Young Adult Employment Training

Briefs

07/17/09

The Means to Grow Up: The Role of Apprenticeship in Preparing All Youth for College and Career Success: Preparing all youth for college and career success is a top priority, and a great deal of attention has been focused on the need for rigorous academic skills to ensure success. However, in order to ensure all youth have the skills to access and succeed not only in postsecondary education but in their careers as well, it is important to consider other types of skills that young people need, including problem-solving, critical thinking, employability, communication, collaboration, and personal responsibility. One way to help young people develop these skills is to provide opportunities outside of school to develop new knowledge and skills, experience real work, and interact with professionals. This forum will highlight how apprenticeships can engage high school students through hands-on learning and unique experiences under the guidance of skilled adults. The forum is based on the new book, The Means to Grow Up: Reinventing Apprenticeship as a Developmental Support in Adolescence, by Robert Halpern, which describes qualitative studies of apprenticeship programs for high school students, and will showcase two types of apprenticeship programs in the U.S. Robert Halpern, Professor, Erikson Institute for Graduate Study in Child Development (IL), Darla Burton, Regional Coordinator, Youth Apprenticeship Program, Southwest Wisconsin Consortium (WI),  Diane Postoian, Learning through Interest Partnership Coordinator, The Met Center (A Big Picture School) (RI), Jinel Brito, 2009 Graduate of The Met School (A Big Picture School) (RI).  (Forum)  RSVP HERE!

11/20/2006

 

Academic and Workforce Development Programs for Court-Involved Youth, A Youth Development Approach with Thomas M. Buzbee, Executive Director, Gulf Coast Trades Center and Joe McLaughlin, Court Employment Project Director, CASES (forum BRIEF)

09/08/2006

Dropout Reconnection as a Local Economic Development Strategy with Andrew O. Moore, Senior Consultant, National League of Cities, Deborah Feldman, Administrator, Montgomery County, Ohio, and Karen Sitnick, Director, Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, Baltimore, Maryland. (Forum brief)

1/13/2006  

Charter Schools Providing Academically-Based Workforce Development for Out-of-School Youth: with Ann Higdon, president and founder of Improved Solutions of Urban Systems ISUS and Phil Matero, Deputy Director of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. (Forum brief)

 

10/21/2005

Coordinated Efforts Focused on Workforce Development for Out of School Youth in Portland with Carole Smith, Director of Alternative Education, Portland Public Schools, Linda Huddle, Director, Alternative Programs/PCC Prep, Portland Community College, and Andrew Mason, Executive Director, Open Meadow Alternative Schools (forum Brief)

3/18/2005

The Paradox of Rising Teen Joblessness in An Expanding Labor Market, featuring Professor Andrew Sum, Director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University.  Professor Sum presented research aimed at increasing awareness of effective career preparation and workforce development policy and programs for disadvantaged youth and young adults. (Forum Brief)

3/5/2004

Follow-up Study of 900 YouthBuild Graduates, with Andrew Hahn, Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University; Dorothy Stoneman, YouthBuild USA; and several graduates of YouthBuild. (Forum Brief)

4/25/2003

Keeping America Competitive: How a Talent Shortage Threatens U.S. Manufacturing, with Phyllis Eisen, National Association of Manufacturers, Tom Heywood, Pikes Peak Community College, and Rito Martinez, Intel Corporation. (Forum Brief)

4/11/2003

Youth Development Policy in South Africa and its Relevance to the U.S., with Alan Zuckerman, former Executive Director, National Youth Employment Coalition. (Forum Brief)

9/12/2002

Thriving Over Time: Youth Employment Programs with a Track Record of Success--A Discussion with the PEPNet 2002 Renewal Awardees, American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), with the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), recognizes PEPNet award-winning programs, exemplars of effective practice in the youth employment and youth development fields. (Forum Brief)

4/19/2002

The YouthBuild Welfare to Work Program: Its Outcomes and Policy Implications, with Anne Wright, YouthBuild USA, Yvonne Thomas, YouthBuild WTW Program Director, Atlanta, and Carla Hanns, a former trainee from Atlanta. (Forum Brief)

2/1/2002

National Skill Standards Board: Integrating Manufacturing Skill Standards into Education and Training Programs, with Edie West, Executive Director of the National Skill Standards Board; Dr. Kenneth Breeden, Comissioner of the Georgia Dept. of Technical and Adult Education; and Laura Vandiver, from Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation. (Forum Brief)

1/17/2002

Youth Opportunity Grants: Experiences and Lessons from the Sites, with Lorenzo D. Harrison, Administrator of the Office of Youth Services in the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor; Vincent Gray, Executive Director of Covenant House; Toyce Newton, Executive Director of the Arkansas-based Phoenix Youth and Family Services, Inc.; and Robert Sainz, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Youth Opportunity Movement. (Forum Brief)

12/13/2001

Youth Employment Programming that Works: A Discussion with the PEPNet 2001 Awardees facilitated Paul Masiarchin, Project Manager for PEPNet, and Howard Knoll, U.S. Dept of Labor. (Forum Brief)

11/5/2001

Young Adults and Welfare-to-Work: Lessons for the US from the UK and Australia, with Andrew Moore, Vice President, Public and Global Affairs, National Association of Service and Conservation Corps, and Dan Finn, Reader in Social Policy at University of Portsmouth, England. (Forum Brief)

9/22/2000

Youth Employment Programming that Works: A Discussion with the PEPNet 2000 Awardees, with Paul Masiarchin, NYEC Program Associate; Kate O'Sullivan, Director of PEPNet for NYEC; and Howard Knoll, Chair of the PEPNet Working Group. (Forum Brief)

