding streams -public, private, and foundation – in a strategic wayand draws on the strength of public systems andcommunity providers to create supported pathwaysthat provide youth with the education, skills, andaccess to good jobs and successful careers. Manycommunities have some good programs, effectiveyouth practitioners, and well-intentioned effortsscattered throughout the city. The challenge is thatwhen dealing with a situation at the scale and

complexity of the youth problem seen in many lowincome communities, the solution lies beyond agroup of independently operated programs eachdoing its own thing for youth. If the landscape of education and labor market outcomes is to besubstantially altered for youth who are disconnecteor at high risk, all of a community’s sectors, systemand resources must come together in a more strategway to form a youth employment service deliverysystem of considerable comprehension and scale.

Such a system must have a broad range of options,considerable depth in support services, and thenimbleness and flexibility to connect youth to themost appropriate set of services, including integrateeducation, skills training, and work experienceleading to secondary and/or occupational credentialpostsecondary education and training opportunities




applied skills such as teamwork, leadership, oral andwritten communication, and ethical responsibility.Several urban communities have worked for a

number of years to develop such a cross-systemapproach to the youth challenge. Drawing from theirexperience, CLASP has identified some of thecommon elements of a successful youth employmentservices delivery system. They include:

A strong convening entity to amassstakeholders, shape a community vision,maximize resource sharing, and hold systemsaccountable to that vision

An effective administrative agent to work in partnership with the education system,other youth systems, and communityproviders to assure that the vision of theconvening entity is effectively implemented,

A well-trained case management arm which is responsible for engaging youth byidentifying and meeting needs in the areas of education, employment, basic skills, andwrap-around supports

Strong partnerships across systems that

serve youth, such as education, juvenile justice and child welfare systems, to shareresources and provide additional support tovery vulnerable youth.

High quality work experience and career

exposure components which provide hands-on exposure to the work place, instillappropriate work behaviors and ethics, and

allow for exploration of various occupationsand career options.

CLASP was tasked with identifying anddocumenting effective practices in youth

employment service delivery from communitiesacross the country, with particular focus on thefunction and effectiveness of the workforce

investment system and its collaborative relationshipwith other systems that serve at-risk anddisconnected youth. CLASP first defined thecomponents of an effective youth service deliverysystem, which are discussed in detail throughout threport. CLASP then developed an assessment toolthat identified communities where these effectivepractices exist. Once the communities wereidentified, CLASP conducted comprehensive sitevisits, telephone interviews and internet-basedresearch to gather relevant information. The finding

from these activities are presented in this section ofthe report. The profiles and examples presented inthis report are based on visits and interviews withprogram administrators and providers in BaltimoreBoston, Hartford, Los Angeles, New York,Philadelphia, Portland and San Diego.

When we speak of a convening entity we mean astrong and credible coordinating body that assemblthe key stakeholders and focuses attention on acollective vision and approach to the development a comprehensive and high quality youth deliverysystem. Creating and sustaining such a system isdependent on the strength and integrity of theconvening process, which generates thecommunity’s strategy for youth employment and

establishes many of the partnerships necessary forthe system to function and be sustained. An

effective convening process requires the buy-in fromthe community’s elected officials, corporate

leadership, youth serving-systems, and communityproviders. Moving a community-wide agendarequires that the Mayor or chief elected official,Workforce Investment Board and corporate leaders



and school superintendents carry the message andsignal to all involved that this agenda has priority.Without engagement of public agencies, the process

would most likely not leverage sufficient agencybuy-in to alter the way they do business.Coordinated efforts among just the public agenciesmiss the richness of the experience and resourcesthat the larger community can bring to the table.Those representing respective agencies should be inpositions that have the authority to make decisionson behalf of the organization. The leadership level of the person delegated to represent the agency ororganizations sends an important message about howthe agency has prioritized the effort.

One of the key outcomes of the convening process isthe building of relationships across agencies toinstitutionalize programming. The only way tosustain progress when administrations and leadershipchange is to assure that the commitment to theefforts permeates beyond just the upper echelons of leadership. Thus, conscious efforts should be builtinto the process to bring along the broadercommunity and those within the various systems,agencies, and organizations to be part of this shift in

vision, and more importantly, shift in paradigmsabout how youth are served.

The role of the convening entity is to move the groupforward in planning and implementing acomprehensive youth employment service deliverysystem and setting the stage in the community forcollective action and mutual accountability. TheWorkforce Investment Act of 1998 mandated youthcouncils with the intention that they would play thisrole. However, there has been an uneven evolution

of youth councils across the country as it relates toperforming this function. Some have seized theopportunity to be more strategic in their effortsrelated to high risk youth; others have focused morenarrowly on WIA oversight. It has been suggestedthat WIA Youth Councils can serve as “the architectof a comprehensive youth service delivery system,

bringing together the multiple and fragmentedfunding streams and agencies that currently deliversome piece of the whole”.

iii It is important that the

leaders from education (secondary andpostsecondary), workforce, child welfare, justice,community and faith-based sector, and business anindustry be assembled to craft a sustained approachto the successful re-engagement of youth andstructuring of pathways to put them on track forlabor market success.

Whether this function is vested in a youth council osome other appropriately constituted entity, theimportant functions are to:

Serve as the neutral tableProvide a space where leadership fromdifferent agencies and sectors, each with theown cultures and priorities, come together tforge a common vision and action agendaaround youth.

Help to shape a collective vision

All stakeholders should identify their nicheand how they can contribute to moving the

vision.

Catalyze changes in the way systems and

agencies provide services

Play a strong role in creating comprehensivand coordinated strategic partnerships acrossectors that allow for alignment in resourcepolicies and practice.

Assure collective accountability

Assemble data from various systems to set

priorities, goals, and benchmarks that areanchored in solid data analysis and anunderstanding of the need for multi-prongedinterventions.




Leverage and maximize resources

Use all resources – local and communitybased resources, state and federal resources,

private funding, and discretionary andcompetitive funding opportunities – tomaximally benefit youth.

Work with all involved to chart an agenda

for action

The focus should be the multiple movingparts of a system, not singular programinitiatives.

Sustain the energy and momentumChanging the education and labor marketoutcomes for youth is not an overnight process, so it’s imperative to find creativeways to keep the community engaged in thelong-term goal.

Mark progress and celebrate

accomplishments

Identify short-run activities andopportunities that are in keeping with thevision, benchmark progress, and celebrateinterim accomplishments, all while keepingattention focused on reaching the ultimategoals.

The San Diego School-to-Career Youth Council reports to the WorkforceInvestment Board and is the primary policy body foryouth issues under the Workforce Investment Act.The Youth Council is staffed by San DiegoWorkforce Partnership.

HIGHLIGHTING EFFECTIVE PRACTICE:

Convening Entity

Philadelphia Council for

College and Career Success

Philadelphia’s primary convening and strategy body that

governs the approach and vision for youth is its youthcouncil, newly renamed the Philadelphia Council forCollege and Career Success. The council for Collegeand Career Success, staffed and supported by thePhiladelphia Youth Network, has been working to shapea collective vision that makes clear its focus onachieving larger educational goals for means of reaching

the workforce development needs of the city1.

Philadelphia’s Mayor Nutter committed to two bold

educational goals (reducing the high school dropout rateand doubling the baccalaureate attainment rate) anddesignated the council as its primary vehicle throughwhich his education goals will be pursued andaccomplished. The council is now actively engaged in avariety of strategies designed to build cross-sectorapproaches that address the needs of youth and youngadults, and is also developing, leveraging and aligningresources from diverse funding streams to support them.

Under the leadership and vision of the Youth Council,WorkReady Philadelphia was developed as an initiativeto address a serious skills gap of high school studentsgraduating with limited skills and created a coordinatedsystem of existing and new programs for youth 14 – 21years old that would provide academic enrichment,career and college preparation, and access to jobs inhigh growth fields.

Also, the council made a bold decision to strengthen itsfocus on out-of-school youth and voted to allocate 50%of its funding towards out-of-school youth activities.

This led to the creation of Project U-Turn - a citywidecampaign to raise awareness of and develop strategies toaddress the City’s dropout crisis and to enhance the

career prospects of struggling and out-of-school youthby expanding the availability of high-quality educationand training options.



To build and support a regional youthworkforce system and to manage state and federalworkforce development funds on behalf of

vulnerable youth throughout San Diego County. Thecouncil’s three main goals are to: provide qualitytraining programs focusing on the most vulnerableyouth; bridge the disconnection between the localworkforce system and stakeholder groups andincrease cross-system collaboration; and build andsustain a strong governing body and structure, whichinvolves a youth engagement campaign, to improvesystem coordination

iv.

The County Board of

Supervisors has been a strong advocate for increasedinvestments in workforce development, especiallyfor youth transitioning out of the foster care system,and has supported the council’s work in moving its

agenda.

The council is a collaborativepartnership consisting of members from the localworkforce investment board, youth-serving agencies,secondary and postsecondary education, publichousing, juvenile justice, business, parents and

youth. The Chair of Youth Council brings acomprehensive understanding of the issues as shealso sits on San Diego’s Juvenile Justice

Coordinating Council, is the Executive Director of the Children’s Initiative, the Chair of the state

Disproportion Minority Contact Commission, theChair of the Governor’s Afterschool Advisory Board

for the state of California, and is a WorkforceInvestment Board member.

In the last

four years, leadership has revamped the council toinclude strategic members on the council thatrepresented youth populations most in need in thearea; out-of-school youth and youth involved in the juvenile justice and foster care system. With the rightpeople at the table, the council was able to “change

the funding map” to target funding specifically to

programs that serve those youth.

Baltimore’s primary strategybody for youth is the Baltimore City WorkforceInvestment Board’s Youth Council, staffed by theMayor’s Office of Employment Development

To build a comprehensive youth systemthat will promote the opportunities for youth toacquire the necessary life skills, education, work

exposure and experiences to enable them to haveproductive careers and become responsible familymembers and citizensv. The council focuses itsprogramming on tying services to labor market neeand creating effective connections to local andregional employers; developing meaningfulconnections between academic and occupationallearning; providing education relevant to identifiedhigh growth industries and on creating pathways topostsecondary educational opportunitiesvi.

Baltimore has had ahistory of Mayors who have made youth a highpriority on their agenda. Mayor Sheila Dixon hasprovided continuous general fund support tocontinue the successful work of the YouthOpportunity Grant program after termination of federal funding. She promotes her YouthWorkssummer jobs campaign 2009 with the theme that“summer jobs are everyone’s business”. She isasking everyone to become involved in order toidentify enough job opportunities and allocate

sufficient funds so that every Baltimore City youthwho wants a summer job will have thatopportunityvii. The Mayor also is a strong advocatefor extended day opportunities for young people,with particular emphasis on work and learning. Sheprovided funding for the year-round internship




program, Afterschool Matters, and other extendedday programs.

The Youth Council convenes 50 to60 people from education, justice, social services,employers and community organizations. There areseveral subcommittees on the council around issuessuch as: dropout prevention, summer jobs, systemsbuilding, homelessness, and apprenticeships. Thecouncil recently elected a local businessperson aschair to explicitly connect activities and planning toprivate sector employment.

The Youth

Council sponsors an annual technical assistance andcapacity building conference for educators,employers, case workers, profits and non-profits thatprovide services to youth and young adults. Inaddition, the council sponsored several youthpractitioner seminars and summits that featuredspeakers to share effective practices for issues suchas gang intervention and prevention and dropoutprevention and alternative education options.

In addition, it was brought to the attention of the

Youth Council that Baltimore has a contingent of homeless youth that were not being served. Thecouncil developed the Transitional HousingCommittee and a $750,000 Compassion Capitalgrant was received to implement a BaltimoreHomeless Youth Initiative. The Initiative selectedpartners to build a 43 unit permanent housing facilitywith supportive services for homeless and unstablyhoused youth to be completed in summer 2010.

The main governing body inBoston for youth service delivery is the WIA YouthCouncil which is held by the Boston Private IndustryCouncil (PIC). A subcommittee or partner to thecouncil is the Youth Transitions Task Force. The

Youth Transitions Task Force is focused on anoverall goal of lowering the high school dropout raand could be seen as the research body for youth

development and service delivery in Boston. TheWIA Youth Council advises the Youth TransitionsTask Force through collaborative strategic planningand assessments on overall youth service delivery.

The Youth Transitions Task Force worksto raise the visibility of the dropout crisis byconducting research, making policyrecommendations, and piloting innovative changesin practice

viii.

Mayor Thomas M.Menino has been a champion for improvingeducation and youth workforce development inBoston. He convened the Youth Transitions Task Force in 2004 and charged it with lowering the highschool dropout rate. The Mayor also strategicallyappointed the Youth Council Chair to also sit on tSchool Committee - fostering an importantrelationship that brings workforce developmentknowledge into educational decision making.

The council and Transitions Task Force have many of the same members. The YouthTransitions Task Force has a broad cross-section oforganizations that includes the Boston PublicSchools, community organizations, city departmentand state agencies.

The Task Force has been working hard to raise awareness of and develop solutions to the dropout crisis. TheTask Force began an advocacy campaign, informin

key decision makers and the public on the issue byreleasing the publication Too Big to Be Seen: TheInvisible Dropout Crisis in Boston and America. ThTask Force also drafted and helped pass legislationthat addresses dropout prevention and recovery andrequires collaboration among key state agencies,



such as Public Health, Public Safety, Labor andWorkforce Development and Education, and localschool officials and community organizationsix.

Here, the term “Administrative Agent” means an

organization or agency that: (1) has staff withleadership skills and capacity to work acrosssystems, and with community entities, to implement

the strategies identified in the collaborative planningprocess; (2) has effective management systems inplace to assure fiscal and programmaticaccountability; and (3) and can work effectively withproviders to assure the consistency and quality of theservice delivery. A strong youth employmentdelivery system requires an effective “administrative agent” that has the responsibility for implementingand overseeing the plan established by the conveningentity. Where this function resides and how it isstructured will vary depending on the relative

strength and management ability of the agencies andorganizations in the community. In somecommunities, the administrative agent is the localworkforce investment board (WIB) who directlycontracts with providers to serve youth. In othercommunities, the WIB contracts with anorganization that functions as an intermediary andacts as the administrative agent for overall youthemployment service provision.

The administrative agent manages the quality of

delivery – both administratively andprogrammatically. The process of outreaching tothousands of youth who are disconnected or in high-risk situations, re-engaging them, assessing theircomplex needs, assuring that the mix of services issufficient to meet those needs, and helping them

navigate across systems and programs requires awell-defined management support structure.

Along with managing administrative andprogrammatic functions of delivering quality servicto youth, an effective administrative agent must beaware of local economic and workforce conditionsand take those factors into consideration in itsoverall planning. Preparing youth for jobs that do nexist in their own community or that do not lead to career is neither helpful to youth nor to the localeconomy. Many communities have a large agingpopulation; others have several high growthindustries that require skilled workers. The

administrative agent must assess the needs of thelabor market and take the lead in developingstrategic partnerships across the sectors, specificallbusiness and education, to create pipelines forworkers into jobs that are both in demand and thatlead to careers.

