Youth and Work

7/30/2019 Youth and Work

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The Annie E. Casey Foundation

YOUTH AND WORK

restoring teen and young adultconnections to opportunity

policyreportKIDS COUNT


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Te Annie E. Casey Foundation createsbetter utures or the nations children bystrengthening amilies, building paths toeconomic opportunity and transormingstruggling communities into saer and

healthier places to live, work and grow.For more inormation, visitwww.aecf.org.

KIDS COUN, a project o the AnnieE. Casey Foundation, is a national andstate-by-state eort to track the status ochildren in the United States and to equippolicymakers and advocates with the best

available data to make better decisions toimprove the lives o children. Additionally,a nationwide network o state-levelKIDS COUN projects provides amore detailed, community-level pictureo the condition o children. For moreinormation, and to get the best availabledata about children and amilies whereyou live, visit datacenter.kidscount.org.

AbOUT THANNI . CASYFOUNDATIONAND KIDS COUNT

Additional data and copies

o this report can e ound at

www.aec.org/kidscount/youthwork.


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1The Annie E. Casey Foundation | www.aecf.orgYOUTH AND WORK

Forty years ago, a teenager leaving high school with or

without a diploma could fnd a jo in a local actory. Twenty

years ago, even as manuacturing jos moved oshore,

young people could still gain a oothold in the workorce

through neighorhood stores and restaurants. Amid the

housing oom o the past decade, youth with some training

could fnd a career track in the construction feld. but

today with millions o jos lost and experienced workers

scramling or every availale position Americas youngpeople stand last in line or jos.

YOUTH AND WORKrestoring teen and young adultconnections to opportunity


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2 The Annie E. Casey Foundation | www.aecf.org kids count policy report

Youth employment is at its lowest levelsince World War II; only about hal oyoung people ages 16 to 24 held jobs in2011.1 Among the teens in that group,only 1 in 4 is now employed, compared to

46 percent in 2000. Overall, 6.5 millionpeople ages 16 to 24 are both out o schooland out o work, statistics that suggest direconsequences or nancial stability andemployment prospects in that population.2

More and more doors are closing orthese young people. Entry-level jobs atast-ood restaurants and clothing storesthat high school dropouts once coulddepend on to start their careers now go toolder workers with better experience andcredentials. It oten takes a GED to get a

job ipping hamburgers. Even some withcollege degrees are having trouble ndingwork. At this rate, a generation willgrow up with little early work experience,missing the chance to build knowledgeand the job-readiness skills that comerom holding part-time and starter jobs.

Tis waste o talent and earnings poten-tial has proound consequences or theseyoung people, and or our economy and ournation. When young people lack connec-tions to jobs and school, government spendsmore to support them. Many already have

children o their own, exacerbating theintergenerational cycle o poverty in somecommunities. Yet even as young peoplestruggle to gain experience and nd anytype o job, businesses cannot nd theskilled workers they need to compete in theever-changing 21st-century economy.

Tis policy report describes the scaleo the challenges we ace in connectingyoung people, ages 16 to 24, to jobsand opportunity. More importantly, wealso set orth the steps needed to ensure

that young people have the academicknow-how, the technical skills and theessential sot skills to hold a job andlaunch a career. Te best way to buildthese critical skills is to help youngpeople nd jobs or work-like activities.

We must expand interventions that areputting youth to work and align them

with public investment.Research demonstrates a positive

return on investment or programs thatadvance academic, social and career

skills. And, practical experience tells usthat some young people show extraordi-nary motivation and responsibility whengiven the right opportunities. Tis reportdetails the most recent research anddata illustrating conditions or the 16-to 24-year-old population and ocusesspecically on those youth who areneither in school nor working. It identiesbarriers these young people must overcomeand oers solutions to get them engagedand connected.

Te core argument is that business,

government, philanthropy and com-munities must come together to createopportunities to put young peopleback on track in a dynamic, advancingeconomy to ensure their success andto build a stronger workorce orthe uture.


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Disconnected Youth: 2011

Young people out o school and out o work have een characterized in various ways as disconnected, vulnerale or opportunity youth.

In this report, we descrie them as disconnected youth. The data show that the populations struggling the most to enter the workorce

and stay in school today are youth who are less educated, come rom low-income amilies and elong to a racial or ethnic minority.

FIGUR 1

bY RAC AND HISANIC ORIGIN

National Average

Non-Hispanic White

African American

Asian and PacificIslander

Hispanic

Other

bY FAIY INCO bY FAIY INCO

DISCONNCTD YOUTH AGS 16 TO 19 DISCONNCTD YOUNG ADUTS AGS 20 TO 24

bY RAC AND HISANIC ORIGIN

National Average

Non-Hispanic White

African American

Asian and PacificIslander

Hispanic

Other

DISCONNCTD YOUTH AGS 16 TO 19 DISCONNCTD YOUNG ADUTS AGS 20 TO 24

92,000 YOH

74,000YOH

1,090,000 YOH

533,000 YOH

400,000YOH

2,189,000 YOH

162,000 YONAD

128,000 YONAD

2,182,000 YONAD

973,000YONAD

865,000 YONAD

4,310,000 YONAD

$75,000 $99,999

$100,000O O

$60,000 $74,999

$40,000 $59,999

$20,000 $39,999

ND$20,000

$75,000 $99,999

$100,000O O

$60,000 $74,999

$40,000 $59,999

$20,000 $39,999

ND$20,000

Youth living in amilies with incomes

elow $20,000 are experiencing the

most disconnection 2.5 times that o

youth in the highest-income amilies.

Young adults living in amilies with

incomes elow $20,000 are 3 times

as likely to e disconnected as young

adults in the highest-income amilies.

SOURCS Andrew Sum's analyses o 2011 Current opulation Survey asic monthly data, U.S. Census bureau data and bureau o aor Statistics data. stimates represent 12-month averages.