2/19/1999

The New Economy, with Robert Atkinson, Progressive Policy Institute. (Forum Brief)

9/10/1998

What Works in Youth Employment and Training: A Discussion with the 1998 PEPNet Awardees, with staff of the National Youth Employment Coalition. (Forum Brief)

10/21/1997

What Works in Youth Employment and Training: A Discussion with the 1997 PEPNet Initiatives, with staff of the National Youth Employment Coalition. (Forum Brief)

9/5/1997

The Low Wage Labor Market: Problems and Solutions, with Jared Bernstein, John Schmitt and Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute. (Forum Brief)

6/27/1997

Work-Based Learning and Welfare Programs: Lessons from School-to-Work and Welfare-to-Work Efforts, with Richard Kazis and Judy Combes Taylor, Jobs for the Future; Peggy Powell, Home Care Associates Training Institute; Thomas Applegate, State of Ohio Office of Vocational Education; and Julie Strawn, Center for Law and Social Policy. (Forum Brief)

11/1/1996

Summer Youth Employment and Training: Lessons from the 1994 National Evaluation, with Susan Curnan, Executive Director of the Brandeis University Center for Human Resources, and Pam Smith, Arizona Call-A-Teen, SYETP program administrator and Summer Beginnings Charter Member of the National Work and Learning Network. (Forum Brief)

1/20/1995

Integrating Youth Employment and Youth Development: Implications for Job Training Consolidation and Youth Policy Reform, with Erik Payne Butler, Executive Director, Bay State Skills Corporation, Boston, MA; Joan Wills, Director, Center for Workforce Development, Institute for Educational Leadership; Russell Owens, Director of Governmental Relations, OIC's of America. (Forum Brief)

3/25/1994

Tools for Transition: Resources and Technologies to Help Guide Youth from School to Careers, with staff of the American College Testing, Educational Testing Service and National Occupational Information Coordinating Council. (Forum Brief)

11/30/1994

Behavioral Skills in the Workplace: What Do Young People Need to Succeed? with Peter Cappelli, National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce and panel. (Forum Brief)

Trip Reports

12/2/2002 -
12/3/2002

Career Preparation and Workforce Development in Springfield, MA, and Hartford, CT with visits to Springfield Technical Community College, the Hartford Workforce Investment Board, Hartford YO program, Connecticut Business and Industry Association and other youth and career education programs. (Trip Report)

 

Publications

View PDF	Learning Around the Clock:  Benefits of Expanded Learning Opportunities for Older Youth identifies and describes Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs) that improve academic performance, college and career preparation, social and emotional development, and health and wellness outcomes for underserved youth. The term “expanded learning opportunity” is used to describe the range of programs and activities available to young people that occur beyond regular school hours. ELOs include traditional afterschool activities with an academic focus, but also incorporate activities such as internships with employers, independent study in alternative settings, classes on college campuses for high school students, and wraparound support services. Expanded learning opportunities are an effective use of resources to prepare youth for the complexities that face them as adults. The underlying message drawn from our review of the evaluations is that expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) work. ELOs deserve ongoing and expanded support and to be fully viewed as a major contributor in the preparation of youth for postsecondary education, careers, and civic engagement. Learning Around the Clock:  Benefits of Expanded Learning Opportunities for Older Youth is an easy-to-read guide designed to help national, state, and local policymakers and practitioners better understand the wide-array of benefits ELOs provide and the programmatic and structural elements of successful ELOs.  Included in Learning Around the Clock:  Benefits of Expanded Learning Opportunities for Older Youth are profiles of 22 ELOs that have proven results for youth across a range of indicators.
View PDF	Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth This report documents what committed educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the country are doing to reconnect out-of-school youth to the social and economic mainstream. It provides background on the serious high school dropout problem and describes in-depth what twelve communities are doing to reconnect dropouts to education and employment training. It also includes descriptions of major national program models serving out-of-school youth.
View PDF	Shaping the Future of American Youth: Youth Policy in the 21st Century In that spirit, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) decided to celebrate its Tenth Anniversary in January 2003 by inviting 14 of America’s leading experts on youth affairs analysts, activists, advocates, institution-builders to write the essays and commentaries in this volume. These leaders accepted our challenge to step back from the press of their fully committed working days and reconsider the development of their particular field of youth affairs over the past decade, take a leap into the future, and sketch their personal hopes and visions for a positive and creative future for American youth in the decade ahead.
View PDF WORD DOCument	Summary of the WIA Learning Exchange for Youth Systems WIA Learning Exchange for Youth Systems Supplemental In April of 2002, the General Accounting Office (GAO) submitted a report to Congress outlining the challenges faced by state and local Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth program implementers. To address these challenges a series of Peer Learning Exchanges (LEX) were developed with three goals in mind. First, the Exchanges focused on three areas of youth programming that needed improvement according to the GAO report: 1) recruitment and retention of out-of-school youth; 2) strengthening the connection among WIA partners, particularly between the education and the workforce communities; and 3) documenting competencies and gains through appropriate assessments and credentials. Second, the Exchanges identified and promoted promising practices among local and state workforce investment areas with regard to successful implementation of youth-related WIA. Finally, the Exchanges aimed to become a model for the delivery of system-wide technical assistance by incorporating visits to exemplary WIA sites, communicating practical experiences, and fostering learning networks. These two reports provide a summary and key findings from the Learning Exchanges. Available online only.