An effective administrative agent is responsible forthe following key functions:

Ensure system has multiple points of entryfor youth

Make provisions for a sufficient range of services and service providers, providedyear-round

Craft articulated agreements to assure ease oreferral and engagement are in place

Manage contractual relationships, monitorinprograms for both quality and fiscalaccountability

Establish and maintain a process and systemfor tracking the youth’s progress throughmultiple systems and programs




Establish a process for evaluating theperformance of service providers

Clarify overall goals and outcomes for youthand develop strategic plans around thosegoals

Assess needs of the local labor market andidentify the regions high-demand, high-growth industries

Engage appropriate partners such aseducation and business to determine astrategy to meet those needs

Develop service models that can beeffectively implemented through the youthservice delivery system

The San DiegoWorkforce Partnership (Workforce Partnership) is anonprofit public benefit corporation that was createdfrom a joint powers agreement between the City andthe County of San Diego to oversee programs thathelp at-risk youth plan and achieve their educationalgoals and secure employment through a network of community-based youth-service providers

x.

Workforce Partnership staffs and supports the SanDiego Youth Council and works to implement theyouth workforce system strategic plan developed andguided by the council. Workforce Partnership staff are assigned to a group of council members toensure members have received the agenda,

encourage participation, address questions orconcerns before the meeting so members areprepared, to remind them of meetings, and to follo

up on action items.

Youth Navigators in the WIA One-stopCenters

Contracts with a network of communityproviders for education and training service

Formal structure for transitioning adjudicateyouth to education and training

Joint WIA/Independent living skills program

Formal process for evaluating serviceprovider performance

Customer Information Services Reportingsystem used by all providers to track youthactivities and outcomes

Work readiness training, wopreparation, employment opportunities, youthdevelopment services and independent livingservices such as identifying educational barriers,long-term mentoring, incentives to reinforce learnin

to encourage participation in activities and/orachievement of goals, individual service strategywith a youth-centered approach, follow-up servicesto assist youth sustaining a successful transition

xi.

The Capacity BuildingCommittee’s, a sub-committee of the School-to-Career Youth Council, primary work is to develop continuous improvement evaluation and technicalassistance strategy for youth programs. Thecommittee’s focus is to identify and develop cross-

system leveraging opportunities and the sharing of “effective practices” to promote youth careerdevelopment and education attainment. The CapaciBuilding Committee also works to implement a“culture change” for youth service providers in ord

to increase the awareness and opportunities for youworkforce/career preparation programming via the



support of the Workforce Partnership. TheWorkforce Partnership provides technical assistancefunding up to $2000 that contractors can access for

professional development and strategic planningactivities

xii.

Philadelphia YouthNetwork is the non-profit intermediary organizationin the city of Philadelphia and is charged withincreasing the capacity and resources that helpeducate, train and employ the city’s youth

xiii. PYN

acts as the fiscal agent for the council andadministers the majority of funds it oversees.

PYN iscontracted to provide staffing and coordination to thePhiladelphia Council for College and Career Successand works to implement the youth workforce systemstrategic plan developed and guided by the council.

Contracts with a network of community

providers for education and training servicesincluding contractors with providers tooperate the City’s five E3 Power centers

A variety of program models, includingprivate sector internships, service learning,subsidized employment in non-profitorganizations and academic support,including college awareness exposure forsummer and year-round career preparation

Partnership with education to create nearly3,000 new high-quality education

opportunities for over-age and under-creditedyouth

New system for reconnecting dropouts toeducational options including a re-engagement center

Focus on aligning and strengthening thecareer and occupational skills curricula foryouth in juvenile placement

Development of methodology to attach costto the young person not to the activity tobetter blend funding

In-house management of wage and stipendpayment for providers

Quarterly assessment of metrics that are setagainst programs outcomes for continualdevelopment of a standard of practice

educational services toprepare youth for postsecondary education andemployment, employment readiness and placementinto subsidized or unsubsidized employment,occupational skills training with certificates in nursaid training, multi-media production, customer retaskills training, among others, and life skillstrainingxiv.

PYN’s philosophy is thaproviders are their partners. PYN workscollaboratively with providers to assess how they cbest provide support to ensure positive outcomes foyouth. PYN offers opportunities for professionaldevelopment through trainings and throughpartnerships with other providers to share effectivepractices. As members of the Alternative EducationNetwork, providers can also be a part of a larger ouof-school youth network where they come togetherto provide peer support to one another.

The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) serves as thegrant administrator, convenes communityorganizations and businesses with a goal of creatinga coordinated, comprehensive, and seamless servicdelivery system for youth.





Effective Administrative Agent

Hartford’s WIB – Capital Workforce Partners

Capital Workforce Partners (CWP) is anincorporated regional consortium that functions asthe local workforce investment board for NorthCentral Connecticut and coordinates comprehensiveworkforce development programming for youthprovided through contracted private and publicpartners and service providers. CWP works to createa “workforce of the future” through theimplementation of strategies and programming

geared towards meeting the needs of youth,employers and the local economy for over 3,000young people served in a given year through summeryouth employment, year-round employmentprogramming, WIA youth, Job Corps, and otherprogramming.

CWP developed a comprehensive framework forcompetency attainment called the CareerCompetency System as the foundation for all youthprogramming and is a required model for allproviders who are contracted through CWP. The

Career Competency System is a “work and learn”tier level design approach to competencydevelopment. It was developed to help provideyoung people exposure to careers and careercompetencies, to design youth workforcedevelopment services that reflect the needs of regional growth industries, to document work readiness skills and collect data for outcomesanalysis, and to be used as a model for quality anddevelopmental service provision used by allproviders1.

The Youth Employment and Learning Program is ayear-round set of services in four progressive tierstargeted to youth ages 14-19:

Tier I: Project-based learning and careerexploration

Tier II: Supported work environments andcareer exploration;

Tier III: Enhanced employability skills

training and employment (ages 16+); and Tier IV: Career Connections (aimed at youthwho have completed the above tiers or candemonstrate appropriate skills at this level).

Capital Workforce Partners, Hartford Office of Youth Services and its partners are able to track progress for youth through Hartford Connects II - aweb-based, program management tool for youthservice organizations that captures data and reportsinformation. It has a multiple entity data sharingmechanism which allows for better sharing, tracking

and correlation of educational and youthdevelopment data1.

CWP contracts with up to 25-30 youth-servingagencies to track outcomes to ensure that:

Youth will gain basic skills in reading andmath.1

Youth will gain Career Competencies inappropriate Tier Level.

Youth will acquire knowledge of careerinterests, of various careers and related

educational pathways. Ninety percent of youth will complete a portfolio that includesresume, personal development profile,personal learning and career plan, andcompetency-based learning plan.

Youth will acquire knowledge of personaldevelopment assets and how external andinternal factors affect both learning andworking.

Youth will remain in school and progressinto the next Tier level of programming.

Altogether, CWP tracks those participants through amulti-year programming sequence that assuresgraduation from high school with a full set of careercompetencies and 21st century skill developmentnecessary for the global economy.



The

Mayor’s Office of Employment Development staffsthe Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board’s

Youth Council and implements the youth workforcesystem strategic plan. MOED, in partnership withthe Youth Council, is responsible for Baltimoreyouth initiatives’ oversight and direction.

Contracts with a network of communityproviders for education and training services

Partnership with community colleges toprovide career training in high growth

industries Management structure and electronictracking system to evaluate performance andto identify participants that require additionalwrap around services

xv.

Career Navigator technology to providefollow-up services, resume assistance, careerdevelopment workshops, and resources toyouth

Use of approved MD Department of Education online program called Novell Stars

for alternative education programming Comprehensive youth development anddropout prevention programming supportingstudents in eight and ninth grade who are at-risk of academic failure

Career Academy alternative education centerproviding GED preparation and intensivecareer exploration, skills training, andemployment readiness

YO! Baltimore that offers job

readiness training, job shadowing, paidpublic/private sector internships, employer-basedtraining, and occupational skills training and GEDclasses; YouthWorks Summer EmploymentProgram; Try Out Employment internship program;a work program called Afterschool Matters thatsupports at-risk students afterschool and exposes and

trains youth in workplace career skills and providesemployment during the school year and summermonths; and an innovative, youth development and

dropout prevention initiative called FUTURESWorks that focuses on education, personal growthand teamwork. Another initiative, Operation SafeKids (OSK), works in partnership with MOED toprovide career development opportunities for courtappointed youth.

WIA Providers attendmonthly meetings and are notified of upcomingconferences, workshops and opportunities that wouprovide training and educational opportunities to

staff and participants.

The youth population is not monolithic. The widerange of academic skills, personal experiences,support needs, and interests will require that youthbe matched to the most appropriate program and seof services. The role of effective case management

is to help youth navigate through a complex maze oprograms, services, educational options to choose tset of services that best suits the youth’s situation.

creates a personal, one-on-one relationship betweenthe youth and a well-trained, caring adult that shoucontinue throughout the youth’s matriculation

through the youth system.One important function to be played by theadministrative agent should be investing in theprofessional development and networking of thosewho function in the various systems as case

managers or youth advocates to build theirknowledge, skills, and abilities in working withyouth, particularly those deemed high-risk. Anotheimportant function is that of assuring that there issufficient access to a range of programs, services ansupports and sufficient information provided to casmanagers on the capacity of these programs to




enable them to help youth make informed decisionsabout their service strategy.

Often referred to as the case managers, youthadvocates, or youth navigators, these individualsfunction in the following ways:

provide the adult support to youth inassessing their strengths, talents, barriers, andsupport needs

formulate individualized plans based on thatassessment, and facilitate their engagement inan appropriate set of activities

provide the counseling and support to keepyouth on track

support the transition for youth who areengaged in the child welfare or justice systemand connect them to the education, training,and community supports they will need

assure that youth don’t fall between thecracks of multiple systems and programs

account for the ultimate attainment of education credentials and employmentsuccess

The function of case management can beaccomplished in several different ways. Somecommunities opt for a case management functionthat is located in their youth intake centers or one-stop centers. There, a case manager meets with theyoung person to get a sense of their background,needs, and goals. Based on this assessment, the casemanager directs the young person to a particularservice provider, and also gives the providernotification of the young person’s intent to

participate in their specific program. The casemanager may conduct timely follow-up to ensurethat the young person and the program are asuccessful match, monitor progress, and work withthe program and the youth to assure successfultransition to the next step.

Other communities place the responsibility of casemanagement with the service providers. Youth sigup for programs and services directly with the

provider; they are not directed to a centralized intakcenter if they decide to sign up with a particularprovider. A case manager there performs thenecessary assessments of needs and goals, and theneither provides the services or directs the youngperson to another service provider better able to metheir needs or goals. This case manager is thenresponsible for tracking a young person’s progress

the program, and helping to ameliorate any barriersto full participation.

The most successful communities meld these twomethods of case management to create a system thaprovides continuous support and smooth transitionsuntil the youth is solidly anchored in successful labmarket and postsecondary endeavors. Whether thisfunction is embedded in the program offerings of service providers, or structured as an overarchingsystem of support in youth one-stops or intakecenters, research has repeatedly pointed to theexistence of caring adult support as the keyingredient in achieving successful outcomes for

youth.

Boston uses a

model where case management is imbedded in theprogram offerings of direct service providers.Boston’s RFP for youth program services is very

explicit about the components of the casemanagement system that must be in place including joint development of service plans; identification ofthe assets of each participant, and plans to build



upon them; identification of the barriers faced byeach participant, and steps initiated to overcomethem; clearly-stated education, employment and

career goals, with projected start and end dates foractivities; identification of competencies and skilllevels required for the participant’s target

occupation; supportive services needed; regularreview and revision by both the service provider andthe participant; and a minimum of 12 months of follow-up service after exit from the program.

Boston’s Youth Options Unlimited (YOU) is a

workforce development program that serves a court-

involved youth population ages 14 – 24 years old.YOU focuses on providing intensive casemanagement, development of individual serviceplans, referrals to other appropriate services,placement in educational options and connections totransitional jobs programs that lead to employmentopportunities.

YOU offers intensive pre-release intervention indetention facilities as well as intensive aftercare

supportxvi. Case managers meet youth while inplacement and collaborate with probation and paroleofficers in development of plans. Youth are assessedand create pre- and post-release assessments. Youthreceive pre-release “day passes” to attendprofessional and life skills training or internshipsthree to four days a week xvii. Once released, casemanagers conduct several contacts per month eitherby phone or one-on-one to develop appropriate planstailored to short or long-term goals around housing,mental health, child care, incarceration, court

appearances, stipulations of supervision, educationand employment. Case managers provide youth withinterpersonal skills development, effectivecommunication training, decision makingworkshops, youth development, re-entry/court


Case Management

Hartford’s Our Piece of the Pie

Our Piece of the Pie (OPP®) is a youth developmentorganization in Hartford, Connecticut that helps youth ages 14to 24 become successful adults. The two primary goals of theprogram are to complete college or receive a postsecondaryvocational credential, and find long-term employment. Thecornerstone of OPP® programs and services is its signaturePathways to Success approach. Pathways to Success is a youthdevelopment strategy designed to help youth access and attaineducation, employment and personal skills. Together, youth

and their youth development specialists (YDS) createindividualized plans which map a realistic path to reach theirgoals.

A crucial component to the Pathways to Success program isthe role of its youth development specialist (YDS) – a guide tothe services OPP® offers and a caring and consistent adultwho advises and supports youth as they work to accomplishtheir goals. When a young person enters OPP®, they arematched with a YDS, beginning the trust-building process.The YDS assesses the young person’s status and needs and

works with them to determine a pathway to a long-termeducational and/or employment outcome. Together, they build

an individualized service plan broken down into practical stepto achieve larger goals, like graduating from high school orimproving school attendance.

The YDS supports youth as they participate in educational,training or employment activities and helps them to navigate

the systems and services he/she may be involved in. An

average caseload for a YDS is between 60 to 70 youth, withconscious thought about balancing case loads of each YDS byAssessing the level of need of each youth.

OPP® and the Pathways to Success approach stays with youthup until age 24. Should a young person enter OPP® at age 14,

he/she could potentially have that caring and consistent adultwith them for up to ten years. Because transitioning toadulthood is a critical time in a young person’s life,

maintaining that support and guidance beyond the periodhe/she enters into employment or postsecondary education isessential.




liaison service, support and guidance and reductionof barriers to employment

xviii.

YOU case managers work on average with 45 to 50 active youth. Active statusrefers to youth who are in an education oremployment placement or are actively workingtowards gaining education or identifying theappropriate educational placement.

San Diego

Workforce Partners, with leadership by the YouthCouncil, has developed a case management approachthat is integrated in the partnerships created to servetargeted groups of at-risk youth, including foster andformer foster youth transitioning to self-sufficiencyand youth returning from juvenile facilities or thoseinvolved in the juvenile justice system.