23%

14%

17%

30%

16%

10%

9%

13%15

%

21%

11%

8

%

13%

20%

11%

17%

16%

16%

16%

29%

12%

14%

23%

27%


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mployed Youth and Young Adults: 2011

The U.S. youth employment rates or oth 16- to 19-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds have dropped

to lows not seen in more than 50 years. State-y-state employment rates vary signifcantly,

ranging rom 18 percent to 46 percent or teens and rom 51 percent to 75 percent or young adults.

TAb 1

SOURCS opulation Reerence bureau's analyses o 2011 Current opulation Survey asic monthly data, U.S. Census bureau data and bureau o aor Statistics data. stimates represent 12-month averages.

State Number Percent Number Percent

nited tates 4,404,000 26 13,037,000 61

Alabama 68,000 26 169,000 57

Alaska 15,000 32 35,000 67

Arizona 87,000 24 271,000 60

Arkansas 43,000 33 133,000 65California 375,000 18 1,572,000 56

Colorado 78,000 30 223,000 68

Connecticut 60,000 29 145,000 61

Delaware 16,000 30 31,000 61

District of Columbia 3,000 14 31,000 57

Florida 159,000 18 675,000 59

eorgia 107,000 19 364,000 55

Hawaii 14,000 22 60,000 65

Idaho 23,000 28 62,000 64

Illinois 189,000 28 590,000 60

Indiana 104,000 27 272,000 60

Iowa 68,000 43 154,000 71

Kansas 51,000 36 138,000 71

Kentucky 61,000 27 188,000 61

ouisiana 62,000 23 181,000 56

aine 27,000 39 55,000 64

aryland 87,000 29 261,000 68

assachusetts 128,000 33 277,000 60

ichigan 174,000 29 403,000 59

innesota 122,000 42 263,000 74

ississippi 44,000 23 99,000 51

State Number Percent Number Percent

issouri 96,000 32 267,000 67

ontana 17,000 37 48,000 62

Nebraska 44,000 43 92,000 74

Nevada 37,000 27 116,000 64

New Hampshire 25,000 35 64,000 72New Jersey 102,000 21 360,000 59

New exico 25,000 25 84,000 59

New York 218,000 21 756,000 53

North Carolina 99,000 20 372,000 58

North Dakota 17,000 46 41,000 75

Ohio 226,000 35 518,000 66

Oklahoma 52,000 28 164,000 64

Oregon 54,000 28 160,000 63

Pennsylvania 274,000 39 546,000 62

hode Island 20,000 32 47,000 65

outh Carolina 62,000 27 182,000 55

outh Dakota 19,000 44 46,000 69

ennessee 74,000 23 241,000 60

exas 339,000 24 1,103,000 63

tah 55,000 35 152,000 71

Vermont 12,000 38 30,000 69

Virginia 132,000 30 368,000 65

Washington 88,000 24 246,000 60

West Virginia 21,000 22 65,000 55

Wisconsin 122,000 42 285,000 73

Wyoming 11,000 38 28,000 70

Ages 16 to 19 Ages 20 to 24 Ages 20 to 24Ages 16 to 19


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OUT OF SCHOO AND OUT OF WORK

Te past decade has been the most chal-lenging in 50 years or young peopleseeking to navigate the transition to adult-

hood, earn a degree, get a job and standon their own nancially. Te employmentrate or youth ages 16 to 19 droppedprecipitously down 42 percent since2000. More youth than ever 2.2 millionteenagers and 4.3 million young adultsages 20 to 24 are neither in school nor

working.3 Additionally, 21 percent 1.4 million o those young people outo school and out o work are youngparents who must take care o their ownneeds and those o their children.4

Why are so many youth disconnected?Tere are ewer jobs today,5 and employersare demanding higher skills in a labormarket transormed by globalization andtechnology.6 Also, ewer than hal o ourhigh school students graduate on time andare ready or college.7 Young people withlimited education and job-readiness skillsnd ewer employment opportunities. Tisis especially true o those rom low-incomeamilies and living in high-poverty com-munities. Even among low-income students

who do go on to college, the majority do

not complete a degree.8

Young people out o school and outo work have been characterized in vari-ous ways as disconnected, vulnerableor opportunity youth. In this report, wedescribe them as disconnected youth. Teterm encompasses diverse groups, rangingrom the 16-year-old who just dropped outo high school and is not working to the

21-year-old parent who has a high schooldegree and has been looking or work ora long time. Tey live at home in urban,suburban or rural communities; in ostercare; or in juvenile justice settings. Tey

include U.S. citizens and recently arrivedimmigrants. Many o these youth mustovercome challenges beyond their control,such as a childhood spent in poverty,living with a single parent, growing up ina household or neighborhood with ew rolemodels o working adults and attendinglow-perorming schools.9

Although the employment rate ellsignicantly or all young people, the datashow that those populations strugglingmost have less education, come rom low-

income amilies and belong to a racial orethnic minority. Fewer than 1 in 6 blackand Asian teenagers and 1 in 5 Hispanicteens were employed in 2011, with ratioseven worse or black and Asian males.10

In addition, youth employment ratesvary signicantly by state, rom 18 percentin Caliornia and Florida to 46 percent inNorth Dakota in 2011.

TH ASTING CONSQUNCS

Studies show that youth who miss out

on an early work experience are morelikely to endure later unemployment andless likely to achieve higher levels o careerattainment. Everyone needs opportunitiesin their teen years and young adulthoodto experience work and attain the job-readiness skil ls needed or long-termsuccess.11 Tose shut out o the labormarket or considerable periods, especially

To get a jo these days,you need experience,

ut you cant getexperience withouta jo. For youthrom disadvantagedackgrounds, thechallenges can eeven greater.

