Center for Employment and Training and YouthBuild
Baltimore, MD
An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — May 19, 1995
This Forum field trip provided a unique opportunity to observe and interact with participants and staff from two very different and highly regarded employment and training models currently being replicated in other cities.
Center for Employment and Training (CET)
The CET model, replicated by the private nonprofit Center for Employment Training headquartered in San Jose, California, has attracted national attention due to the higher job placement and earnings of graduates compared to other federally-supported job training programs. A Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) study of federal job-training programs funded under the Job Training Partnership Act found CET graduates increased their earnings substantially--more than $6,700 over four years, compared with an average of $214 across all other programs studied.
CET provides an open entry/open exit, work-based training model. There are no entrance requirements. The model integrates basic and human development skills and uses skills training as the context for learning. Participation begins at age 18.
The program is employer-driven. Employers determine the standards for training, audit training courses to determine their accuracy, and participate on technical advisory committees and industrial advisory councils. Skills offerings are closely tied to the labor needs of the immediate area (labor market surveys are undertaken to identify jobs that pay more than $7/hour), instructors are hired directly from the industry on which the skills training is based, and participants do not receive certificates of completion until they are placed in a job. CET Baltimore currently offers skills training in four areas: automated office work, shipping and receiving, medical assistant, and building maintenance. The plan is to add one skill area each year up to 10 skill areas.
This is a tuition-based program determined by the average time for program completion of specific skills areas documented in the previous year. The average training period is 7 hours/day, 5 days per week for 4 or 5 months; however, program completion time varies by skill area, e.g., 24 weeks for shipping and handling; 32 weeks for medical assistants.
According to CET staff, 75 percent of individuals completing training have been placed in jobs. The program currently has 150 training slots. All staff provide counseling and hands-on instruction is offered. Retraining (within the same skill area) is provided to past participants who are laid off or lose their jobs. CET is accredited for Pell Grants and other federal education loans. Each participant is allowed a free 10-day try-out training period.
YouthBuild
YouthBuild in Baltimore's Sandtown [1] is part of a groundswell of programs currently implemented in 48 states to enable young people to rebuild their communities and take charge of their lives. The Sandtown program represents a partnership of city and federal government (the program has a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), in association with Community Building in Partnership, The Living Classrooms Foundation, and Sandtown Habitat for Humanity.
The program is comprehensive, offering training in carpentry/construction, adult basic education, leadership development, counseling and peer support groups. Participants work to renovate low and moderate income family housing. Half of the program time must be spent in a direct construction activity. The Living Classrooms Foundation provides an introduction to carpentry, leadership development and GED classes. Habitat for Humanity contracts with YouthBuild to renovate the local housing.
This is a 14-month program presently in its seventh month at this site. Twenty-eight youth are currently enrolled. They receive a $125 weekly stipend. Program graduates will receive $4,000 in education benefits. The program has seven staff who are on-call 24 hours a day. The average staff working day is 8 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m.
According to the Director, Elijah Ethridge, YouthBuild tries to address the population of ‘non-engaged' youth. He related that participants are "independent" youth, many with children (there is a 17-year old mother of four children in the program). Several participants have had brushes with the legal system. All are seeking to get their lives back on track and become independent, contributing members of the community. Ethridge mentioned that pregnancy has been a problem. Of the 9 females in the program, staff estimates that 7 or 8 are pregnant.
"These youth have failed in traditional classroom settings. Here they are given independent studies, take-home assignments and participate in group assignments. Programs like this work because they try to reprogram youth and transform their lives. More than just employment training, participants receive a much needed academic component, leadership development and counseling--support often critical to their success," Ethridge said.
The goal of this program is to have 70 percent of participants go on to college while the remainder will go directly into the building construction field.
We were told that many potential participants have been turned away and the program hopes to expand beyond the 28 youth it presently serves. "I can fill 100 slots tomorrow and still have youngsters knocking on our door," Ethridge stated.
Criteria for participant selection includes: an intense orientation period, peer selection based on attendance and performance during the orientation phase, and performance on tests (no less than a 5th or 6th grade reading level).
We met the classroom instructor and the students in the academic component (the program schedules half the participants in the classroom for a week while the remainder are at the worksite). Participants freely discussed many of their concerns and were forthcoming about their reasons for dropping out of school (one or two were high school graduates). Among the reasons cited were:
- A lack of challenging course work--"We'd go over the same thing year after year."
- "Teachers weren't interested and didn't care."
- "If you had problems, it was too bad. You had to keep up. Nobody stopped to help you."
We visited the remaining students at two townhouse renovation sites. There we met the construction manager, a CEO of his own construction firm, observed students and talked with them about their goals and aspirations. Many of the participants indicated they were happy to have YouthBuild without which they would be "on the block."
Conclusions
Both programs provide learning within the context of the work experience. YouthBuild provides a direct hands-on experience in the protected learning environment of a renovation project designed to benefit the larger community. CET provides a simulated work experience heavily directed by local employers. Both make basic skills and human development integral components of the skills training experience.
Whereas CET closely ties its training effectiveness to job placement of participants in the skills training area, YouthBuild, though providing specific skills training, has broader goals of youth development, including academic attainment (i.e., attaining the GED), the acquisition of leadership skills, community service and individual empowerment.
CET is tuition driven and participants receive no training wage, whereas YouthBuild depends on grants and local partnerships to fund the program and support participants.
Contact Information
Elijah Ethridge
Director - YouthBuild Sandtown
1114 North Mount Street
Baltimore, MD 21217
410/523-4472
Fax: 410/523-4781
Joe Stevens
Director
Center for Employment and Training (CET)
19 E. Fayette
Baltimore, MD 21202
410/962-0238
Fax: 410/962-1558
[1] Sandtown is a low- and moderate-income community (median income is $12,000) comprised of 72 square blocks of inner city Baltimore. It has 10,500 residents and a high unemployment and crime rate.