The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) programat San Pasqual Academy (SPA) has developed an

integrated approach to serving foster teens to helpthem achieve self-sufficiency. San PasqualAcademy (SPA) is a residential educational campusdesigned specifically for foster teens that live andlearn at the academy as they prepare for collegeand/or a career path. Youth work with a casemanagement team made up of YES Career CaseManagers, Residential and County Social Workers,and Youth Advocates who work with each youthindividually to set goals, review accomplishments,and provide guidance.

The case management team works to connect youthto additional services offered at the academy whichinclude independent living skills (ILS), work readiness training, paid internships (on and off

campus), after school activities, and comprehensivehealth services

xix.

Yes Career Case Managerhave an average caseload of 45 youth. The casemanagement team meets on a regular basis andworks together toward making a seamless array of services for the youth on campus. The purpose is tavoid duplication of services and ensure that everyyouth has personal, employment and educationalgoals set and is working toward accomplishing themThe approach of the case management team wasdeveloped by the collaborative partner approach tomanaging the campus.

New York usea model where case management is imbedded inmany of the program offerings of contracted vendoof the Department of Youth and CommunityDevelopment (the youth workforce system in NYCas well as in the contracts by the Office of MultiplePathways to Graduation (OMPG) within theDepartment of Education.

West Brooklyn Community High School (WBCHSa transfer school under OMPG, is a full-time highschool for students who are far from promoting ongrade level that offers a personalized learningenvironment, rigorous academic standards, a studencentered pedagogy, and a focus on connections tocollege

xx. The key component at West Brooklyn is

the role of the advocate counselor that providesintensive support to help youth meet instructionaland developmental goals by employing a highlyeffective youth development model.

WBCHS advocate counselors help students achievetheir academic goals by creating plans that lead the



from completion of a high school diploma toentering and succeeding in postsecondaryeducationxxi. Advocate counselors provide intense

services such as attendance outreach, individualcounseling, group advisory, conflict mediation, goalsetting, linkages to Learning to Work internships,postsecondary planning, individualizedprogramming and referrals to outside services(mental health counseling, housing, medical, etc).

Advocate counselors have acaseload of 25 students and meet with youth as wellas with teachers, other faculty and family on aregular basis to ensure all supporting partners in the

students life are engaged.

Effective collaboration is a vehicle that relies onmutual benefit, concerted action, and shared risksand accountability to produce meaningful results andrewards. Systems ranging from education to child

welfare, workforce and juvenile justice touch thelives of youth. In communities of high youthdistress, many youth have multiple contacts with oneor more of the systems. Therefore, it is imperativefor community and agency leadership, administratorsand front-line staff to broker relationships – bothprogrammatic and systemic in nature - to supportyoung people in meeting their individual goals aswell as the community in advancing youth outcomes.

In the context of improving services for youth, the

use of collaboration as a vehicle to move acrosssystems is essential. Beyond partnership,collaboration must address turf, share resources, andacquire trust. Success is rooted in a communities’

ability to navigate these terms and developrelationships that recognize the well-being of youngpeople as the focal point of coming together.

Key benefits to cross-systems collaboration aimed advancing outcomes for struggling and disconnectestudents include:

Improved Access and Services - effectivesystems collaboration allows communities tappropriately fill gaps in service and providmore comprehensive programming andinterventions to address varying youth issue

Leveraging Public and Private Resources -cross-system collaboration result in moreeffective uses of public resources andincrease a community’s ability to attract and

leverage private funding

Cultivating the field - cross-systeminitiatives support the development of policies and practices that improves servicedelivery quality, allow for sharing valuableinformation on best practices and promisingstrategies. xxii

A strong partnership with secondary andpostsecondary education institutions is essential toestablishing the multiplicity of education optionsneeded to re-engage dropouts and to providealternatives for overage and under-credit in-schoolstudents. These youth need a solid educationleading to credential and a set of applied skills.Employers emphasize that beyond academicmastery, they are in need of individuals with skills oral and written communication, teamwork,

leadership, critical thinking ability, and acommitment to social and civic responsibility.xxiii

Coupling the knowledge and expertise of theworkforce system, the youth providers, and theeducation system can bring the pieces of the puzzletogether in a way that provides youth with all the




skills they need to succeed. It can create learningenvironments more suited to the learning styles of young adults that still place them on the path to

secondary and postsecondary credentials. The key isthe coupling of the academics with the work experiences, support, and career exposure activitiesto provide youth the base of skills and knowledgenecessary to successfully compete.

There are several examples in communities whereworkforce systems and educational systems whichhave created strong alliances to meet the educationand training needs of youth, included those whomight be classified as “disconnected.” While the

models vary, there are several approaches and stepswhich are useful:

There are several examples in communities whereworkforce systems and educational systems whichhave created strong alliances to meet the educationand training needs of youth, included those whomight be classified as “disconnected.” While themodels vary, there are several approaches and stepswhich are useful:

Work together to identify struggling anddisconnected youth for services

Provide the rigorous educational groundingthat is complemented with relevant work experiences

Give students access to multiple options foreducational completion

Re-engage youth who have dropped out of

school through using school-work modelswhich allow them to work while alsocompleting their educational credentials

Create partnerships between high schools,work program, and community college to

create comprehensive concurrent enrollmenprograms which also provide work experience

Utilize competency-based measures todocument mastery of skills required forgraduation and labor market success

Department of Youth andCommunity Development (DYCD) which is theyouth workforce system in NYC, the Office of Multiple Pathways to Graduation (OMPG) withinthe Department of Education and a strong network community-based organizations.

The Commissioner oDYCD works to move the message of educationthough incorporating educational outcomes as part all DYCD contracts. In addition to DYCD servicesOMPG serves over-age and under-credited highschool students through schools and programsdesigned to incorporate education components,youth development support as well as career andcollege preparation. Community-based providers arsavvy in creating innovative programs thatincorporate workforce development and educationcomponents in programs thereby leveragingresources.

DYCD contracted programsinclude summer youth employment program, out-oschool youth program, and young adult internshipprogram that set aside a certain number of hours foeducation as well as job readiness training, careeroptions, postsecondary transition services, internsh



and employment preparation, employment andsupport services. OMPG contracted programsinclude Young Adult Borough Centers, Blended

GED programs, and Learning to Work (LTW).

Young AdultBorough Centers (YABCs) are evening academicprograms in supportive learning environments withan instructional model that allows students toconcentrate only on the credit portfolio they need forgraduation through a non-traditional block schedule.YABCs are operated through a collaborativepartnership between the DOE and a community-based organization which provides services to

students, such as youth development support, careerand college counseling, and assistance with jobplacement. YABCs incorporate the Learning toWork model in its program that assists students inovercoming some of the obstacles that impede theirprogress toward a high school diploma and leadthem toward rewarding postsecondary employmentand educational experiences. Learning To Work offers academic support, career and educationexploration, work preparation, skills development,and internshipsxxiv.

Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) - intermediary organization for youthworkforce development, Project U-Turn – acampaign to raise awareness of dropout crisis inPhiladelphia, School District of Philadelphia andcommunity-based providers

Project U-Turn hasbrought together more than 60 partners andstakeholders to work collaboratively on the dropoutcrisis.xxv Through these efforts, Project U-Turn hashelped to create nearly 3,000 new high-qualityeducation opportunities for over-age and under-credited youth; design and implement a new system

HIGHLIGHTING EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

Partnering with Education

Portland’s Workforce Development

and Education Partnership

Work Systems, Inc. (WSI) - the workforce developmentagency in Portland, Portland Public Schools (PPS)Education Options Program and a strong network of community-based organizations working to ensure acomprehensive education system for students, called theCoalition of Metro Areas Based Community Schools (C-MACS), have partnered together to leverage WIA dollarsfrom WSI with the Education Options program to offer arange of programs for out-of-school youth or youth at-riskof dropping out. These are run both directly by PPS aswell as through contracts with community-basedproviders. Education Options, in partnership with WSI,also offers the Summer Scholars program - a high schoolcredit recovery and credit advancement program forstudents wanting to retrieve credit, improve a grade, or foradvanced credit.

Through WSI and EOP contracts youth choices includeschool-within-school programs in high schools, nightschools, alternative offerings such as specialized programs

targeting primarily at-risk youth, out-of-school youth,homeless students, teen parents, teens with drug andalcohol problems, and teens returning from the juvenile

justice system. Portland also has Gateway to College – aPortland Community College Alternative Program thatprovides young people who have dropped out theopportunity to earn a high school diploma while earningcommunity college credits towards an associate’s degree.

An example of a model program is The Alliance HS @Meek PreTech Program. This program is a PPS withindistrict alternative education option that providesindividualized academics with small classes and

counseling and support programs to prepare students forpostsecondary college or career. The program providescounseling groups to address special needs, technicaltraining to prepare students for employment, personalizedindividualized instruction, and dual credit options inacademic and professional technical courses.




for reconnecting dropouts to educational optionsincluding a re-engagement center jointly staffed bythe School District and the City Department of

Human services; and develop and leverage morethan $50 million to support re-engagementstrategies.xxvi Project U-Turn works with the SchoolDistrict to support the establishment and support of high-quality educational options for all Philadelphiastudents and to promote related aspects of the SchoolDistrict’s new strategic plan.

Educational pathways, such asaccelerated schools, GED prep, bridge literacyprograms; student support services; and Educational

Options Programs, Virtual School, and young adultdiploma programs.

Learning-to-Work model is an engagement and retention strategy tohelp remove barriers that prevent young people fromcompleting their high school degree and to helpdevelop work-based skills and postsecondaryplanning. This strategy is supported by partnershipsbetween community-based organizations and theschool to serve target populations of students by

providing work exposure, job readiness training,tutoring, social service support and counseling,youth development activities, and subsidized orunsubsidized transitional employment.

Due to the large amount of youth entering andexiting the juvenile justice system it is increasinglyimportant to create partnerships that allow youth to

reconnect to the economic and labor marketmainstreams. Young offenders need the activeengagement of communities and other sectors tomake connections to systems and supports thatprovide pathways for reconnection.

The gains from a well-connected Juvenile Justicesystem to the workforce system are numerous. Theexistence of strong collaboration results not only in

decrease in youth offender recidivism but also asmaller economic burden on the cost of youthoffenders. Although the political and culturaldifferences of these youth serving entities maypresent initial difficulties in creating partnerships,communities that have been successful at system-wide collaboration find that the rewards more thanoutweigh the challenges. The result is a smoothertransition back into society for the young people thserve.

In the examples that are cited in this publication, thworkforce system begins working with youth whilethey are still under the jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system or in pre-release from incarceration oa residential facility and they continue to work withand support youth on an on-going basis after releasIn order to facilitate the transition, the workforcesystem should partner with all of the public entitiesinvolved in the young person’s life; such as the

parole or probation department, the court, the policdepartment, the district attorney’s office, the

department of human services and the school distriThe focus must be on a safe and healthy transitionback into society and on continuing education andgaining workforce skills and employment.

A comprehensive re-entry model should includexxvi

A focus on reintegration needs from thebeginning of placement based on a singleprobation-driven plan

A thorough assessment of the young personsocial-emotional, academic, and workforceneeds

Clear and on-going communication with thecourt about reintegration plans



A dedicated staff person who works closelywith probation, coordinates communication

among all partners involved during and post-placement, and provides case management

Family involvement and support and accessto community resources

A supported transition from placement into aprogram that provides academic support,connections to appropriate education options,workforce preparation and experience, andsubsidized or unsubsidized employment

Philadelphia School District,Philadelphia Youth Network, Community-Based E3

Centers, Philadelphia’s ProbationDepartment, the Department of Human Services, andresidential providers.

In 2005 thepartnering entities launched the ReintegrationInitiative to enhance the support and supervision of youth reentering into the community fromplacement.

Community-BasedE3 Centers serve as “step-down” programs to offer

academic support, GED training, workforcepreparation, job referral and placement, and life-skills training in addition to providing supportrelated to the services to youth mentioned below

xxviii.

Reintegration Initiativepartners focus on reintegration planning at the

beginning of placement, clear communication of reintegration plans with the Court, reintegrationworkers who work with probation officers during

and post-placement, and support in connectingservices from multiple systems, such as education,workforce development and behavior healthxxix.

Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), Baltimore CiSchools, YO Baltimore, Department of JuvenileServices (DJS)

The United StatesDepartment of Labor awarded a discretionary grantfor the Building School District-Based Strategies FReducing Youth Involvement In Gangs And ViolenCrime Through A Workforce DevelopmentApproach to reduce gang violence and crime byreducing the number of youth who drop out of school; Increasing school reengagement; Providingeducational and workforce training; And supporting

youth in the city who are most likely to become

victims and perpetrators of violence and crime. Theinitiative supports the following objectives: 1)prevention and intervention; 2) recovery and

remediation; and 3) reintegration effortsxxx.

There are twomajor components to the grant. The FUTURESWorks program serves eighth and ninth gradestudents who are at least two years behind gradelevel and who are returning from detention with theDepartment of Juvenile Services (DJS) and offers

youth follow-up support provided by Baltimore CitPublic School System. Youth Opportunity (YO!)Baltimore provides GED and pre-GED classes on-site, careers screenings, classes and on-line coursesto help these youth earn a diploma, life skills, jobreadiness classes and job placement services, careetraining in high growth industriesxxxi.




The grant provides tutoring toin-school youth in math and reading and GED

preparation. The YO! Baltimore Centers offerworkforce development and support services such asclinicians on staff that work to increase mentalhealth assessment and subsequent referrals, aninternet-based curriculum integrated with an onlineassessment and prescriptive system as well as a fullbattery of screenings to find the right career area andsupport for youth who participate in the programxxxii.

Community DevelopmentDepartment’s Youth Opportunity System, County of Los Angeles Probation Department

The CommunityDevelopment Department’s Youth Opportunity

System (YOS) acquired funding from the County of Los Angeles Probation Department to form a YouthOpportunity Intensive Transition (YOIT) team to:lead relationship-building efforts with the juvenile

justice facilities through a juvenile referralmechanism; provide outreach and marketing of services to probation staff, youth, and parents and actas a bridge between probation, the city, and morethan 50 contracted partners. YOIT is intended toprovide both the city of Los Angeles and the LACounty Probation Department with specific tools toidentify and connect incarcerated city juveniles withthe WIA-funded community-based job training,work experience, and supplemental educationprograms. The Los Angeles YOIT has an Internet-based client data Integrated Services InformationSystem (ISIS) that refers youth being released fromprobation camps to a WIA youth service provider.Probation officers are trained to utilize the YOITsystem to refer and monitor probation youth,ensuring that youth are served immediately uponrelease

xxxiii.