James A. Johns, who hires youth

as interns at The Johns Hopkins

University in partnership with Year Up


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in the early stages o their careers, havemarkedly reduced prospects or later con-nections to jobs.12

As a result, the severity o the currentdownturn and the jobless recovery are

likely to have deep and long-term economiceects on both society and young people,particularly disconnected youth. One studyestimates that or each 16-year-old out oschool and out o work, the uture lietimetaxpayer burden is $258,040. Te samestudy calculates that the total taxpayerburden or all out-o-school and out-o-

work youth ages 16 to 24 is $1.56 trillion.13

It is not surprising that commentators havebegun to speak with despair o a generationessentially cut o rom the normal ow

o economic progress at a pivotal pointin their lives.Part o the challenge or young people

seeking employment is the gap betweentheir skills and the qualications neededor available positions. Well-paying jobsbeing created in this economy increasinglyrequire more skills and experience and,thus, go not to youth, but to older workers

with better qualications. More thanthree-quarters o job openings in the nextdecade will require skills obtained beyondhigh school.14 A recent report rom the

McKinsey Global Institute ound thatdespite current high levels o unemploy-ment, 30 percent o American companieshad positions open or more than sixmonths that they could not ll. McKinseypredicts that by 2020, the United States

will all short o workers with collegeand graduate degrees by 1.5 million, but

will have a surplus o nearly 6 million

unemployed individuals who have notcompleted high school.15 America is losingground to other countries in producingmore educated and skilled workers.16 Tiscritical mismatch must be addressed now to

increase our nations uture competitiveness.One silver lining is that as prospects

or work have diminished, more youth arestaying in high school and enrolling incollege. School enrollment rates or teensages 16 to 19 rose rom 79 percent in 2000to 85 percent in 2011. For young adultsages 20 to 24, rates rose rom 31 percentto 38 percent.17 Yet while these rates haveimproved overall, Arican-American,Latino and Native-American young adultsare still substantially less likely to graduate

than their white and Asian peers.

18

Another modest bright spot is thatdespite the economic hardship, manyyoung people remain optimistic about theirutures. In large numbers, these youth saythey hope to complete college and moveon to successul careers. Tey recognize thechallenges they ace, yet seem resilient andully willing to ace them. aylor Frome,ounder o the YESPhilly youth center inPhiladelphia, sees this among the youngpeople she serves daily. Many tell her theydropped out o high school because they

lost interest in academics or got caughtghting. Yet, she nds them serious andmotivated about their coursework now.

Tey know that dropping out o schoolis not going to work or them, says Frome.Teyve developed some level o maturityand some insight about themselves. Wehave ew discipline problems; we have ewattitude problems.


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TH CHANG OFRCONNCTING YOUTH

Policymakers have ocused on discon-nected youth on and o or almost vedecades, starting with the Summer YouthEmployment Program, Job Corps and the

Neighborhood Youth Corps o the 1960s.More recently, the ederal government haslaunched demonstration programs ocusingon this population. Many o these eortshave been marked by heightened interest,visibility, commitment and innovationacross systems. Yet, these eorts have ailedto achieve the political constituency andunding necessary to build and sustain thesystems and partnerships needed.

Why? Te central answer is this: Recon-necting youth to education and employmentrequires a multiaceted approach. No one

system or sector can do it alone, and a rangeo organizations and agencies must play animportant role. But the various systems

workorce, K 12 schools, career andtechnical education, higher education, child

welare, juvenile justice and communitydevelopment oten have conictingpriorities, target populations and metricsor success. Despite rhetorical and legislativelanguage encouraging cross-disciplinaryand cross-system approaches, undingstreams and programs remain largely

categorical and ragmented.Consider the education eld. We knowthat education credentials and connectionto the labor market are crucial to economicsuccess. Te lietime earnings o a highschool dropout are estimated to be $400,000less than those o a high school graduate.19

Yet, the path or youth through educationsystems and to the workplace is oten limitedto a narrow route in a single system.

Disconnected young people otenlack the support or making the transitionrom high school to college. Even students

who earn a high school diploma or a GEDcan nd themselves mired in remedialprograms in community colleges. Teyburn through any nancial aid i theyare able to get it on classes that do notbring any college credit.

Many youth will orego college and seekto enter the workorce directly. But in the

workorce system, disconnected youth are

oten invisible participants. O the nearly$6 billion allocated in the 2012 ederalbudget or U.S. Department o Laboremployment programs,20 very little is tar-geted to serve out-o-school, disconnectedyouth. Public unding is generally rag-mented and oten aimed at adults, rather

than at young people building skills tomove into the workorce. Te $824 millionin ederal support or youth employmentprograms21 the principal resource ordisconnected youth has never come closeto meeting the need. High school dropoutscompose one-quarter o the participantsin youth employment programs in the sys-tem. But the limited dollars serve less than1 percent o the eligible population.22

We should be investing a larger portiono the available unding plus attractingnew sources o investment to reconnect

these youth to education and trainingpathways that prepare them or jobs andeconomic success. And we should aligngoals, eligibility criteria and perormancemeasures to improve efciency and eec-tiveness across various unding streams.

TH SOUTION: CRATINGUTI ATHS TO SUCCSS

Young people need multiple and exiblepathways to success that meet their varied

needs combining education, training andsupportive services, plus strong relationshipswith adults.23 Emerging research on braindevelopment has shown that adolescentsbrains are still developing through earlyadulthood. In their transition to adulthood,young people need positive work experiencesearly on to develop sel-management skillsto meet the day-to-day demands o amily,

work and community. For young peopleto thrive, especially those who are mostvulnerable, they need a network o resourcesto tap into, as well as supportive adult

relationships in their lives.24

Several local communities are pull-ing resources together across systems andsectors to get youth in high-poverty com-munities re-engaged and onto pathwaysto success, despite the limited ederalunds ocused specically on disconnectedyouth.25 Some states and school districtshave developed ways or school systems to

Reconnecting youth

to education andemployment requires amultiaceted approach.No one system or sectorcan do it alone, and arange o organizationsand agencies must playan important role.


