CONNECTING YOUTH TO JOBS

Background and Purpose of this Paper

This paper provides themes and approaches that can help Youth Points of Contact better serve the needs of young people, including those with disabilities who are seeking jobs. It provides guidance to Workforce Investment Boards and One-Stop Centers for developing youth employment services consistent with the objectives of the Emerging Worker Subcommittee:

• Enable youth to meet New York State's education/learning standards;
  
• Provide them with the work skills, life skills and supports necessary to succeed in New York's job market; and
• Expose them to a greater array of potential career opportunities

This report includes three sections:

• Why does employing young people result in benefits to the community?
  
• What are the common themes and factors that form the foundation of recognized best practices approaches?
  
• What factors and practices are necessary to better serve young people with special needs?

Why Does Employing Young People Result in Benefits to the Community?

Nationwide, 15 million people between the ages of 16 and 24 are not prepared for high wage employment.¹ Many live in communities characterized by high rates of poverty, criminal activity, teen pregnancy and substance abuse. If the goal of creating a “Civil Society”² is to be achieved where communities possess the resources, hope and expectation that enables every resident to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives, then training, education and employment opportunities need to be part of the solution. Access to jobs is often not enough. A range of services that help young people build self-esteem, make better decisions, and develop goals and hope for the future are also needed. When youth development activities are coordinated with training and employment opportunities they can help young people achieve better lives for themselves, provide alternatives to risky behavior and help them contribute to the economic and social well-being of their communities.

According to a recent Guide for Municipal Leaders,³ there are strong links between healthy youth and healthy communities:

• Educating young people builds strong communities
• Promoting youth development supports economic development
• Supporting all youth includes those that are most difficult to reach
• Offering vulnerable youth a second chance is both wise and fair

Competency Framework ⁴ (Excerpt)

Employment is an important part of an overall array of competencies and skills young people, including those with disabilities need to acquire for growth and success.

• Physical competence: Good current health status and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that will assure future health and well-being. For example, fitness skills, exercise, good nutrition, and understanding the consequences of risky behaviors.
  
• Social competence: Responsiveness, flexibility, empathy and caring. Communication skills, a sense of humor, self-discipline, assertiveness, the ability to ask for support, and other pro-social behaviors. Skills to establish more positive relationships, including friendships with peers
  
• Cognitive competence: Good reasoning, problem-solving and planning skills. The ability to think abstractly, reflectively and flexibly. The ability to create alternative solutions for both cognitive and social problems and create change in frustrating situations.
  
• Vocational competence: A sense of purpose and a special future. A broad understanding of life options and the steps to take when making choices. Educational aspirations. Adequate preparation for work and family life. Healthy expectations, goal-directedness, success orientation, achievement motivation, and a sense of a compelling future.
  
• Moral competence: The development of character, values and personal responsibility. A desire to be ethical and to be involved in efforts that contribute to the common good. Citizenship skills, including participation in civic life and community service. A respect for diversity.

Barriers and Challenges

A number of barriers and challenges must be overcome if young people are to gain, sustain and advance in jobs in the workplace of the future. Low-wage employment is high for young persons ages 16-24. Approximately 55.1% experienced low wage unemployment.⁵ The relationship to education and training is also important. For adult men with four years of college or more, low-wage employment is less than 10% compared to 30% for those with a high school education or less.⁶ Collaborations and partnerships across systems: education, employment and training services and employers is a recurrent theme and a major challenge for services systems and necessary for helping young people get access to training and jobs.

Better collaborations with employers and employer associations can improve employment outcomes by capitalizing on what businesses often do best: training and credentialing its workers. Working with business partners to help prepare young people for the growth occupations of the future is one of the ways Workforce Investment systems can address the low/wage/low skills challenge described above. The Center for Workforce Success/National Association of Manufacturers' recent publication: “Making the Connections” provides useful guidance in ways employer associations can play intermediary roles between job seekers and employers. ⁷

But significant challenges must be met including:

• Funding sources are often unknown by educators, parents, community members or not accessed due to restrictions or reporting requirements. Also programs who use these funds may hold on to them even when they are not effectively serving youth
  
• Local communities need to learn about resources, use them effectively, or put the funding to good use
  
• Issues of stigma and discrimination. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many people, including many employers do not believe that people with disabilities can work. Or they believe that they can work only at entry-level, low skill/low demand jobs. Program development and community partnership initiatives should include advocacy and information dissemination that focus on the skills and strengths of people with disabilities to become productive, valued workers.