Partnering with Juvenile Justice

Boston’s Youth Options Unlimited

A strong example where partnership is key to a successfulstrategy for serving youth involved in the juvenile justicesystem is Boston’s Youth Options Unlimited (YOU)

program. YOU is a workforce development program thatserves a court-involved youth population ages 14 – 24 yearsold, mostly male and largely gang-affiliated, and works intight collaboration with many of the agencies anddepartments in the city that also serve or come into contactwith these young people. These partners include workforce

development, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and otheryouth serving systems. YOU connects youth with intensivecase management, educational opportunities and support, andemployment year-round. It has a three-part service system:(1) intervention in detention facilities and referrals from lawenforcement partners; (2) stabilization, case management andsupport services provided by YOU staff; and (3) educationand employment readiness and placement support to getyouth on the path to skill development and self-sustainability

Since 2005, YOU has served exclusively court-involvedyouth and is sustaining its efforts with the support of the stateShannon Anti-Gang grant - a program that requires

multi‐

disciplinary approaches to combating gang violencethrough law enforcement initiatives such as the targeting of enforcement resources to programs aimed at successfulreintegration of released inmates and youth from juveniledetention, and programs that provide youth with supervisedout‐of ‐school activities, among others.

YOU offers youth a Multi-Tier Transitional EmploymentApproach to gaining workforce skills and employment.Services provided are transitional employment services suchas job readiness training, community service, individualcounseling, life skills, career and education planning,specialized workshops, software application training;

education which includes the promotion of lifelong learningand an alternative education placement; and case

management services such as interpersonal skillsdevelopment, effective communication training, decisionmaking workshops, youth development, re-entry/ courtliaison service, support and guidance, reduction of barriers toemployment and service strategy.



The YouthOpportunity Movement Amends Program connectsincarcerated youth, and those recently released, with

resources in education and employment. Participantstake online classes through Los Angeles TradeTechnical College and complete courses inemployment preparedness. Los Angeles YouthOpportunity Movement has case managers on site atLos Angeles County Probation Camps and offersdirect services to prepare youth for a positiveentrance back into the communityxxxiv.

The Program connectsincarcerated and probation youth with resources to

reduce participants' return to juvenile detentioncamps by: referring youth to probationaryconditions, tracking youth's educational plan (strivefor high school diploma), referring to avocational/post-secondary educationtraining/program and linking youth to communityactivitiesxxxv.

Youth involved in the foster care system face many

challenges. They often move from placement toplacement and from school to school, lacking astable home environment and making it nearlyimpossible to stay on grade level. Once emancipatedfrom the foster care system, problems can worsen.Many foster youth have serious difficulties findingand keeping jobs, getting an education, learning theskills necessary to live independently andmaintaining stable housing – large numbers findingthemselves homeless within the first year of leavingthe system

xxxvi. For these reasons, strong

collaboration between the child welfare system andthe workforce development system is critical topreparing and supporting youth who are transitioningout of the child welfare system and into a productiveand healthy adulthood.

A strong partnership between these two systemshelps to create a true continuum of services andsupports necessary to serve these youth as they

move into independent living by creating a sharedvision among leadership in both systems, aligningpolicies and practices, such as common outcomesand goals, and leveraging resources by jointcontracts or sharing staff.

Providing youth skills development, workforcepreparation and employment, along with transitionplanning and case management, are essentialservices to support youth in becoming self-sufficient adults and can be provided moreeffectively by the systems that have expertise intheir respective areas. Many times, both systems tto “do everything” for these youth, often creating

duplication of services and inefficiently utilizingresources. Both systems can work simultaneouslywith targeted services or create an appropriate“hand-off” from one system to the other.

Not only do both systems reap the benefits of collaboration, but also the youth experience greatsupport (and much less confusion) as their

transition out of the child welfare system and intoadulthood is supported by a clear set of servicesand delivery models.

A set of services that should be provided to allyouth, but especially foster youth, include

xxxvii:

basic skillsinstruction, GED or alternative secondaryeducational services, contextualized learninopportunities, and educational supports

on-going worreadiness through a sequenced continuum ooptions, soft skills instruction, and individucoaching and support




internships, work experiences, job shadows, and communityservice

mentoring, life skills, independent livingskills, physical and mental-health relatedservices, financial literacy, computer literacy,healthy decision-making and conflictmanagement.

In addition to the services mentioned above, theservice delivery model for transitioning youth shouldincludexxxviii:

Identifying educational barriers

Collaboration with the secondary andpostsecondary education systems

Long-term mentoring

Incentives to reinforce learning to encourageparticipation in activities and/or achievement

of goals

Individual Service Strategy with a youth-centered approach

Follow-up services to assist youth sustaininga successful transition

Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), Baltimore City

Department of Social Services (BCDSS) and YouthOpportunity Baltimore (YO Baltimore)

MOED received agrant from the Department of Labor, Licensing andRegulation to use Temporary Assistance to NeedyFamilies (TANF) funds to serve foster youth agingout of the system. The grant funds a program liaisoposition to work closely with BCDSS case manageto identify foster care youth for targeted recruitmeninto the Youth Opportunity Bridge to Career Succeprogram.

Youth

Opportunity Bridge to Career Success provides acomprehensive menu of career development, jobreadiness, literacy and support services to 200Baltimore City out of school Foster Care youthbetween the ages of 16-21 over a 16 month period.

Youth Opportunity Bridge toCareer Success provides support to create a realisti“individual opportunity plan” for academic and

employment goals, expanded life skills, includingnutritional basics, communication skills, personal

responsibility, and financial literacy as well as jobreadiness, physical and mental health services, GEDpreparation and support for college placement.Youth also acquire career preparation and work experience in several occupational areas with a focuon high growth industries

xxxix.

Our Piece of the Pie

(OPP®) and Department of Children and Families(DCF),

OPP®’s Youth

Development Specialists and DCF workers work collectively to provide updates and progress reportsas well as overall general support in the area of cas



management to one another. The youth developmentspecialist role is also to provide the DCF worker andother care providers an assessment of career skills,

interests and aptitudes of the youth to better assist ingoal planning. This working relationship betweenthe Youth Development Specialist and DCF workercontinues to play an integral role in making surefoster care youth are successful in terms of reachingtheir outcome goals.

The CT YouthOpportunity Strategy offers youth ages 14-21 withpresent involvement in foster care support in makinga successful transition to adulthood by providing

them with opportunities through OpportunityPassport™. Through the Opportunity Passport™program, participants receive a match savingsaccount, known as an Individual DevelopmentAccount (IDA), to be used for purchasing specificassets. The participants are also provided with a 1:1match up to $1,000 and all participants receivefinancial literacy training which helps the youthbecome financially literate by gaining experiencewith the banking system, and saving money foreducation, housing, healthcare, and other life

expenses.

The participants enrolled inOPP®’s CT Youth Opportunity Strategy program

benefit from a menu of services and supports such ashealth care, housing, transportation assistance, healthand wellness and mental health referrals, educationalplanning, connection to a caring adult, communityservice opportunities, case management services,financial counseling, referrals for internal andexternal programming, job placement assistance,

pre-employment training, work readiness,internships and job retention with on-site jobsupport, and monetary incentives for positiveparticipation

xl.


Partnering with Child Welfare

San Diego’s Programming for Foster Youth

With the leadership of the San Diego Youth Council,the San Diego Workforce Partnership (the localworkforce development system) made a strategicchoice to concentrate funding and programming ontargeted groups of at-risk youth, including foster andformer foster youth transitioning to self-sufficiency.To carry this out, the Workforce Partnership and theCounty’s Child Welfare Services began partnering in a

number of ways.

A few years ago, the County engaged in a majorredesign of the child welfare system and reached out todevelop a stronger partnership with the San DiegoWorkforce Partnership. The Workforce Partnershipwas able to use a community planning grant as a largeset-aside from the Workforce Partnership’s WIA

formula dollars to leverage with the County’s Child

Welfare Services resources to provide IndependentLiving Services that have a strong workforce, educationand youth development focus to current and formerfoster youth as they transition out of the foster care

system.

The leveraging of resources allowed the two systems tocreate one joint Request for Proposal (RFP) as amechanism through which collaboration could occur.The County and Workforce Partnership now put outone RFP that results in two contracts: the WorkforcePartnership holds one and the County holds the other.Both contracts have the same statement of work andboth go through the same contracting process.Community-based organizations then must bid for bothcontracts and must either bring in a partner ordemonstrate how they plan to provide both quality

workforce development and Independent LivingServices.

Monitors from both the Workforce Partnership and theCounty conduct site visits together for purposes of efficiency, to show providers system-cohesion, and toensure providers are maximizing resources.




City of Los Angeles,Community Development Department, YouthOpportunity System, Workforce DevelopmentSystem; DCSF Emancipation Services; LAProbation; Los Angeles Unified School District(LAUSD); Youth Council; Education CoordinatingCouncil; Human Services and Family Development.

The Los Angeles

Youth Transition Action Team Initiative (YTAT),part of the state-wide initiative conducted by New

Ways to Work and Casey Family Programs, focuseson bringing together the resources of the workforce,education, and child welfare systems to betterprepare adolescents who are current or former fosteryouth to achieve economic, educational, andemployment success as they transition into the adultworld.

L.A. YTAT assistsfoster youth in connecting their summer jobsexperience to their career and educational goals as

part of Foster Youth Summer Jobs Plus.

Emancipating foster youthaugment their summer employment experiencethrough the development of work-based learningcontracts that identify the skills they will developduring their summer employment experience. Youthand their supervisors document the skills acquiredthrough the experience with a goal of preparingyouth for future career and educational options.Youth will receive evaluations from their worksite

supervisors, be prepared to garner a Work-ReadyCertification, sharpen their career and educationalplans, and be working or enrolled in school (or both)after program completion

xli.

While it is imperative for the public systems toeducate, train, and prepare youth for the workforceyouth can never truly be ready for employmentwithout actually having experienced employment insome way. And, whether it’s through internships, joshadowing, or another form of entre into the worldof work, that experience cannot be gained withoutthe engagement of employers. Often, the workforcedevelopment and education systems work in silosdeveloping training curriculum for soft skills, work

readiness and work opportunities without seekingadvice from the employers needed to place and hiretheir youth. At the same time, employers say theylack the supply of skilled workers necessary to fillpositions. This lack of partnership and collaborationamong these stakeholders creates a severedisconnect, ultimately hurting providers, youngworkers and employers.

Across the country, workforce development systemrecognize the need for increased employer

participation to create opportunities for workplaceand career exposure, hands-on experience,opportunities for applied learning, mentoring, rolemodels, and ultimately successful transition to theworkplace. To do so, workforce and youthdevelopment professionals along with educationmust work to engage and get input from business tocraft a quality pipeline model and support structureThere are several key roles employers can play incollaboration with the workforce, education andyouth providers to develop a pipeline of prepared

workers, includingxlii

:

Participate in the customizing of trainingcontent/ assist teachers with contextual – hands-on learning



Mentoring and coaching at workplace, E-mentoring

Employer involvement in delivery of workshops and training

Employers opening up work place forexploration, internships, on-the-job-training,work experience

Establishing workplace and occupationalcompetencies and methods for documentingthem

Providing exposure for teachers to thebusiness/industry sectors

Providing access to full-time and part-time jobs

Serving on Employer Advisory groups andserving as champions

Assuring the quality of graduates and

assuring their hire in the sector

Baltimore has developed a variety of strategies to

increase employer engagement in its youthprogramming. It has worked to tie services to labormarket needs by creating effective connections tolocal and regional employers and developingmeaningful connections between academic andoccupational learning. It also seeks to provide

education relevant to the job market particularly inthe area’s identified high growth industries such as

healthcare and social assistance, business services,

computer, hospitality/tourism, and biosciencexliii.

One example is the Healthcare Careers Alliance, apartnership with five of the area’s leading hospitals

including Johns Hopkins Hospital and University oMaryland Medical System, and Civic Works,Baltimore's Urban service corps, that offers a 12-week job readiness training program that works toprepare 18 to 21 year old out-of-school youth forcareers in health. The program features paidtraining, skills development, life skills, on-the-job

training, and paid employmentxliv. There are twophases to the program: the first 6 weeks youthparticipate in soft skills training and the second sixweeks is a paid on-the-job training. Youth work 20hours per week and both youth and the host site aresupported by a full-time Career Coachxlv.

Also offered to 16 to 22 year old youth is Try OutEmployment, an internship program in the YO!Baltimore centers to work up to 25 hours for threemonths with local employers. YO! Baltimore

subsidizes the wages for employers who have beenidentified by YO! job developers. During this timeemployers may train, coach and evaluate soft skillsand build hard skills prior to hiring. Roughly 75young people are in this program and about 75percent of the youth get hired upon completion of tactivity.

The Mayor’s Office of Employment Developmentalso offers an after-school, career-focused programfor in-school youth ages 14 to 19 called After Scho

Matters (ASM) II. This program offers life and worreadiness skills training and career-related work experience in three phases. Phase one offers traininin workplace basics after school for two hours twica week. In phase two, youth earn minimum wage fotwo hours after school, four times a week engagingin career exploration activities in sport managemen




health education, and hospitality provided by localpartners. In phase three, youth begin anapprenticeship where they train in-depth for work in

one of these career areas while they earn minimumwage, working four days a week for three hours eachday. This program is intended to end as summerbegins so that youth transition into summeremployment

xlvi.

Two examples for how San Diego has worked toincrease employer engagement and workforce

connections are worth noting. San Diego WorkforcePartners, in collaboration with Biocom Institute andSouthern California Biotechnology Center,developed a Life Sciences Summer Institute (LSSI),an eight week student internship program to helpincrease awareness of the life science industry andrelated fields of research to students and teachers inthe region. There are two programs offered: the LSSIhigh school student research program for upper-levelhigh school students as well as teacher externshipprogram for high school and community college

teachers.

The student internship program includes a one-week pre-internship "Boot Camp" training, held atpartnering colleges, followed by a seven-week paidinternship at one of San Diego's life science industryor academic research labsxlvii

. During “boot-camp”

students receive basic and refresher hands-onlaboratory skills and safety training and LSSIindustry soft skills certification which includeseffective communication, time management,teamwork, presentations skills and industryexpectationsxlviii.

The 12-day teacher externship program includes aone-week "Boot Camp" training, held at acommunity lab facility, where high school andcommunity college teachers receive an industry


Workforce Preparation

and Employer Engagement

Hartford’s Capitol Workforce Partners

As Capital Workforce Partners works to create a“workforce of the future”, it targets its training resourcestoward occupations in the region that have sustainablewages and high growth potential. CWP has identifiedclusters of industries in their area which includes; alliedhealth, financial and insurance services, high technologymanufacturing and retail/ hospitality and has begun todevelop the appropriate relationships with those industry

leaders in order to craft appropriate training andprogramming that will prepare youth for these industriesas well as arranging formal and informal ways foremployers to engage.

The Capital Workforce Partners Career CompetencySystem mentioned above was developed with extensiveinput from employers to define not only the skills requiredfor success in entry-level employment and/orpostsecondary education but also how and at what stageemployers should be involved. CWP integrated employerengagement activities into its four-tiered CareerCompetency System.

CWP developed Career Connections a “work and learn”

model that allows students to participate in a job readinessprogram which may include one-on-one mentoring,educational classes and team building exercises.Subsequent to the program, students are placed in paidinternships within area businesses such as Aetna. Aetna’s

partnership with Capital Workforce Partners begins withhuman resources being responsible for maintaining therelationship, identifying student supervisors/mentors,orchestrating selection and hiring of students andfacilitating centralized hiring.