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devote per-pupil expenditures to createcommunity-based and back-on-trackoptions that re-engage dropouts.26 ProjectU-urn in Philadelphia, a program sup-ported by the local school system, hascreated a customized pathway that allowsolder teens with ewer academic credits to

earn a high school diploma or GED.Yet, in the end, work itsel is the stron-

gest and most eective program. Earlyjob experience increases the likelihood omore work in the uture,27 as well as moreemployer-sponsored education.28 A con-tinuum o work experiences rom the teenyears onward including volunteer andcommunity service, summer and part-time

jobs, work-study experiences, internshipsand apprenticeships build job-readinessskills, knowledge and condence. Teseencompass not just workplace and nancial

skills, but also the broader sot skills otaking responsibility and initiative, work-ing in teams, ocusing on problem-solvingand learning how to contribute. Despite

the lack o jobs in the private sector, youthparticipating in school or other publicsystems including oster care and juvenile

justice should be provided with subsi-dized work and/or work-like activities suchas community service. Providers runningyouth programs should also be encouraged

to hire young people.

TAKING ACTION: HINGDISCONNCTD YOUTHGT bACK ON TRACK

Local and national conversations advanced by the White House Councilor Community Solutions are alreadyunder way about the depth and urgency othe youth unemployment crisis. Nationaladvocacy groups such as OpportunityNation, the Aspen Forum or Community

Solutions, the Forum or Youth Investment,Young Invincibles and the Campaignor Youth29 have made disconnectedyouth and the need or collective solutions

When it takes a high school di-

ploma to get a jo ipping urgers,

where does that leave the high

school dropout? Thats the ques-

tion the FGS bronx Youth Center

is striving to answer. The program

serves 800 young people in the

South bronx who are trying to con-

nect to school and work.

any o the students have

dropped out o high school andwant to earn a GD so that they

can get a jo. The youth center

helps them prepare or the equiva-

lency exam and, when necessary,

shore up underlying academic and

jo-readines s skil ls.

I the students go on to com-

munity college, then the youth

center provides an advisor who

can help them navigate the

system and connect them to study

sessions and tutors. The center

also directs students to susidized

internships, where they can

gain valuale experience workingat a usiness. hilanthropic and

government grants susidize their

pay, and the centers advisors

continue meeting with the young

workers and visiting them at

their workplace.

The youth center is one o

eight organizations that orm the

bronx Opportunity Network, which

connects young people to work

and postsecondary education. The

organizations provided intensive

academic programs in the summer

o 2011 and tracked the students

progress. O the 105 students whowent to community college that

all, 83 percent continued into the

spring semester. Collectively, they

earned 309 credits.

In the outh Bronx: A Pathway to uccess

CAS STUDY


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their top priorities. Te ollowing recom-mendations seek to build on this nationalmomentum and respond to the challengeo getting disconnected youth on tracktoward economic success. Tree principles

are implicit in these recommendations.First, the voices o young people must

be an essential part o the work goingorward. Where successully engaged such as on youth leadership boards in the15 sites o the Jim Casey Youth Opportu-nities Initiative, which helps oster youthtransition successully to adulthood andbuild nancial independence youngpeople have been valuable in guidingdecision makers about their amilies andthe needs in their communities. Young

people need to design what works orthem, and they can provide crucial adviceon how to do that eectively.

Second, the population data tell us thatblack, Hispanic, male and low-incomeyouth are experiencing the greatest difcultyin achieving early success in the workplace.Closing racial and economic disparitiesmust be a central ocus o strategies orbuilding youth economic success. o thatend, it is imperative that solutions such asthe Campaign or Black Male Achievementthat promotes education and skill building

or work, leadership development andresponsible atherhood30 are tailored todiverse youth populations and connectedto the systems and institutions that haveimpeded this success.

And nally, our work going orwardmust rely on the best possible inormation,data and evaluation. Continuing to buildevidence on what works will be essential.

Demonstration programs that ollowyouth rom high school through collegeand into the job market will help build apath to improving results, which is criticalto justiying expanded investments in

the most eective strategies.

1. For national policymakers: Developa national youth employment strategyTe problems acing young people discon-nected rom opportunity and nancialsuccess and the implications o thoseproblems or the nation as a whole callor an ambitious, ocused national eort.Te scope o the challenge demands aunied strategy that mobilizes publicand private institutions, secures adequate

unding and ensures eective, account-able programming. Such a nationalstrategy must encompass philanthropicorganizations, nonprots, governmentand especially business leaders, who needprepared and skilled workers most acutely.Drawing rom the lessons o previouseorts, the strategy should include policiesthat do the ollowing:

Promote adequate and exible undingthat ollows youth across systems, eventhose out o school;

Identiy and provide enhanced supportor disconnected youth populations,including young parents;

Link unding to more meaninguloutcomes or example, degree or credentialattainment, rather than enrollment;employment, rather than training so thatthe ocus is on accountability, perormanceand results, not process;

It used to e that highschool dropouts could

at least fnd entry-leveljos. Now, even thelocal cDonalds isrequiring a GD. Wehave a generation oyoung adults who aregrowing up withoutany work experience.

Courtney Hawkins, vice presidento the FGS br onx Youth Center


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Streamline systems, such as creatingmore efcient and accessible nancialaid programs;

Create incentives such as a youthpayroll tax credit to encourage more

businesses to hire young people and toinspire youth to stay engaged; and

rack outcomes across systems sothat programs can prioritize the needsand progress o disconnected youthin education and work.

