What Works in Youth Employment and Training:
A Discussion with the 1998 PEPNet Awardees

A Forum — September 10, 1998

The Promising and Effective Practices Network (PEPNet) is a project of the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) that aims to identify and promote effective practices for youth employment/development programs.  According to Howard Knoll, Director of Youth Services, Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center and Chair of the PEPNet Working Group, PEPNet was founded in 1995 to spread the message that investment in youth matters and works.  Each year, a panel of experts on youth employment and development review applications from initiatives that seek PEPNet recognition.  The applications are evaluated according to five broad categories: purpose and activities, quality management, youth development, workforce development and evidence of success.  Successful initiatives must:  (1) have well-defined and clear goals with a coherent set of activities to attain these goals; (2) have sound management practices, supported by engaged leadership and committed staff; (3) rely on youth development principles to shape program activities and outcomes; (4) prepare youth for the workforce and emphasize the connection between learning and work; and (5) make effective use of evaluation for continuous improvement.  Edward DeJesus, PEPNet Director, observes that, more than recognizing programs, PEPNet aims to identify specific practices of successful initiatives that may be used as models for other youth programs.  PEPNet disseminates the information from these initiatives through publications, a website and participation in national conferences.  In addition, programs may use PEPNet’s Self Assessment, a companion to the Application, to improve operations.
 
In its third year, PEPNet received more than 500 requests for the PEPNet Self Assessment and Application.  The Review Board, composed of practitioners, researchers and policymakers evaluated the applications and selected eleven for recognition.  PEPNet 1998 awardees are: Cassadaga Job Corps Center (Cassadaga, NY); Columbus Works, Inc (Columbus, OH); Crispus Attucks YouthBuild (York, PA); Delaware Valley Job Corps Center (Callicoon, NY); Mayor’s Youth Employment and Education Program (San Francisco, CA); MY TURN - Massachusetts Youth Teenage Unemployment Reduction Network, Inc. (Brockton, MA); Pittsburgh Job Corps Center (Pittsburgh, PA); Project Future (Philadelphia, PA); Summer Works! Project-Based Learning and Career Development (Bakersfield, CA); Texaco Shadow Program (Bakersfield, CA); and YouthBuild Detroit (Detroit, MI).  The 1998 Awardees join 32 other programs which have been recognized by PEPNet since 1996.

The majority of the youth served by the 1998 Awardees come from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and have multiple needs, such as substance abuse treatment/education, social skills development, additional education and vocational training.  Some programs, like Columbus Works, Inc., serve older youth, aged 18-25, who are out of school.  Others, such as the Mayor’s Youth Employment and Education Program, focus on in-school youth, including youth with disabilities.

At a forum on Capitol Hill, a panel of program directors and young people representing each of the Awardees responded as follows to questions on strategies used by the programs to attain excellence centered on the five broad categories:

1. How is customer satisfaction used to improve operations?  Awardees agreed that youth must be involved in the evaluation and daily operation of programs.  They said it is also important to maintain flexibility and keep an open dialogue with all those involved, including participants, schools, employers and staff.
2. How should funding be diversified to ensure continuous operation?  Building partnerships with employers and local governments is the most important strategy.  Employers and funders need to know that their involvement represents a cost-saving strategy which results in a better prepared workforce.  Programs also need to befriend legislators and convince them to invest in local youth.  Programs need to stay ahead of the “funding curve”--making sure they have diverse sources of funding so cuts will not wipe them out.
3. What is a caring and positive adult and how can these individuals be connected to  participants?  A caring adult listens to, understands and befriends young people, while maintaining high expectations and pushing them to excel.  All awardees emphasized the need to connect participants with a team, rather than one specific staff member, to ensure continuity.
4. How can successful workforce development be provided?  It is important to connect learning with vocational training.  For example, a program cannot just limit itself to teaching participants how to paint.  Participants need to know how to measure square footage, calculate area, obtain the best value for the material, estimate costs, prepare time sheets, sell their work and much more.  They also need to know how to communicate effectively to impress the employer.  Awardees  underlined the importance of “soft skills” such as appearance, communication, etc.
5. What are the most meaningful demonstrations of program impact?  For each dollar invested in Job Corps, the localities receive $1.43 back in productivity and taxes.  However, as the Awardees agreed, it is difficult to quantify success.  For many program participants, success is as simple as being able to wake up every morning to go to work.  For others, success requires a total reshaping of a youth’s life, such as leaving gangs and drugs or paying restitution to society through the juvenile justice system.  This variety of needs--and how to measure program impacts on these needs--represents the greatest challenge for youth employment and development initiatives.  Tips on measuring impacts included working with a local college to evaluate a program at no cost; and having evaluation built into funding contracts--with designated dollar amounts.
6. What are additional elements of program success?  Programs must be reality-based, create educational opportunities and maintain long-term contact with participants.  More than training and employment, the programs need to teach participants how to live.  In a successful program, youth come with a heavy baggage of problems and leave as a well-rounded person.
7. How can schools improve to serve young people better?  Awardees agreed that schools should reduce class size and add more teachers so teachers can interact more with students, extend the school day and year or provide after school activities and have skill training available.
8. How can local governments help other than by providing funding? The main problem Awardees find is that governments expect programs to be a quick fix.  Cities need to understand that the more effective programs take time to develop, need to work with young people over many months or years and need to follow-up on participants for an extended post-program period.  Awardees recommended that cities be creative in providing support services that are key to success (e.g. transportation, child care); they can help bring collaborators like school districts to the table; and mayors can utilize the expertise of youth programs for advice and guidance.

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