The supervisor/mentor works to create a meaningful and

productive work experience by providing coaching andfeedback and promoting learning by sharing of experience. The intern is responsible for demonstrating awillingness to learn and be a member of the team,operating independently and demonstrating a degree of professionalism consistent with the role1.



introduction and hands-on laboratory training usingthe Amgen-Bruce Wallace BiotechnologyLaboratory Program curriculum that they can then

introduce back into their classroomsxlix. Teachersreceive standards-based curriculum training as wellas the opportunity to visit a variety of industry sitesto view both hard skills and soft skills in practice.They also receive ongoing support for curriculumimplementation and can receive free supplies, loanerequipment, and staff support to implement thecurriculum

l.

Also offered to WIA eligible youth in San Diego is apathways program that San Diego Community

College District has recently developed called theCareer Pathways for After School Staff (CPASS),modeled after the work around Career AdvancementAcademies. This program was developed inpartnership with San Diego Workforce Partnerships,Children’s Initiative and San Diego City College.CPASS is in its 2nd year of the “bridge program”

that offers basic skill remediation, college readinesscourses, selected coursework in career pathways,along with work experience and employment inafter-school facilities. The courses are taught in

cohorts that create learning communities targeted atWIA eligible, young adults with an 8th gradecompetency. The program also offers a counselorthroughout the entirety of the program to helpnavigate the system.

The Boston Private Industry Council (PIC) hasdeveloped a variety of strategies to increase

employer engagement in its youth programming andto meet local workforce needs. The PIC hasdeveloped several opportunities for employers andyouth to support each other’s goals throughproviding youth opportunities for career exposure,internships and employment, and support for highschool graduates transitioning into college or career.

The PIC offers three career exploration programsthat businesses or individual professionals canparticipate in: Job Shadowing, Mock Interviews an

Career Speakers. The PIC asks adult volunteers toshare their job responsibilities and career path withhigh school students to introduce them to the work world and motivate career aspiration and effort inschool. PIC career specialists work directly withstudents to prepare them for the experience throughseries of career readiness workshopsli.

The Classroom at the Workplace program combine90 minutes of classroom time focused on improvingstudent’s literacy and math skills with a summer or

after school job. Students improve their academicskills in the context of the work experience, makingthe connection between education and career. Allclasses are led by Boston Public School teachers anare geared either towards passing of theMassachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System(MCAS) state high school exam or collegepreparation

lii.

In addition to college preparation offered through thClassroom at the Workplace program, PIC "college

and career coach" can offer support to recent highschool graduates in their transition to a local collegThese students have participated in PIC internshipprograms and are pursuing careers in healthcare,financial services, or life sciences. The PIC seeksemployer partners who will provide part-timeemployment for these young people as they work towards college and career programs in healthcare,financial services, or biotechnologyliii.

PIC also has career specialists who work with high

school students year-round to prepare them for paidemployment through School Year Internships orSummer Jobs program. PIC staff identifies student’

interests, develop job descriptions with employers,and facilitate the interview and matching process.PIC staff supports students and their supervisors onthe job

liv.





BALTIMORE, MD

BOSTON, MA

HARTFORD, CT

PHILADELPHIA, PA

SAN DIEGO, CA





For more information, contact:

Karen Sitnick

City of Baltimore, Mayor’s Office

Director Employment Development

[email protected]

Baltimore faces the challenge of addressing barrierto education and employment for a significantnumber of disconnected young people. Nearly 6,00teens are not attending school and not working, andaround 13,000 young adults ages 18 to 24 also arenot attending school and not working1. To addressthese barriers, the Baltimore City WorkforceInvestment Board’s Youth Council works to build a

comprehensive youth system that will promoteopportunities for youth to acquire necessary lifeskills, education, work exposure and experiences thenable them to have productive careers and becomeresponsible family members and citizens2. TheYouth Council is staffed by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED) and convenes50 to 60 people from education, juvenile justice,social services, employers and communityorganizations. There are several subcommittees onthe council around issues such as dropout

prevention, summer jobs, systems building,homelessness and apprenticeships. The councilrecently elected the Vice President of ExternalAffairs Verizon – Maryland, Inc. as chair to connecactivities and planning to private sector employerneeds. The Youth Council has engaged moredivisions and sectors of Baltimore City Schools onthe Council to strengthen the connection betweeneducation and workforce. Each of the council’sstanding committees has facilitated theimplementation of strategies that will address

barriers to youth success.

1 Kids Count 2007 Data, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Web site,http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/KIDSCOUNT.aspx. 2 Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, Request for

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/KIDSCOUNT.aspx






In 2000, Baltimore received a national Youth

Opportunity Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to increase the long-term employability of youth residents in the Empowerment Zone.Baltimore sought to implement a comprehensiveyouth service, yet seamless system for out-of-schooland disconnected youth. The Baltimore YouthOpportunity System (BYOS) was created to offeryouth comprehensive, coordinated programs, which build on youths’ strengths, increasing theirdevelopment and competency. The initiativeaddresses Baltimore’s youth dropout rate,disconnection, high unemployment rate, secondaryeducation completion rate, and linkage to post-secondary education. Although Department of Labor funding ended in 2006, , Baltimore’s mayor

and city council elected to sustain funding for twoYouth Opportunity (YO!) centers based on positiveimpact data documenting success in decreasingrecidivism and early pregnancy as well as increasesin educational attainment and wages.

The YO! System provides a broad network throughwhich employers can access untapped, skilled youthworkforce resources. BYOS developed a continuumof training to prepare youth for the workplace,beyond just summer employment. This includes jobreadiness training, job shadowing, paidpublic/private sector internships, employer-basedtraining, and occupational skills training. 3

The Mayor’s Office of Employment Development(MOED) serves as the grant administrator, convenescommunity organizations and businesses with a goalof creating a coordinated, comprehensive, and

seamless service delivery system for youth. It alsosupports a management structure and electronictracking system to evaluate the performance.MOED, in partnership with the Youth Council, is

3 Baltimore community page, CCRY Network Web site,http://www.ccrynetwork.org.

responsible for the initiative’s oversight and

direction and serves 7,000 young people during thesummer and nearly 2,400 in a host of year-round

programming. The city also serves nearly 1,400 18to 21-year-old young adults in its One Stop System

The Youth Council, supported by MOED, sponsorsan annual technical assistance and capacity buildingconference for educators, employers, case workers,for profit and non-profits, which provides services youth and young adults. In addition, the councilsponsors several youth practitioner seminars andsummits that featured speakers to share bestpractices for issues such as gang intervention and

prevention and dropout prevention and alternativeeducation options. The Youth Council fundseducation and workforce programs for disconnectedyouth. The current programs include the BaltimoreCareer Academy, Health Care Careers Alliance andthe Urban Alliance.

Health Care Career Alliance is a partnershipbetween Johns Hopkins Hospital, Sinai Life BridgeUniversity of Maryland Medical Systems, GenesisHealthCare and Civic Works that annually serves 7

youth ages 18 to 21. The program focuses onacademic advancement and occupational training inthe health field. When the work-based learning,internship and training phase of the programconcludes, youth are placed in regular full-timepositions at one of the partnership institutions at aminimum of $8.50 per hour.

The Urban Alliance’s core service is a partnershipbetween corporations and Urban Alliance thatprovides positive youth development opportunities

through internships. The goal is to engage youthyear-round through meaningful, paid internshipswhile providing ongoing support services, whichinclude mentoring, life-skills instruction, post-highschool planning, and financial literacy training. Oncplaced, the students work at their job sites part-timeduring the school year starting at $7.55 per hour.

http://www.ccrynetwork.org/




Students are eligible for raises up to $10 an hourbased on performance.

Baltimore has a contingent of homeless youth that atone time were not being served. The councildeveloped the Transitional Housing Committee andit received a $750,000 Compassion Capital grant toimplement a Baltimore Homeless Youth Initiative.The Initiative selected partners to build a 43-unitpermanent housing facility with support services forhomeless and unstably housed youth to be completedin summer 2010.

MOED works with Baltimore City Public Schools(BCPP) to create pipelines that link to workforceopportunities. High schools refer students to theBCPP’s Alternative Options Program Office (AOP)

due to a myriad of academic and personal reasons.AOP reviews and determines to which alternativesite the youth will go.

MOED supports several initiatives, including:

YO! Baltimore provides job readiness training, jobshadowing, paid public/private sector internships,employer-based training, and occupational skillstraining and GED classes. YO! Baltimore usesNovell Stars Program which is the approvedMaryland Department of Education online program.The programs also collaborate with Baltimore CityCommunity College to provide career training andcertification in high growth industries such as,certified nursing assistant, cable installation andbanking. BCCC provides curriculum for specificprograms.

YO Academy serves youth in 9th through 12th gradeand is a high school diploma program staffed by theBaltimore Public School System. Students come inand complete a needs assessment that identifies theiracademic and other needs. Individual plans are

determined for students so that they complete theappropriate coursework and receive the supportservices they need. YO Academy has credit recove

and accelerated learning, career and collegereadiness skills training.

Career Academy is an alternative education centerdirectly administered by the MOED and theBaltimore City Workforce Investment Board. CAprovides GED preparation, and intensive careerexploration, skills training, and employmentreadiness, and is funded jointly by WIA dollars,Baltimore City Public Schools and Job Corps. Itoffers a diploma plus model where students are

working on getting their diploma while enrolling inBCCC (Baltimore City Community College) in theEarly College Enrollment program. This programhelps students transition into postsecondaryeducation. Students must take at least one class atBCCC. Career Academy also offers the WoodstockJob Corps Center, the only non-residential job corpin Maryland, on-site.

The Career Academy is a structured program thatimplements a multiple pathway approach for

obtaining an academic credential. Students ages 16to21 may take the traditional approach to obtaininghigh school diploma, enroll in the General EducatioDevelopment program to prepare to take the statetest for obtaining a high school diploma and/or enroin the Diploma Plus model. Youth maysimultaneously enroll in Job Corps to take theBusiness Technical course, leading toward MOUSand IC3 certification. The Career Academy has amore than 90 percent graduation rate. Many of itsgraduates pursue postsecondary education or

employment upon graduation.

FUTURES Works is an innovative, youthdevelopment and dropout prevention initiativefocusing on education, personal growth andteamwork. FUTURES is a comprehensive programsupporting students in eighth and ninth grades who




are at risk of academic failure based on indicatorsidentified by Baltimore City Public Schools staff,including reading level and attendance.

Afterschool Matters, sponsored by MOED, MayorSheila Dixon and the Baltimore City Council, is awork program designed to support at-risk studentsafter school. The program provides increased lifeand employability skills, exposes and trains youth inworkplace career skills, provides employment duringthe school year and summer months and ensures thatstudents remain academically successful. Studentswork eight hours a week while in school and areplaced in careers of interest. Employer partners are

sports management, fire safety, hospitality and childcare.

Try Out Employment is an internship program for 16to 22 year olds in the YO! Baltimore centers to work up to 25 hours for three months. Roughly 75 youngpeople are in this program and about 75 percent of the youth get hired. YO! subsidizes the wages foremployers who have been identified by their JobDevelopers.

YouthWorks Summer Employment Program is theMayor’s successful campaign to engage employersto hire young people. Employers, communityorganizations, foundations, state and city agencies,and individual citizens are being asked to build uponthe success of YouthWorks 2008 in hiring 6,500teens and invest in Baltimore’s teens by connectingthem to meaningful summer activities. Mayor Dixonasks everyone in the city to become involved toidentify enough job opportunities and allocatesufficient funds so that every Baltimore City youth

who wants a summer job will have that opportunity4.

Through federal recovery funding received in 2009,YouthWorks provides summer employment

4 Baltimore Office of the Mayor Web site,http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/mayor/.

opportunities to at least 100 22 to 24 year olds.These young adults serve as Team Leaders for themore than 500 worksites that have committed to ho

city teens. The program assigns team leaders toworksites that host at least 10 other youth.Additionally, YouthWorks has implemented its firsMayor’s Green Jobs Youth Corps for 350 youth. Th

program uses a work and learning model toeducation youth on green jobs. This is a partnership between the city’s Department of Recreation and

Parks, MOED, and the BWIB Youth Council.Instructors and Teams Leaders coordinate withworksite supervisors to deliver instructions andpractical application of works and lessons learned

around the green job industry.

Baltimore City Schools contracts with the Mayor’s

Office of Employment Development, YO! Baltimoand the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) tosupport the Building School District-BasedStrategies For Reducing Baltimore’s WorkforceDevelopment Initiative to Reduce Youth Gangs andViolent Crime discretionary grant awarded by TheU.S. Department of Labor to curb gang violence ancrime by reducing the number of youth who drop oof school, increasing school reengagement,providing educational and workforce training andsupporting youth in the city who are most likely tobecome victims and perpetrators of violence andcrime. The initiative supports the followingobjectives: 1) prevention and intervention; 2)recovery and remediation, and 3) reintegrationefforts. The grant provides tutoring to in-schoolyouth in math and reading and GED preparation atthe YO! Baltimore Centers along with workforce

development and support services.

There are two components to the grant subcontracteto MOED. The FUTURES Works program serveseighth- and ninth-grade students who are at least twyears behind grade level and who are returning from

http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/mayor/




detention with the Department of Juvenile Services(DJS). Youth receive follow-up support provided bythe Baltimore City Public School System. Youth

Opportunity (YO!) Baltimore provides GED andpre-GED classes on-site, careers screenings, classesand on-line courses to help these youth earn adiploma, life skills, job readiness and placementservices, and career training in high growthindustries.

Other grant partners include Baltimore MentalHealth Systems, New Vision Youth Service, Inc(Violence Free Zone Implementation) andCommunity Law in Action (mentoring component)

to round out and support services to youth inBaltimore.

The Mayor’s Office of Employment Developmentalso partners with Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS) and YO! Baltimore tosupport a grant from the Department of Labor,Licensing and Regulation to use TemporaryAssistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds to serve

foster youth aging out of the system. The grant fundsa program liaison position to work closely withBCDSS case managers to identify foster care youthfor targeted recruitment. The Youth OpportunityBridge to Career Success program provides acomprehensive menu of career development, jobreadiness, literacy and support services to 200Baltimore City out of school Foster Care youth ages16 to 21 over a 16-month period. The YouthOpportunity Bridge to Career Success programworks to create a realistic “individual opportunity

plan” for academic and employment goals, expandedlife skills, including nutritional basics,communication skills, personal responsibility, andfinancial literacy as well as job readiness, physicaland mental health services, GED preparation and

support for college placement. Youth also acquirecareer preparation and work experience in severaloccupational areas with a focus on high growth

industries5.