With several major ederal agency pro-grams up or reauthorization, such as theCareer and echnical Education Act andthe Workorce Investment Act,31 now is thetime to work together to align goals and

create new youth incentives or skill build-ing and job creation in both the publicand private sectors. Additionally, broadernational policies related to reorming ourtax, budget and scal policy and promot-ing economic growth need to be careullyassessed in terms o their overall eect on

job creation and opportunities or youth.

2. For communities and unders:Align resources or collective results

At the community level, disconnectedyoung people have historically relied

on little more than a collection o publicand nonprot agencies, or stand-aloneprograms, all supported by a ragmentedarray o unding sources. Te result,not surprisingly, is a lack o coordinatedattention to the overall needs o a com-munitys population.

Te development o strong, youth-ocused collaborative eorts with multiple

public and private stakeholders at thecommunity level is crucial. Te lessons othe ederally sponsored Youth OpportunityGrant Initiative, as well as eorts in severalleading cities designed in collaboration

with mayors, provide clear guidance orhow such initiatives can succeed. Localeducation agencies and the workorcecommunity must partner to createsupport networks and avenues to helpyouth complete high school, build skillsand obtain jobs and careers. o build thesepartnerships, community organizationsneed to work with the private sector,as well as design programs that align theuse o unds, enrollment and eligibilitycriteria, perormance measures and

reporting requirements.

32

Several examples o local partnershipsprovide encouraging signs. Nationalorganizations such as Jobs or the Future,the National League o Cities and Centeror Law and Social Policy are helpinglocal communities to build cross-sectorpartnerships that are navigating suchcomplex public systems as child welareand juvenile justice. A number o citiesand states have created intermediariesor collaboratives Philadelphia YouthNetwork, San Diego Workorce Partner-

ship, JobsFirst NYC and the MaineYouth ransition Collaborative thatdemonstrate how such partnerships canalign goals and achieve them. Additionally,the newly launched Aspen Forumor Community Solutions will provide$5 million to $10 million in incentiveunds or cross-sector partnerships acrossthe country next year.


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FIGURE 2

Leave

HigH ScHooL

Leave

PoStSecondary

not ready

for coLLege

academic tutoring

LeaderSHiP deveLoPment

mentoring and navigation

coLLege PreP/duaL enroLLment

SuPPort of famiLy

financiaL and HouSing aid

career navigation

SociaL networkS

graduate

HigH ScHooL

earn coLLegedegree

re-engagement centerS

Back-on-track oPtionS

earn/Learn ProgramS

Youth who drop out ofhigh school can pursuealternative educationand career opportunities.

coLLege Bridge courSeS

financiaL adviSing

guidance counSeLing

With college prep or bridgeprograms, youth can betterprepare to be successful.

Multiple and exible pathwaysenable youth to enter theworkforce with the necessaryskills and education to obtainfull-time work and careers.

4-year or

community coLLege

earncredentiaLS

emPLoyer-BaSed

training

HigH ScHooL

careerS and income

coLLege ready

earn ged

or diPLoma

work-Study

on-tHe-joB training

Part-time joB

aPPrenticeSHiP

StackaBLe credentiaLS

joB readineSS

Summer joB

community Service

internSHiP

cuStomized training

Part-time joB

conServation corPS

enter PoStSecondary

exPerience

enter HigH ScHooL

Creating Multiple Pathways to Success

Young people need multiple and exible pathways to achieve

credentials, employment and economic success combining

work experience, education, training and supports.

work exPerience

Work experience can help youthbuild skills and can open upvaluable opportunities as youthprepare for work and a career.

Community supports areneeded to help youth get backon track; stay on track; andget help navigating school,

work and community.

community SuPPortS


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3. For practitioners: Scale up successulpathways to work and credentialsTrough careul evaluation, we know

what works in helping disconnectedyouth achieve economic success, romcareer academies to programs, such asthe National Guard Youth ChalleNGe. A

recent review o select program evaluationsindicates that students can earn GEDsand college credit as they achieve short-term income gains through programs thatprovide adult mentorship, plus a mix oacademic and occupational training, workexperience and supports.33 Tese initiativesoer rich lessons on building partnershipsat the local level that link workorce andeducation priorities. We have also learnedthe importance o providing a ull rangeo work experiences, rom communityservice and internships to apprenticeships

and year-round jobs.Corporation or National and Commu-

nity Service programs, such as AmeriCorps,could provide additional work opportunities

or disconnected youth through servicein communities across the country.Creating stronger attachment to thesurrounding community in work-relatedsettings is an eective way or youthto strengthen connections to work andearn a modest income.34

YouthBuild, Year Up and other initia-tives have shown success in combining

work, academic enrichment and trainingwith ongoing support rom coaches andmentors. Tough programs with multiplecomponents are general ly more costlyto operate, they add value by providingneeded supports and connections tohigh-quality skills training, higher wagesectors and careers.35

Successul adult workorce programscould also be expanded to serve youth.One national model or adults is the

National Fund or Workorce Solutions,which has built unding and workorcepartnerships in more than 30 communi-ties and partnered with businesses ready

Haydee Almanza didnt think she

would need a high school diploma

when she dropped out at age 18.

She didnt think shed need it when

she ound a steady jo at a os

Angeles clothing shop. It wasnt

until she had her frst child at

21 that the reality hit her. I

wanted my son to have a parent

with a high school diploma, says

Almanza, now 25. I wanted tofnish. I wanted him to know

what was possile.

Almanza looked into several

adult education programs, ut

ound they cost too much money or

made it hard to keep her jo. Her

amily didnt elieve she was seri-

ous and wouldnt support her. Then

she ound a rochure or the os

Angeles Conservation Corps.

The program provides academic

support, as well as employment

opportunities, or young people ages18 to 24. Students in the Young Adult

Corps take eight-week locks o

high school classes, alternating with

eight-week locks o paid, on-the-jo

training. Almanza earned her high

school diploma in our months and

is now in her second year at a com-

munity college. She hopes to transer

those credits to a our-year college

and study fne arts or sociology.

Almanza, who now has two

children, also works part time or

the Conservation Corps, helpingto recruit students like hersel

into the program.

In os Angeles: A Young om in chool and Working

CAS STUDY


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to hire. Tese sites could expand to serveyouth by oering new earn/learn initia-tives in specic industry sectors. Employersalready involved in these partnershipsmight be encouraged to expand their

investments to serve young people and helpaddress skill shortages that will emerge asolder workers retire.

Importantly, postsecondary educationis now becoming more ocused on workand careers. Career pathway programsthat provide not only college credentials,but also immediate connections to workexperience are seeing promising results.Innovative community colleges andother cross-sector collaboratives have

widened the range o training and educa-

tion in partnerships with community-basedprograms, especially with more vulnerablepopulations, such as youth in ostercare. Tese innovative partnerships include

Washington states I-BES Program,which combines two teachers in theclassroom one teaching basic academicskills and the other, industry skills sothat students can advance in school anda career at the same time. Other examplesinclude Jobs or the Futures Back onrack initiative, the Gateway to CollegeNational Network and the National

Youth Employment Coalitions post-secondary initiatives.

We also need to consider innovativenancing strategies to support these keypriorities. Minnesota, or example, passedthe 2011 Minnesota Pay-or-Perormance

Act and authorizes $10 million in stateappropriation bonds to und humanservices that achieve outcomes or the

people served and a positive return oninvestment. Te bonds are purchased bynancial investors seeking a monetaryreturn as well as social investors seekinga positive social impact.36

With continued evidence on whatworks or youth, now is the time to scaleup programs and practices that providesuccessul pathways to build skills, get

jobs and begin careers.

4. For pulic and private investors:Support enterprise development thatproduces new josInnovative approaches to job creationare essential in a time o slow job growthand government unding constraints.

wo options to explore are social enterpriseand microenterprise. Social enterprisesare organizations o any size that ocus oncreating jobs and generating revenue. Teyoten leverage private resources and publicsubsidies to create jobs or people who havedifculty in nding work. Microenterprisesare very small businesses that generallyhave ewer than ve employees. Teseenterprises have historically beneted thosepopulations who have not been served bybanks and traditional business assistanceprograms, such as minority and women

business owners.Social enterprises oten enter into

commercial or government contracts or aee, in areas that range rom landscapingand neighborhood cleanup to acilitiesmanagement and retail sales. Social enter-prises also support their employees toensure that they develop a ull range o

workplace, personal and nancial skills.

With continued

evidence on whatworks or youth, nowis the time to scaleup programs andpractices that providesuccessul pathwaysto uild skills, get josand egin careers.


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One o the largest organizationsocused on employment social enterpriseis REDF, a nonprot ounded by GeorgeRoberts o KKR. During the past 15 years,San Francisco-based REDF has built

social enterprises that have generated $120million in revenues and 6,700 jobs. Morethan hal o those hired were Arican

American or Latino, and about 60 percentwere under age 25.37

Other well-known social enterpriseexamples include Goodwill, which has165 independent, community-based orga-nizations in the United States and Canadathat run more than 2,600 retail stores

with donated goods. Goodwill earnedretail sa les o $2.6 billion in 2011, which

helped provide employment and skillstraining programs or 4.2 million peopleand job placements or 189,000.38

A ew social enterprises ocus solelyon youth workers. New Avenues or Youth,

which owns and operates ice cream Part-nerShops, works with Ben & Jerrys inPortland, Oregon. Youth Venture inboth New England and the San Franciscoarea has created teams o low-incomeyoung people and provided them with theresources and mentors to lead their ownsocial ventures. Tis momentum builds on

the entrepreneurship classes and competi-tions oered at many high schools andcolleges across the country.

Microenterprises, on the other hand,have been an alternative path or individu-als to gain work and business experienceand a way to grow household income.In 2010, the Aspen Institute's FIELDestimated that practitioners serving these

very small business owners (called micro-enterprise development organizations,or MDOs) had more than 350,000 par-ticipants. On average, these owners were

women, racial or ethnic minorities and

workers with household incomes below80 percent o the areas median income. Inaddition, the businesses achieved a positivereturn on investment and appeared to bea cost-eective way to both create new jobsand move people into the labor market,especially those who have aced barriersto entering the traditional workorce.

Enterprise development could openup new avenues o public and privateinvestment to help stimulate jobcreation especially or young people.

5. For employers: Create careerpathways and jos or young peopleIn many past initiatives, the role o theprivate sector in youth policy has beenmore symbolic than substantive. Address-ing the challenges at hand skills,technology and globalization willrequire a vastly dierent scope o involve-ment on the part o business leadersand expanded public policy incentives.Expanding employment opportunities oryouth requires business partners willing

to develop talent and skills pipelinesor their competitive advantage.39 Busi-nesses can build on the work o CorporateVoices or Working Families, Year Upand others,40 which are working to engageemployers to help young people obtainskills and employment. Tese eortsbenet businesses through employeeretention, diversity and a talent pipeline.

Addressing the challenges

at hand skills,technology andgloalization willrequire a vastly dierentscope o involvementon the part o usinessleaders and expandedpulic policy incentives.


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Tat has been the experience at UPS,which created the innovative MetropolitanCollege program in 1998 to bring new

workers into Worldport, its internationalair hub in Louisville, Kentucky. TeMetropolitan College program pays 100percent o the in-state, undergraduate

tuition rate at the University o Louisvi lleor Jeerson Community and echnicalCollege and $65 per class or textbooks.UPS, which receives a 50 percent state taxcredit or these expenses, unds the ullcost o academic bonuses or students whoreach certain milestones in their education.