5 Youth Opportunity, YO! Highlights, New Grant to Serve Foster Care YouthDecember, 2008.





Conny Doty City of Boston Mayor’s Office

Director, Office of Jobs and Community Services

[email protected]

Boston faces the challenge of addressing barriers toeducation and employment for a significant numbeof disconnected youth. Every year between 1,500and 2,000 youth drop out of school andapproximately 11,000 youth ages 16to 24 also arenot attending school and not working

6. Boston,

however, is a strong example of strategic planning,capacity and partnerships supporting acomprehensive workforce development system foryouth to help prepare them for successful adulthoodIn Boston, the strategic planning around youthservice delivery occurs within the WorkforceInvestment Act Youth Council, which is supportedby the Boston Private Industry Council (PIC). ThePIC is the intermediary organization connectingeducation, workforce development and business. Asubcommittee or partner to the Council is the YouthTransitions Task Force. The Youth Transitions TasForce is focused on an overall goal of lowering thehigh school dropout rate and could be seen as theresearch body for youth development and servicedelivery in Boston. The WIA Youth Council advisethe Youth Transitions Task Force throughcollaborative strategic planning and assessments onoverall youth service delivery. The YouthTransitions Task Force, organized by the PIC, ismade up of state agencies, local alternative educatioand youth development providers, and state andschool officials working to raise awareness of thedropout crisis and its impact on youth and thecommunity

7.

The Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community

Services (OJCS) is the City’s workforce

6 American Community Survey, 2006, HUhttp://www.census.gov/acs/www/ UH. 7 Hastings, S., Harnessing the Power of Advocacy: Massachusetts’ Efforts to

Increase State Resources for Youth, CLASP, December 8, 2008

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/








development agency responsible for administering anumber of federal, state and local grant programs.OJCS manages the grants, and monitors and

provides technical assistance for alternativeeducation, career exploration, summer employment,and youth development providers funded by thefederal WIA, the HUD-funded CommunityDevelopment Block Grant, state Youthworks, andCity funds. OJCS also operates programs thatprovide direct service to young people, includingYouth Options Unlimited, which serves young adultsinvolved in the juvenile justice system, and ReadBoston and Write Boston, programs designed toimprove the reading and writing skills of youth in the

public school system. Approximately 400 youth areenrolled in education and workforce developmentcontracts administered by OJCS. About 10,000youth are connected with summer employmentthrough a combination of city, state, federal, andprivate funds. OJCS’ Youth Options Unlimited

program serves approximately 350 young peopleinvolved in the juvenile and adult justice systems.Finally, an additional 49,000 youth are served by theCommunity Development Block Grant, ReadBoston, and Write Boston.

OJCS embeds case management into its educationand workforce development contracts, includingsummer jobs. Whether the grant is for alternativeeducation, career exploration, training or otherworkforce development activities, case managementis a strong component within each contract.Programs funded with federal workforce funds havedesignated case management staff who work withyouth to develop individual case plans articulatingpersonal, education, and career goals. These

programs are required to provide ongoing follow-upservice for at least 12 months after programcompletion. In Boston, a host of communityproviders are vendors for OJCS and providecomprehensive workforce and youth developmentservices at their sites. The Boston Youth ServiceNetwork (BYSN) is the network of non-profit

service providers who offer alternative education,career exploration, and summer job programs foryouth at risk. OJCS funds these organizations and

works with them on program development andpolicy development

8. Three one-stop career centers

in the city staff one person in each center devoted tworking with young adults to provide informationand support in accessing education and careerdevelopment opportunities, including secondary anpostsecondary options and skills training programs

The Task Force has been working hard to raiseawareness of and develop solutions to the dropoutcrisis. The Task Force began an advocacycampaign, informing key decision makers and thepublic on the issue by releasing the publication Too

Big to Be Seen: The Invisible Dropout Crisis in

Boston and America. The Task Force also draftedand helped pass legislation that addresses dropoutprevention and recovery. The creation of such aneffective coalition required collaboration among kestate agencies, such as Public Health, Public SafetyLabor and Workforce Development and Education,and local school officials and communityorganizations

9. The Task Force, in partnership with

the school system, created a dropout recoveryprogram in which dropout outreach specialists get alist of all the youth in the city who have dropped oufind them and reconnect them to education ortraining opportunities.

Within Boston’s leadership, the mayor’s

commitment to education was made clear by hisdeclaration of support to double the collegegraduation rate for Boston Public Schools and isdevoting funding to support this new goal. The

8 City of Boston, Office of Jobs and Community Development Web site,HUhttp://www.cityofboston.gov/jcs/youth.aspUH. 9 Hastings, S., Harnessing the Power of Advocacy .

http://www.cityofboston.gov/jcs/youth.asp








Youth Council Chair was strategically appointed bythe mayor to also sit on the school committee -fostering an important relationship that brings

workforce development knowledge into educationaldecision making. Also, the new superintendent of Boston Public Schools has reorganized her cabinetand has three deputies, one focused solely on highschools. The high school deputy understands theimportance of the alternative education system andoffering more vocational programs and activities.The school system has a history of supportingalternative education options, but with newleadership it has renewed energy.

There are several layers to employer engagement inBoston. Within Boston’s School-to-Career (STC)strategy, the Boston Private Industry Council placesa career specialist in every school to work with highschool students year-round to prepare them for paidemployment. PIC career specialists identify students’

interests, develop job descriptions with employers,and facilitate the interview and matching process.PIC staff support students and their supervisors on

the job10. The relationship with the career specialistis a key component to the summer youthemployment program, Summer of Work andLearning, and makes a strong effort to matchstudent’s career interests with their summer jobplacement.

Also, every high school (as well as elementary andmiddle school) has at least one corporate oremployer partner that sponsors the school andsupports workforce preparation and career

development by supporting job shadow days andcareer fairs, serving on advisory panels, organizingvolunteers to tutor or mentor students. Employer

10 City of Boston, Office of Jobs and Community Development Web site,HUhttp://www.cityofboston.gov/jcs/youth.aspUH.

engagement in education and workforce preparationfor youth is now institutionalized in the city.

Youth Options Unlimited (YOU), Boston’scomprehensive reentry program supported by theMayor’s Office, offers a Multi-Tier TransitionalEmployment Approach to gaining workforce skillsand employment.

Level One (Pre-Placement): The first level jobreadiness training and professional developmenttrack is offered for youth during summer and foryear round groups. This paid two-week pre-employment series focuses on communication (with

peers and supervisor) decision-making, conflictresolution, team work, maintaining a positiveattitude, and defining success. These topics areexplored and examined through role plays and aninteractive curriculum based on the issues youthstruggle with when in the work environment andother areas of their lives. The completion of the PrePlacement curriculum is critical to future retentionwithin the YOU employment continuum.

Level Two (Bridge): This second level gives young

people a chance to improve workplace behavior andtheir academic skills. The Bridge Program takes asmall group of youth, partners with agencies/ organizations to help young people develop in aparticular skill area, continues to develop youthprofessionally and adds an academic component.Reading and math skills development is infused intthe TES model.

Level Three (Individual Placement-IP): The thirdlevel offers employment placement and career

counseling support once young people have acquirethe fundamentals. Individual youth are matched wia community partner in a position that allows formore independence than the Bridge team and theopportunity for increased hours (up to 25 per weekYOU, with the support of its partner agencies, offerGED classes and a high school diploma curriculum








at the YOU Center. The GEDPlus program is housedat YOU, as is the Community Transition School, acollaboration between the Boston Public Schools and

the Department of Youth Services offering educationservices to young people re-entering the communityfrom long-term treatment.

Level three also provides youth placement in entrylevel employment with support from careerdevelopment staff that help youth focus onincreasing skill development, acquiring furthercredentials and placement in positions that allow forpersonal growth and expanding opportunities.Placements for older youth are in primary labor-

market positions in the private sector or long-termoccupational skills training programs. CareerSpecialists provide advice and support to individualsat this level, with a view to bringing youth to a pointwhere they can compete independently in the labormarketed11.

The Mayor’s Office of Jobs and CommunityServices, and the City of Boston have madeconsistent decisions to focus service provision on the

most disconnected youth, specifically targeting juvenile justice involved youth. The partnershipsrequired to effectively serve these youth have beendeveloped over time and are key to creating acomprehensive system of supports and services foryouth involved in the juvenile justice system. The partners in Boston’s justice initiatives include the

Boston Private Industry Council, Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services, Youth OptionsUnlimited Boston, Boston Police Department,Boston Redevelopment Authority, Department of

Probation, Suffolk County House of Correction,Boston’s Center for Youth and Families, Department

of Youth Services, Boston Public Schools, and theDepartment of Children and Families.

11 Youth Options Unlimited,HUhttp://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/yoboston/en/tes.aspUH.

YOU is an example of a city-wide program helpingyoung court-involved and gang-affiliated young people turn toward a positive, self-sufficient future

It is a strong example of partnerships amongworkforce development, juvenile justice, lawenforcement, and other youth serving systemsdescribed above. YOU connects youth with intensicase management, educational opportunities andsupport, and employment year-round. It has a threpart service system: (1) intervention in detentionfacilities and referrals from law enforcementpartners; (2) stabilization, case management andsupport services provided by YOU staff; and (3)education and employment readiness and placemen

support to get youth on the path to skill developmeand self-sustainability. Since 2005, YOU has serveexclusively court-involved youth and is sustaining iefforts with the support of the state Shannon Anti-Gang grant - a program that requires multi-disciplinary approaches to combating gang violencthrough law enforcement initiatives such as thetargeting of enforcement resources to programsaimed at successful reintegration of released inmateand youth from juvenile detention, and programs thprovide youth with supervised out-of-school

activities, among others.

http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/yoboston/en/tes.asp









Jim Boucher

Director of Youth Services

Capital Workforce Partners

[email protected]

The Future Workforce Committee (the YouthCouncil) is led by Capital Workforce Partners (theregion's Workforce Investment Board) and iscomprised of a youth services divisionrepresentative, other governmental agencyrepresentatives, employers, youth servingorganization representatives and others. TheCommittee faces the challenge of addressing barriefor a significant number of disconnected youngpeople - nearly 3,000 young adults 18-24 are notattending school and not working12 and many moreyounger youth have dropped out or are at-risk of dropping out of high school. The Committee istasked with developing the strategic plan to addressthese issues. The Plan is then implemented byCapital Workforce Partners (CWP). CWP is the locworkforce investment board for North CentralConnecticut and coordinates comprehensiveworkforce development programming for youthprovided through contracted private and publicpartners and service providers. CWP works to creata “workforce of the future” through the

implementation of strategies and programminggeared toward meeting the needs of youth,employers and the local economy for more than3,000 young people served in a given year throughsummer youth employment, year-round employmeprogramming, WIA youth programming, Job Corpsand other programming.

The focus of CWP’s Youth Council is to increase t

number of in-school youth graduating from highschool with a full set of career competencies. It doethis by targeting resources to major municipalities ithe Capitol Region of Connecticut. A primary

12 Kids Count 2007 Data, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Web site,http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/KIDSCOUNT.aspx.







example of this in Hartford is Capital WorkforcePartners’ work with the Hartford Office of Youth

Services (HOYS), which funds positive youth

development programming and special initiatives toaddress current community needs and coordinatewith state and foundation partners to maximize theeffectiveness of dollars invested in Hartford youth.Established in fall 2006, HOYS focuses oncoordination, capacity building and strategicpartnerships with key stakeholders to address theneeds of all Hartford Youth. Our Piece of the Pie®(OPP®), a youth development organization inHartford, is a key provider of services for both in-school and out-of-school youth in Hartford, and it

closely partners with CWP and HOYS. Up to 15to20 agencies form the nucleus of youth-servingorganizations that compose the entire futureworkforce development system in Hartford. Specialemphasis is placed on professional youthdevelopment training, program development andtracking of outcomes through Hartford Connects.

CWP runs a four-tiered, age appropriate set of strategies that focuses on job readiness, placement,and preparedness at different age brackets. Tier I istraditionally designed for the youngest students, ages14-15. This tier is strongest in learning anddevelopment. Tier II adds more real work and job-readiness components to the work experience. TierIII is often comprised of high school juniors whohave already experienced this type of program andare further developed. Tier IV is for those ready to

enter the Career Connections IV program and to seek out partially or unsubsidized “work and learn”

experiences.

CWP developed a comprehensive framework forcompetency attainment called the CareerCompetency System as the foundation for all youth

programming. It is a required model for all providewho are contracted through CWP. The CareerCompetency System is a “work and learn” tier

design approach to competency development to helprovide young people exposure to careers and careecompetencies, to design youth workforcedevelopment services that reflect the needs of regional growth industries, to document work readiness skills and collect data for outcomesanalysis, and for use as a model for quality anddevelopmental service provision used by allproviders

13.

Capital Workforce Partners, Hartford Office of

Youth Services and its partners are able to track progress for youth through Hartford Connects II - aweb-based, program management tool for youthservice organizations that captures data and reportsinformation. It has a multiple entity data sharingmechanism, which allows for better sharing, trackinand correlation of educational and youthdevelopment data

14.

As Capital Workforce Partners works to create a“workforce of the future”, it targets training

resources toward occupations in the region that havsustainable wages and high growth potential. CWPhas identified clusters of industries in their area,which includes allied health, financial and insurancservices, high technology manufacturing and retail/hospitality. It has begun to develop relationshipswith these industry leaders to craft appropriatetraining and programming that will prepare youth fthese industries and arrange formal and informalways for employers to engage.

The Capital Workforce Partners Career CompetencSystem was developed with extensive input fromemployers to define not only the skills required for

13 Capital Workforce Partners, Career Competency System, PowerPointpresentation.14 Hartford Connects, A Budding ETO City , Capital Workforce Partners,Hartford Office of Youth Services, PowerPoint presentation.




success in entry-level employment andpostsecondary education but also to define how andat what stage employers should be involved. CWP

integrated employer engagement activities into itsfour-tiered Career Competency System.

In addition to the Career Competency System, OurPiece of the Pie (OPP®), along with all othercontracted youth delivery organizations who receivefunding from CWP, work with youth to create a“Dream Resume” where they explore future career

options and possibilities as well as a real-timeresume so that when they leave the program after thesummer they will know what it takes to get the jobs

they want and they have an action plan for how toget there. Through the training sessions at OPP®,youth receive solid links from school to career.Youth must also create a “portfolio” before they exit

the program demonstrating goals, financial literacy,communication and other skills.

At OPP®, youth can participate in “YouthBusinesses” for 20 hours over a six-week period.This opportunity includes 10 hours of hands-onexperiential learning in arts, environmental sciences,

woodworking, community advocacy, multi-media orcomputer science, and 10 hours of IntegratedLearning Training - life and career skill building -where youth work on resumes, interviewing andtime-management. These youth (depending on ageand experience and where they fall in the TierSystem) receive either stipends or minimum wagewhile completing their project. Recent projects haveincluded: a citywide lead-poisoning awarenesscampaign aimed at educating elementary schoolstudents and their families; an anti-violence themed

CD written, recorded and produced by OPP® youth,and collaboration with National Geographic to studysnapping turtles in the Connecticut River

15.

15 Our Piece of the Pie Web site, http://www.opp.org/youth_businesses.asp.

Our Piece of the Pie (OPP®) helps youth ages 14 to24 become successful adults. The two primary goal

of the program are to complete college or receive apostsecondary vocational credential, and find long-term employment. The cornerstone of OPP®programs and services is its signature Pathways toSuccess approach. Pathways to Success is a youthdevelopment strategy designed to help youth accesand attain education, employment and personalskills. Together, youth and their YouthDevelopment Specialists create individualized planthat map a realistic path to reach their goals.

A crucial component to the Pathways to Successprogram is the role of its Youth DevelopmentSpecialist (YDS) – a guide to the services OPP®offers and a caring and consistent adult who adviseand supports youth as they work to accomplish theigoals. When a young person enters OPP®, they arematched with a YDS, beginning the trust-buildingprocess. The YDS assesses the young person’s

status and needs and works with them to determinepathway to a long-term educational and/oremployment outcome. Together, they build an

Individualized Service Plan broken down intopractical steps to achieve larger goals, such asgraduating from high school or improving schoolattendance. The YDS supports youth as theyparticipate in educational, training or employmentactivities and helps them to navigate the systems anservices in which they are involved in. An averagecaseload for a YDS is between 60 to 70 youth withconscious thought about balancing case loads byassessing the level of need of each youth.

OPP® and the Pathways to Success approach stayswith youth up until age 24. Should a young personenter OPP® at age 14, they could potentially havethat caring and consistent adult with them for up toten years. Because transitioning to adulthood is acritical time in a young person’s life, maintaining

http://www.opp.org/youth_businesses.asp






that support and guidance beyond the period he/sheenters into employment or postsecondary educationis essential.

The Hartford Public School system is in the midst of a transformation to become a system composed of small learning communities that provide a variety of options to students throughout the school system. Atthe high school level, the system created new schoolsthat appeal to different career interests of youth andprovide the rigor necessary to them excel.

Opening in fall 2009, OPPortunity High School will

be the first partnership school in Hartford. Based ona model initiated in New York between GoodShepherd Services and the New York Department of Education, OPPortunity

High School will provide the three R’s necessary for

success: Rigor, Relevance and Relationships. Theschool will be a small, academically rigorousdiploma-granting high school that combines theexpertise of Our Piece of the Pie® - best practices inthe youth development and workforce development

fields - along with the skills of Hartford PublicSchools - the rigor of the classroom and high schoolrequirements. School governance will be sharedequally between the school system and OPP®.OPPortunity High School enrolls over-aged andunder-credited youth, those who are 18 or younger,have at least one year of high school, but not enoughcredits to go on to 10th grade, and are motivated toget a high school diploma16.

There are additional small learning

communities/academies with which CWP andHOYS work, such as the Hartford High SchoolGovernment and Law Academy designed for

16 OPPortunity High School summary document, provided by Bob Rath, OPP®,March, 2009.

students with an interest in pursuing a career in lawgovernment or community leadership

17.

OPP® has a strong working relationship with theDepartment of Children and Families helping youthaging out of the foster care system through aprogram called the Connecticut Youth OpportunityStrategy. OPP®’s Pathways to Success program isdesigned to insure that youth aging out of foster carhave increased opportunities to provide for asuccessful transition to adulthood in the followingareas: youth leadership, youth engagement,employment, housing, and physical and mental

health. Community-based agencies are contracted bthe Department of Children and Families to providevarious services to foster care youth. OPP®’s youth

development specialists and DCF workers work collectively to provide updates and progress reportsas well as overall general case management supporThe youth development specialist’s role also is to

provide DCF worker and other care providers anassessment of career skills, interests and aptitudes othe youth to better assist in goal planning. Thisworking relationship between the youth developme

specialist and DCF worker continues to play anintegral role in making sure foster care youth aresuccessful in terms of reaching their outcome goals

The CT Youth Opportunity Strategy offers youthages 14 to 21 with present involvement in foster cathe opportunity to be part of a major national effortto help youth in foster care make a successfultransition to adulthood by providing them withopportunities through Opportunity Passport™.

Through the Opportunity Passport™ program,

participants receive a match savings account, knowas an Individual Development Account (IDA), to bused for purchasing specific assets. The participant

17 Hartford Public Schools, Hartford High School Government and LawAcademy Web site, http://www.hartfordschools.org/schools/Hartford-PublicHigh-School-Law-and-Government-Academy.php.

http://www.hartfordschools.org/schools/Hartford-Public-High-School-Law-and-Government-Academy.php









also receive a 1:1 match up to $1,000 and allparticipants receive financial literacy training, whichhelps the youth become financially literate by

gaining experience with the banking system, andsaving money for education, housing, healthcare, andother life expenses.The participants enrolled in OPP®’s CT Youth

Opportunity Strategy program benefit from a menuof services and supports such as health care, housing,transportation assistance, health and wellness andmental health referrals, educational planning,connection to caring adults, community serviceopportunities, case management services, financialcounseling, referrals for internal and external

programming, job placement assistance, pre-employment training, work readiness, internshipsand job retention with on-site job support, andmonetary incentives for positive participation. Theseservices enhance life chances of foster youthtransitioning from care and prepare them for thefuture workforce and adulthood.

To address the issue of youth violence in Hartford,The Hartford Office of Youth Services (HOYS)

implemented an initiative called Peacebuilders,which is a collaborative effort of OPP®, Compass,The Village and the City of Hartford. Peacebuilders’

staff partner with the Hartford Police Departmentand St. Francis Hospital to work with families in theemergency room and treatment settings. Because of OPP®’s experience working with the Court Support

Services Division and the Prisoner Reentry Programand the deep connections the Peacebuilders havewith the community, they are able to work on a streetlevel to quell violence, prevent retaliation and help

youth and families process grief in the immediateaftermath of an incident. They also work to connectfamilies to additional community services andsupports. The trust that Peacebuilders’ staff havebuilt often provides them with access to informationabout violent acts and allows them to intervene and

prevent additional acts of violence. Since theinitiative began in 2007, Peacebuilders have engage358 youth in the program and have mediated 44

conflicts involving youth on the caseload and inalmost all of those instances, have preventedadditional retaliation and/or violence18.

Also supported by HOYS is Street Smarts toBusiness Smarts grant program where 14 to 19 yeaold disconnected youth who are truant, deemed atrisk for violence or delinquency activity, and/or hasbeen identified as needing intervention, participate a community-based training program and are linkedto a small businessperson in a mentor/mentee

relationship with the potential of a paid internship.With GED, academic and youth developmentsupport and entrepreneurial training and guidance akey components to the program, HOYS’ expectatio

is that all grantees prepare youth for success inpostsecondary and the workforce19.

18 Peacebuilders Report, Year One, provided by Hartford Office of Youth,February 2009.19 Street Smarts to Business Smarts, Request for Proposal, 2008.




Jenny Bogoni

Director of Out-of-School Youth Initiatives

Philadelphia Youth Network

[email protected]

Thousands of young people in Philadelphia aredisconnected from employment, education and socisupport systems. For example, the Center for LaboMarket Studies reports that more than 52,000Philadelphians ages 16 to 24 are unemployed and nin school. At least 30,000 of them have not earnedeither a high school diploma or a GED. Philadelphputs youth education and workforce development athe top of its agenda and is working hard to addressthese issues.

Over the last ten years, the City of Philadelphia, thSchool District of Philadelphia, the Youth Counciland the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) haveanalyzed data, designed models and built systems taddress the needs of youth and young adults forhigh-quality education, training and employmentopportunities. These efforts continue to flourish.

In his inauguration speech in January 2008, MayorMichael A. Nutter directly confronted issues of education and career preparation, pledging to reducthe high school dropout rate by 50 percent in 5 to7years (or inversely raising the graduation rate to 80percent), and to double the baccalaureate attainmenrate of Philadelphians in eight to ten years20.

To lead these efforts, Mayor Nutter re-constitutedthe Youth Council as the Philadelphia Council forCollege and Career Success, appointedrepresentatives from strategically important sectorsin the Greater Philadelphia region to serve on thebody, and made the Council responsible for leadingefforts to accomplish the City’s high school

graduation and college completion goals. The

20 Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, First Meeting document,December 17, 2008.






Council is now actively engaged in a variety of strategies designed to build cross-sector approachesthat address the needs of youth and young adults,

and is also developing, leveraging and aligningresources from diverse funding streams to supportthem. The new council is directed by a four-personLeadership Team, comprised of the mayor’s chief

education officer, a leading private sector employer,the superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, and a president or provost of a localhigher education institution21. Council membersinclude leaders in secondary education, higher

education, the business community, public caresystems like foster care and juvenile justice, non-profit youth serving agencies, youth advocates andother representatives from municipal government.The council works through three subcommittees thataddress critical elements of the city’s goals:

addressing the needs of disconnected and out-of-school youth; creating strategies to increase the work readiness and career preparation of Philadelphia’s

young people, and improving college preparation,access and success. The strength and breadth of

council membership helps to foster strongrelationships among systems and stakeholders acrossthe city and to build consensus approaches to addressthe city’s goals.

The Council is staffed and supported by thePhiladelphia Youth Network (PYN), a youthintermediary organization dedicated to ensuring thatPhiladelphia youth take their rightful places as fulland contributing members of Philadelphia’s regional

economy. PYN also manages federal funds

available to the Council, based on a competitivelyprocured contract with the Philadelphia WorkforceInvestment Board.

21 Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, First Meeting document,December 17, 2008.

After several years of experience overseeing youthworkforce preparation programs funded throughinvestments from government sources (theWorkforce Investment Act, Temporary Assistancefor Needy Families, the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia HousingAuthority), the Youth Council in 2003 establishedWorkReady Philadelphia to coordinate and expandopportunities for academically enriched summer anyear-round career preparation experiences for younpeople. WorkReady Philadelphia offers a variety ofprogram models, including private sector internshipservice learning, subsidized employment in non-profit organizations, and academic support, includincollege awareness exposure. Depending on fundinglevels, WorkReady annually offers opportunities fobetween 7,500 and 9,000 young people. WorkReadprograms are administered by the PhiladelphiaYouth Network, and are supported by hundreds of employers, youth-serving organizations, publicagencies, foundations and individuals.

Philadelphia also operates five community-based EPower (Education, Employment and EmpowermenCenters, which offer skill-building experiences forout-of-school and other disconnected 14- to 21-yeaold youth, and help them to achieve long-term goalin the areas of education, occupational skills, lifeskills and employment. The Philadelphia YouthNetwork contracts with youth-serving organizationto operate the centers, which are expansions of thecity’s three original Youth Opportunity Centers. ECenters offer GED preparation, job readiness,occupational skills training, job referral andplacement, as well as a schedule of diverseactivities.

22Advisors help center youth to stay

focused on meeting their goals, and to address anyother challenging issues, such as child care, systeminvolvement, and health care.

22 Philadelphia's E3Power Centers Web site, http://www.e3philly.org/.

http://www.e3philly.org/




Due in part to the success of Philadelphia’snationally recognized school-to-career system

developed in the 1990s, the Youth Council from itsinception was keenly interested in promoting careerpreparation and academic achievement for all youngpeople in Philadelphia. Over time, this interest inschool-based connections grew to include youngpeople who were struggling academically and whohad already dropped out of high school. After acareful analysis of its efforts on behalf of out-of-school youth, Youth Council in 2003 took twoimportant steps: (1) establishing a formal committeefocused squarely on dropout recovery; and (2)

increasing its Workforce Investment Act funding forout-of-school youth from the statutory floor of 30percent to 50 percent. Based on this work and onmajor matching support from the William PennFoundation, Philadelphia in 2004 became one of only five cities nationally to receive support from theYouth Transition Funders Group, a set of nationaland regional philanthropies dedicated to enhancingopportunities for struggling students and out-of-school youth. After 18 months of data collection,analysis and discussion, Philadelphia launched

Project U-Turn - a citywide campaign to build publicwill to resolve the City’s dropout crisis. Since itslaunch in Fall 2006, Project U-Turn has broughttogether more than 60 partners and stakeholders towork collaboratively on the dropout crisis.

23Through

these efforts, Project U-Turn has helped to createnearly 3,000 new high-quality educationopportunities for over-age and under-credited youth;design and implement a new system for reconnectingdropouts to educational options including a re-engagement center jointly staffed by the School

District and the City Department of Human services,and develop and leverage more than $50 million tosupport re-engagement strategies.24 Project U-Turn

23 Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, First Meeting document,December 17, 2008.24 Project U-Turn, “Where Are We Now? An Update to the Community,” November 2007,

http://www.projectuturn.net/downloads/pdf/WhereAreWeNow_hi_res.pdf.

continues to work with the School District to suppothe establishment and support of high-qualityeducational options for all Philadelphia students, an

to promote related aspects of the School District’snew strategic plan.

Youth advocates and public officials in Philadelphiunderstand that youth involved in the juvenile justisystem need specialized services, supports and toolto transition successfully back into theircommunities for school, rehabilitation and work. Tthat end, a strong partnership has developed betweethe workforce, education and juvenile justice

systems to support youth leaving delinquentplacement by connecting them to the E

3Centers an

the City’s Reintegration Initiative.

In the last several years, Philadelphia’s juvenile

justice work has focused on aligning andstrengthening the career and occupational skillscurricula at juvenile placement sites. Attention hasbeen paid to program of study for youth and asystem through which they can continue their studiwhen they return to the community. Much of this i

being done in partnership with the E3 Centers(serving as “step-down” programs to offer academi

support, GED training, workforce preparation and job referral and placement, and life-skills training)and through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Based largely on the successes of the YouthCouncil’s focus on struggling students and out-of-school youth, Philadelphia in 2007 received twoDepartment of Labor grants that support the creatio

of academic and occupational skill pathways foryouth returning from delinquent placement toaugment their core academic skills, and to support avariety of educational and employment interventionfor youth who are at high risk of being involved ingangs or the juvenile justice system.

http://www.projectuturn.net/downloads/pdf/WhereAreWeNow_hi_res.pdf






Margie De Ruyter

Youth Programs Manager

San Diego Workforce Partnership

[email protected]

The San Diego School-to-Career Youth Council isthe primary policy body that addresses youth issuesunder the Workforce Investment Act. The Councilfaces the challenge of addressing barriers for asignificant number of disconnected young people.Nearly 4,000 teens are not attending school and notworking and around 15,000 young adults 18-24 arealso not attending school and not working25. TheCouncil reports to the Workforce Investment Boardand is staffed by the San Diego WorkforcePartnership. The Council is the driving force behindemerging or youth workforce development, and is acollaborative partnership among employers,educators, community-based organizations, parentsand youth. The Council has three standingcommittees – the Capacity Building committee, theExecutive Committee and the Youth Advisorycommittee – and often forms committees on a timesensitive or as-needed basis.

The Youth Council’s mission is to build and suppo

a regional youth workforce system and to managestate and federal workforce development funds onbehalf of vulnerable youth throughout San DiegoCounty. Its three overarching goals are: to providequality training programs to the most needy youth, build a bridge between the local workforce systemand stakeholder groups and to build and sustain astrong governing body and structure26.