Te city o Louisville and the collegescontribute unds or academic counselingand workorce development resources.Tis is good or students, but it alsohelps us retain a reliable workorce opart-time workers, said Kelli Stamper,

workorce development manager at theLouisville site. Workers involved in theprogram stay an average 145 weeks, com-pared to eight weeks or workers beorethe program began.

6. For policymakers and practitioners:Take a two-generation approach

At least one-th o Americas disconnectedyouth, or about 1.4 million young people,have at least one child living at home.Tis parenthood rate or disconnected

youth 21 percent is twice the rate orall young people ages 16 to 24. Addition-ally, o the 2 million children growing up

with these young parents, 1.1 million livein households without a caregiver who isemployed and 961,000 are in households

with incomes less than $20,000 per year.41

We know rom research that low amilyincome and the instability and stress thatcome with growing up poor can havelasting eects on the way children think,learn and adapt. We also know that sup-portive child-ocused initiatives can help

mitigate the negative consequences orchildren who grow up in poverty, includingservices provided to parents and childrenin the home or in early care settings.42However, sites rarely bundle services andsupport or parents and children suchas those or parents that ocus on buildingskills, obtaining a job and achievingcredentials and those or children that

provide access to in-home visits or earlychildhood programs.

We need to develop two-generationmodels that oster economic stability orthe parents and positive early childhooddevelopment or their children. A parentand young child can benet rom policies

such as those that help parents navigatethe complexities o amily, work and com-munity and provide children with accessto high-quality early care and educationassistance. We dont want parents to haveto choose between going to school or workand caring or their child.

Te Annie E. Casey Foundation andprograms such as the Aspen Institutes

Ascend are working to help advance theeld o two-generation interventions. Weneed to promote policy reorms that helporganizations align resources and goals or

parents and children in the same amilyand strengthen amilies overall.

CONCUSION

I ever there were a time to undertake asustained eort to strengthen our systemsand create new opportunities or youngpeople whose needs have been neglected, itis now. Te world is changing. Te globaleconomy demands more highly skilled

workers, and advancing technology only

raises the stakes. Yet our education andworkorce systems, although improving,are not keeping pace.

We must transorm our response tomeet the needs o young people. A moreexible, ocused and nimble approach isrequired now. More than ever, our eortsmust dovetail with the needs o employers

who must respond to the emerging econ-omy with the best prepared talent possible.

Tere should be no illusion about thechallenge. It will require sustained eort,new and redirected resources and the widest

range o dedicated stakeholders public,private, philanthropic to make it work.Tankul ly, there is growing momentumor action. Our nation can no longer aordto orsake the talents o our youth i wehope to be economically competitive in theglobal economy and i we want to ensurethat all young people have access to the

American dream o economic prosperity.


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1. Sum, A. (2011, July). Te deterio-ration in the labor market ortunes o

Americas young adults during the lostdecade o 20002010(Policy BrieNo. 1). Washington, DC: Chi ldrensDeense Fund.

2. Sum, A. (2012, June). Analyseso the 20002011 Current Popula-tion Survey employment/populationand out-o-school/out-o-work data.Boston, MA: Northeastern Univer-sity, Center or Labor Market Studies.

3. Ibid.

4. Population Reerence Bureau.(2012, October). Analysis o the 2011Current Population Survey discon-nected parent data. Washington,DC: Author.

5. Economic Policy Institute.Te state o working America:Te great recession. Washington,DC: Author. Retrieved romhttp://stateoworkingamerica.org/great-recession

6. Holzer, H. J., & Lerman,R. I. (2007, November).Americas

orgotten middle-skill jobs: Educationand training requirements in thenext decade and beyond. Washington,

DC: Workorce Alliance.

7. Stillwell, R., Sable, J., & Plotts, C.(2011, May). Public school graduatesand dropouts rom the common coreo data: School year 200809(ReportNo. NCES 2011-312). Washington,DC: U.S. Department o Education,National Center or EducationStatistics.

8. Institute or Higher EducationPolicy. (2010, June).A portrait olow-income young adults in education.

Washington, DC: Author.Retrieved rom www.ihep.org/assets/fles/publications/m-r/(brie)_a_portrait_o_low-income_young_adults_in_education.pd

9. Hair, E. C., et al. (2009, July).Youth who are disconnected andthose who then reconnect: Assessingthe inuence o amily, programs, peersand communities(research brie).

Washington, DC: Child Trends.

10. Sum, A. (2012, June). Analyseso the 20002011 Current Popula-tion Survey employment/populationdata. Boston, MA: NortheasternUniversity, Center or LaborMarket Studies.

11. A recent longitudinal reportby the Bureau o Labor Statisticsound that between 1998 and 2009,individuals ages 18 to 24 had an

average o 5.4 jobs. U.S. Departmento Labor, Bureau o Labor Statistics.(2012, February 9).Americas youngadults at 24: School enrollment,training and employment transitionsbetween ages 23 and 24(newsrelease). Washington, DC: Author.Retrieved rom www.bls.gov/news.release/pd/nlsyth.pd

12. Sum, A., Khatiwada, I., &McHugh, W. (2012, June). Tein-high school work experiences oBoston public school graduates romthe class o 2009 and their impactson their early post-high school employ-ment and disconnection status. Reportprepared or the Boston Private

Industry Council.13. Belfeld, C. R., Levin, H. M.,& Rosen, R. (2012, January). Teeconomic value o opportunity youth.

Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises.

14. Holzer, H. J., & Lerman, R. I.(2007, November).

15. Manyika, J., et al. (2012,March). Help wanted: Te utureo work in advanced economies(discussion paper). Washington,DC: McKinsey Global Institute.