The San Diego Workforce Partnership staffs andsupports the San Diego Youth Council and works timplement the youth workforce system strategic pladeveloped and guided by the council. The Workfor

25 Kids Count 2007 Data, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Web site,http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/KIDSCOUNT.aspx. 26 San Diego Workforce Partnership Web site,http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/.



http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/

http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/





Partnership oversees programs that help at-risk youthplan and achieve their educational goals and secureemployment through a network of community-based,

youth-service providers. The Workforce Partnershipprovides a comprehensive, countywide system of services to youth through a network of youthservices agencies, schools and the One-Stop CareerCenter Network. Roughly 1,000 youth receiveservices through WIA funding.

The leadership of the San Diego Youth Council andthe Workforce Partnership has made a strategicchoice to concentrate funding and programming ontargeted groups of at-risk youth, including foster andformer foster youth transitioning to self-sufficiencyand youth returning from juvenile facilities or thoseinvolved in the juvenile justice system. The councilwas able to do this by bringing the “right” people to

the table. In the last four years, council leadershiprevamped the membership to include strategicleaders that represent these targeted youthpopulations within other systems. Together, theseleaders assessed what the collective group wasfunding and how they could maximize theirresources. With the appropriate buy-in, the YouthCouncil was able to “change the funding map” to

target dollars specifically to programs that serve themost needy and least served youth in San DiegoCounty.

One example of the “right” person sitting at the tableis the chair of Youth Council. She brings acomprehensive understanding of youth issues andalso sits on San Diego’s Juvenile Justice

Coordinating Council (a state-mandated body), is theexecutive director of the Children’s Initiative, the

chair of the state Disproportion Minority ContactCommission, the chair of the Governor’s Afterschool

Advisory Board for California and is a WorkforceInvestment Board member. Because of her role, she

is able to strategize how these entities can partnerbetter and how resources can be effectivelyleveraged. Other examples of leaders sitting at the

table are the chief probation officer for the county,the dean of Economic & Workforce Development aSan Diego Community College District and theexecutive director of the Commission on GangPrevention and Intervention. All bring a unique, yeessential perspective into the decision-makingprocess.

Among other accomplishments, the Youth Councilspearheaded the San Diego Youth ResourceMapping Project, which is a user-friendly database

of organizations that provide services core to thelocal youth system to improve the education andemployment services available for youth across SanDiego County. The purpose of the database is toimprove the responsiveness of workforce preparatioprograms to better serve youth, build toward acomprehensive system that is responsive to needsidentified by the community, educate the communiabout the value of youth workforce preparationservices, increase the availability and access of youworkforce preparation services, and increase

community and youth participation in youthworkforce preparation program design.27

San Diego Community College District has recentldeveloped a Career Pathways for After School Staf(CPASS), modeled after work around CareerAdvancement Academies, in partnership with SanDiego Workforce Partnerships, Children’s Initiativ

and San Diego City College (SDCC). CPASS is inthe first year of this bridge program that offers basi

skill remediation, college readiness courses, selectecoursework in career pathways, along with work experience and employment in afterschool facilitiesThe courses are taught in cohorts that create learnin

27 http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/generate/html/Youth/ youthmappingpage.html.

http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/generate/html/Youth/%20youthmappingpage.html







communities targeted at WIA eligible, young adultswith an eighth grade competency. The program alsooffers a counselor throughout the entirety of the

program to help navigate the system.28 TheChancellor committed $1.5 million statewide for atwo-year project for five of these programs. SDWPis providing the planning and the development andused their provider network to help enroll theirparticipants into community college and connect toemployment. Youth maintain their case managementfrom WIA program’s supportive services component

as well as receive counseling and support staff at theSDCC campus. Youth receive $800 in supportservices to help pay for transportation, child care,

and other living expenses.

The San Diego Workforce Partnership awarded sixcommunity planning grants to help direct communityinvestment strategies across systems, foster inter-agency agreements and relationships, and encouragethe formation and the continued growth of collaboratives that focus on the development of coordinated educational and workforce strategies foryouth. The Workforce Partnership staff as well as

members of the Capacity Building Sub-Committeeon the Youth Council are participating in each of thesix collaboratives29.

One example of a community planning grant is the alarge set-aside from SDWP’s WIA formula dollars

leveraged with the County’s Child Welfare Servicesresources to provide Independent Living Servicesthat have a strong workforce, education and youthdevelopment focus to current and former fosteryouth as they transition out of the foster care system.

ILS/WIA foster youth services is a partnership between San Diego County’s Independent Living

28 CCRY Network Winter 2009 Meeting Summary,http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/winter2009summary.pdf. 29 San Diego Workforce Partnership Web site.

Services with the Workforce Partnership to provideunder one joint contract, both independent livingskills plus workforce development skills to youth

transitioning from the system. Youth receive work readiness training, work preparation, employmentopportunities, youth development services andindependent living services such as identifyingeducational barriers, long-term mentoring, incentivto reinforce learning to encourage participation inactivities and/or achievement of goals, individualservice strategy with a youth-centered approach, anfollow-up services to assist youth sustaining asuccessful transition30.

Another example of collaboration in San Diego thaenhances services for foster or former foster youth one between the Workforce Partnership, the CountyChild Welfare Services, the nonprofit New Horizonand the San Diego Office of Education to supportSan Pasqual Academy (SPA). SPA is a residentialeducational campus designed specifically for fosterteens that live and learn at the academy as theyprepare for college and/or a career path.31 SanPasqual Academy is the first residential educationcampus for foster youth in the nation and was

developed in response to the critical issues that manfoster youth experienced such as high numbers of placements, lack of fully developed independentliving skills and exiting the foster care systemwithout earning a high school diploma32.

Another example of a community planning grantawarded by the Workforce Partnership is a large seaside from WIA formula dollars to serve adjudicateyouth transitioning out of juvenile detention centers

This is a partnership between the WorkforcePartnership and the County Probation Office. TheSan Diego County Office of Education, Juvenile

30 San Diego Workforce Partnership Web site.31 San Pasqual Academy Web site, http://www.sanpasqualacademy.org/. 32 San Pasqual Academy Web site.

http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/winter2009summary.pdf

http://www.sanpasqualacademy.org/


http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/winter2009summary.pdf



Courts and Community Schools and Second ChanceStrive were awarded this funding. The San DiegoCounty Office of Education’s (SDCOE) Juvenile

Court and Community Schools (JCCS) Youth One-Stop Career Centers offer various programs toprepare JCCS students ages 16 to 21 for job andcareer prospects.

The Workforce Partnership also supports theYouthful Offender Re-Entry Program that providesassessment, work-readiness training, and behaviormodification training while a young person isincarcerated. Subsequently, it provides post-releaseintensive case management, educational support and

job placement. The program also helps identifyemployers, eliminate employment barriers, and helpyouth obtain a GED or diploma. The Work-forcePartnership drafted the RFP based on specificrecommendations from probation about theiridentified needs.

The Workforce Partnership is also an active partnerwith the City of San Diego Commission on GangPrevention & Intervention and funds secondaryschool-based gang prevention programs that provide

year-round work readiness and educational supportto youth ages 14 to 16. The Commission’s Strategic

Action Plan works to bring cooperation andaccountability within the city to quell gang-violence.The plan includes the use of technical teamscomposed of various city agencies, including astrong workforce component, that would meetmonthly and be responsible for producing reports tothe Commission on Gang Prevention that the actionplan would create.

33

33 CCRY Network 2008 Summer Meeting Summary, CCRY Network Web site,http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/BostonNewsletterFinal.pdf.

http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/BostonNewsletterFinal.pdf

http://www.ccrynetwork.org/reports/BostonNewsletterFinal.pdf




i EPE Research Center Web site,

http://www.edweek.org/apps/gmap/details.html?year=2009&zoom=6&type=1&id=DC.

ii Kids Count Data Center, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Web site,http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/stateprofile.aspx?state=DC&cat=387&group=Category&loc=10&dt=1%2c3%2c2%2c4.

iii Callahan, J., and Pines, M. WIA Youth Policy Councils: Key to the

Future for a Generation of Challenge. Baltimore, MD, Sar LevitanCenter for Social Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University, 1999,www.levitan.org/sumwiayouth.html.

iv “San Diego Youth Workforce System Strategic Plan” provided bySan Diego Workforce Partners.

v Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, Requestv Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board Youth Council, Request

for Proposals, Youth Workforce Development Services, September 19,2007.

vi Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board Youth Council,Request for Proposals, Youth Workforce Development Services,September 19, 2007.

vii Baltimore Office of the Mayor Web site,http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/mayor/.

viii Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/.

ix Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/.

x San Diego Workforce Partnership Web site,

http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/index.html. xi San Diego Workforce Partnership, Year Long Youth Contract,Program Year 2007-2009.

xii San Diego School-to-Career Youth Council and Sub-CommitteeStructure document

xiii Philadelphia Youth Network Web site, http://www.pyninc.org/.

xiv Philadelphia Youth Network Web site, http://www.e3philly.org/.

xv CCRY Network Web site, http://www.ccrynetwork.org.

xvi Youth Options Unlimited Web site,http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/yoboston/en/default.asp.

xvii Harris, Linda. Making the Juvenile Justice – Workforce Connection for Re-entering Young Offenders: A Guide for Local Practice. Centerfor Law and Social Policy, 2006,http://clasp.org/publications/making_connection.pdf.

xviii Youth Options Unlimited Web site,http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/yoboston/en/default.asp.

xix San Pasqual Academy Website,http://www.sanpasqualacademy.org/.

xx NYC Department of Education, APA Conference Site Visitsdocument, March 5, 2009.

xxi Good Shepherd Services Web site,http://www.goodshepherds.org/programs/community/transfer-schools/schools/wbchs.html.

xxii National League of Cities, “Beyond City Limits: Cross-SystemCollaboration to Reengage Disconnected Youth,” 2007.

xxiii The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families,the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for HumanResources Management, Are They Really Ready to Work? EmployerPerspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New

Entrants to the 21st Century US Workforce, 2006, 1-64,http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/BED-06-Workforce.pdf.

xxiv NYC Department of Education, Office of Multiple Pathways toGraduation Web site, http://schools.nyc.gov.

xxv Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success, First Meetidocument, Dec. 17th, 2008.

xxvi Project U-Turn, “Where Are We Now? An Update to theCommunity”, November 2007,http://www.projectuturn.net/downloads/pdf/WhereAreWeNow_hi_rpdf.

xxvii “Summary of Philadelphia’s Reintegration Initiative,” provided Candace Putter, Philadelphia Reintegration Initiative.

xxviii “Summary of Philadelphia’s Reintegration Initiative,” provided Candace Putter, Philadelphia Reintegration Initiative.

xxix “Summary of Philadelphia’s Reintegration Initiative,” provided bCandace Putter, Philadelphia Reintegration Initiative.

xxx Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration,“School District Grant: Reducing Youth Involvement in Gangs,”http://www.doleta.gov/PRI/PDF/City_Schools_One_Pager_Baltimopdf.

xxxi Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration“School District Grant: Reducing Youth Involvement in Gangs,”http://www.doleta.gov/PRI/PDF/City_Schools_One_Pager_Baltimopdf.

xxxii Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration“School District Grant: Reducing Youth Involvement in Gangs,”

http://www.doleta.gov/PRI/PDF/City_Schools_One_Pager_Baltimopdf.

xxxiii Harris, Linda. Making the Juvenile Justice – Workforce Connecti

for Re-entering Young Offenders: A Guide for Local Practice. Centefor Law and Social Policy, 2006.http://clasp.org/publications/making_connection.pdf.

xxxivLos Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement Web site,http://www.layo.org/.

http://www.edweek.org/apps/gmap/details.html?year=2009&zoom=6&type=1&id=DC


http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/bystate/stateprofile.aspx?state=DC&cat=387&group=Category&loc=10&dt=1%2c3%2c2%2c4


http://www.levitan.org/sumwiayouth.html


http://www.bostonpic.org/


http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/index.html

http://www.pyninc.org/



http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/yoboston/en/default.asp

http://clasp.org/publications/making_connection.pdf



http://www.goodshepherds.org/programs/community/transfer-schools/schools/wbchs.html


http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/BED-06-Workforce.pdf

http://schools.nyc.gov/



http://www.doleta.gov/PRI/PDF/City_Schools_One_Pager_Baltimore.pdf







http://www.layo.org/











http://schools.nyc.gov/

http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/BED-06-Workforce.pdf









http://www.pyninc.org/

http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/index.html




http://www.levitan.org/sumwiayouth.html







xxxv Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement Web site,http://www.layo.org/.

xxxvi San Pasqual Academy Web site,http://www.sanpasqualacademy.org/.

xxxvii San Diego Workforce Partnership, San Diego Youth Contract,program year 2007-2009.

xxxviii San Diego Workforce Partnership, San Diego Youth Contract,program year 2007-2009.

xxxix Youth Opportunity, “YO! Highlights, New Grant to Serve Foster Care Youth,” December, 2008

xl Our Piece of the Pie, “Opportunity Passport Program,” provided byOur Piece of the Pie.

xli Foster Youth Summer Jobs Plus, Los Angeles Youth TransitionAction Team, New ways to Work, 2009,

http://www.nww.org/documents/ytatdocuments/YTATFYSJPOverview.pdf.

xlii CCRY Network Summary of Employer Engagement PipelinePowerPoint.

xliii Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board Youth Council,Request for Proposals, Youth Workforce Development Services,September 19, 2007.

xliv Civic Works Web Site,http://www.civicworks.com/programs.htm#hcca.

xlv ABC2 News Web site, Healthcare Careers Alliance,http://www.abc2news.com/content/health_care_fair/story/Healthcare-Careers Alliance/U80pzUVvXkeNDLkeZqVqeA.cspx

xlvi About After School Matters II, 2007-2008 Academic Year brochure,provided by YO! Baltimore.

xlvii Miramar Amgen Teacher Support Center (MATSC) Web site,http://www.matsc.org/.

xlviii Life Sciences Summer Institute (LSSI) summary, provided by SanDiego Workforce Partnerships.

xlix San Diego Workforce Partnerships Web site,http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/generate/html/Youth/life_sciences_summer.html.

l Miramar Amgen Teacher Support Center (MATSC) Web site,http://www.matsc.org/.

li Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/employers.

lii Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/employers.

liii Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/employers.

liv Boston Private Industry Council Web site,http://www.bostonpic.org/employers



http://www.nww.org/documents/ytatdocuments/YTATFYSJPOverview.pdf


http://www.civicworks.com/programs.htm#hcca

http://www.abc2news.com/content/health_care_fair/story/Healthcare-Careers%20Alliance/U80pzUVvXkeNDLkeZqVqeA.cspx


http://www.matsc.org/

http://www.sandiegoatwork.com/generate/html/Youth/life_sciences_summer.html



http://www.bostonpic.org/employers














http://www.civicworks.com/programs.htm#hcca







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Documents

**Building a Comprehensive Youth Employment Delivery System-Examples of Effective Practice