16. Harvard Graduate Schoolo Education. (2011, February).Pathways to prosperity: Meeting thechallenge o preparing young Ameri-cans or the 21st century. Cambridge,MA: Author. Retrieved rom

www.gse.harva rd.edu/news_events/eatures/2011/Pathways_to_Prosperity_Feb2011.pd

17. Sum, A. (2012, June). Analyseso the 20002011 Current Popula-tion Survey education enrollmentdata. Boston: MA: NortheasternUniversity, Center or LaborMarket Studies.

18. National Center or EducationStatistics. (2012, October). Enroll-ment in postsecondary institutions,fscal year, 2011; fnancial statistics,fscal yea r 2011; and graduation

rates, selected cohorts, 20032008.Retrieved rom http://nces.ed.gov

19. Weber, L. (2011, November 7).Among minorities, a new waveo disconnected youth.Te WallStreet Journal. Retrieved romhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203733504577022111289164768.html

20. National Youth EmploymentCoalition. (2012, August). Tableo youth employment/developmentrelated programs, fnal fscal year2012 enacted appropriations.Retrieved rom www.nyec.org

21. Ibid.

22. Harris, L., & Bird, K . (2012,July). Comments to U.S. Department

o Education Request or Inormationon strategies or improving outcomesor disconnected youth. Washington,DC: CLASP. Retrieved rom www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/fles/CLASPCommentstoUSDOE-2012OVAE0014.Final-2.pd

23. Harris, L . (2012, March 31).Reconnecting our youth, a scan o

policy opportunities to improveeconomic success or vulnerable youth,

or the Annie E. Casey Foundation.Washington, DC: CLASP.

24. Jim Casey Youth OpportunitiesInitiative. (2011). Te adolescentbrain: New research and its implica-tions or young people t ransitioning

rom oster care. St. Louis, MO:Author. Retrieved rom www.jimcaseyyouth.org/sites/deault/fles/The%20Adolescent%20Brain_prepress_proo%5B1%5D.pd

25. Notably, Baltimore, Boston,Hartord, Philadelphia, Los Angeles,San Diego and Kansas City havebeen successul in sustaining andexpanding the partnerships acrossederal agencies among the work-orce and K 12, postsecondar y,oster care and juvenile justicepopulations, to put more vulnerableyouth back on track.

26. Examples include Oregon,Washington, New Yorks transerschools, Philadelphias multiplepathways, Chicagos alternativeschools and sites within the Gatewayto College National Network.

27. Sum, A., Khatiwada, I., &McHugh, W. (2012, June).

28. Case studies romCorporate Voices or WorkingFamilies. Retrieved rom

www.cvworkingamilie s.org

29. The Campaign or Youth bringstogether national and local policyleaders to promote actionablesolutions or youth who are out oschool, out o work and not con-

nected to the mainstream. Retrievedrom www.campaignoryouth.org

30. The Campaign or Black MaleAchievement. Retrieved rom www.opensocietyoundations.org/grants/campaign-black-male-achievement

31. The Carl D. Perkins Career andTechnical Education Act (CTE), the

Workorce Investment Act (WIA)and the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act (ESEA).

32. Hastings, S., Tsoi-A-Fatt, R., &Harris, L. (2010, February). Build-ing a comprehensive youth employmentdelivery system: Examples o efective

practice. Washington, DC: CLASP.

33. The evaluations and researchmentioned here ocus on the worko three organizations: MDRC(mdrc.org), CLASP (clasp.org)and National Youth EmploymentCoalition (nyec.org/pepnet).

34. Philanthropy or Active CivicEngagement (2010, November).Civic pathways out o poverty andinto opportunity. Retrieved rom

www.paceunders.org/publications/CivicPathwaysPaper.pd

35. Roder, A., & Elliot t, M.(2011,April).A promising start: Year Upsinitial impacts on low-income youngadults careers. New York, NY:

Economic Mobility Corporation.

36. Invest in Outcomes is a site thatpresents detailed inormation onthis topic. Retrieved rom http://investinoutcomes.org

37. The Roberts EnterpriseDevelopment Fund (REDF). (2011).Social Impact Report 2010. SanFrancisco, CA: Author. Retrievedrom www.red.org/learn-rom-red/publications/1019

38. Goodwill Industries Inter-national, Inc. Retrieved rom

www.goodwill.org

39. Manyika, J., et al. (2012, March).

40. Other employers that havedeveloped pathway programsinclude Southwire, Gap Inc. andCVS Caremark. Employers fll arange o essential roles, as describedin case studies rom CorporateVoices or Working Families(www.cvworkingamilies.org).

41. Population Reerence Bureau.(2012, October). Analysis o the2011 Current Population Surveydisconnected parent data.

Washington, DC: Author.

42. Annie E. Casey Foundation(2012, May). Exploring two-generationstrategies and two-generation results:

Helping vulnerable children achieve suc-cess that lasts. Baltimore, MD: Author.

NDNOTS


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Research and writing assistance

or this report was provided y

Tom Smith, an independent consultant;

Andy Sum o Northeastern University;inda Harris o CAS; and hyllis

Jordan and Tom Waldron o The

Hatcher Group. We thank them or

their expertise and tireless eorts.

ermission to copy, disseminate or otherwiseuse inormation rom this policy report is grantedas long as appropriate acknowledgment is given.

Designed y KINTIKwww.kinetikcom.com

hotography ichael Cunningham,bill Denison, Susie Fitzhugh, Jason iczek,Joel Salcido, Cynthia Samro-Rier andssdras Suarez/S hotography

rinted and ound in the United States o Americaon recycled paper using soy-ased inks.

KIDS COUNT is a registered trademarko the Annie . Casey Foundation.

2012 The Annie . Casey Foundation701 St. aul Streetbaltimore, D 21202www.aec.org

ACKNOWDGNTS


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The Annie E. Casey Foundation

01 St. Paul Streetaltimore, MD 2120210.547.6600

www.aec.org

Youth and Work

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Transcript of Youth and Work