A recent Public/Private Ventures report summarized the challenges faced by communities and the importance of helping their youth to obtain meaningful, well-paying jobs:

“One solution could lie in the determination of local communities to learn about these resources, insist that they be used effectively or use ingenuity to put the funding to good use themselves. After all, the community is where these young people live, and the community stands to benefit when its young people are prepared to become productive adults working in jobs that offer personal satisfaction, benefits and decent wages.” ⁸

Workforce Investment Boards, Youth Councils, and advocates for employing youth in communities (including Youth Single Points of Contact addressing the employment needs of youth with disabilities) can be the convener and catalyst for and help young people, including those with special needs acquire the education, training and jobs necessary for the workplace of the future.

Themes and Approaches

AHP reviewed a number of published articles, demonstration project summaries and program descriptions to uncover themes and principles for effective youth employment services. For example, Public Private Ventures (PPV) identified 5 core elements for programs/systems serving youth:

• Adult support and guidance;
  
• Engaging activities during non-school hours
  
• Providing a variety of work experience opportunities that connect school learning to what is needed for successful employment
  
• Providing opportunities for youth to have a say in what they do and how it is done;
  
• Support for youth as they transition through key phases of life (middle to high school, school to work, puberty, dating, and parenting)

PPV also described a series of tasks that help community partners increase employment-related services for youth: (Excerpt)

• Define your community (neighborhoods, ethnicity, language, professions, special interests) and your challenge
  
• Decide who should be involved (involve many people and those with diverse backgrounds). Include youth, their parents, interested community members, those with connections to employers, schools, and youth-serving orgs that want to see youth employed.
  
• Ask key questions. Where are the potential jobs? Who are the employers who generally hire youth? Where are these companies located? Where can youth get training for these jobs? Are these businesses/industries expected to grow and continue to offer opportunities? Can these jobs become stepping stones to other career opportunities? What programs, activities, resources exist in the community to help youth prepare for jobs? Speak to the school superintendent, principals and the school board about ADA funding that supports youth employment, contact TANF grantees. Visit funded programs and learn what works for them.
  
• Analyze your information. Look for community strengths, expertise and interest in solving your problems. Look for gaps, needs.
  
• Organize and present your information. Match the presentation of your information to your intended audience. Employers may prefer data presented quickly and thoroughly. Public presentations may include audiovisuals and videos.

A recent report, (MORE Things That DO Make a Difference for Youth (1999), American Youth Policy Forum)⁹ contains 69 summary evaluations of youth interventions that improve lives of youth that include the following key considerations:

• Implementation quality: ample start-up time, clear goal communication, sufficient, timely, and sustained resources, strong leadership from the federal, state or local levels, staff development, use of data to improve performance.
  
• Caring, knowledgeable adults: Adults who understand and deeply care about youth, provide them with time and attention gain trust and commitment. Adults should receive extensive training in working effectively with youth to provide age-appropriate activities.
  
• High standards and expectations: important to challenge youth and insist on personal responsibility and accountability. High standards and support to achieve them are especially important for “at-risk” students
  
• Parent/guardian participation Include families in program decision-making
  Importance of community – safe, family-like settings provide youth with sense of safety and belonging
  
• Holistic approach: builds youth resiliency by focusing on building relationships with individuals rather than on negative behaviors (e.g., Big Brother Big Sisters focus on mentoring relationship; Teen Outreach Program engages people in community service activities)
  
• Include youth as resources/community service and service learning – allows youth to positively contribute to society. By providing services, youth become partners and key resources for their communities
  
• Work-based learning – belief that participation will actually lead to a career
  
• Long-term services/support and follow-up- this fosters trust due to time to develop relationships with caring adults. Follow-ups (6 mos. – several years)

Themes and Program Approaches

AHP reviewed program reports summaries of youth employment programs implemented throughout the country.¹⁰ For the most part, these program descriptions were self-reports and we suggest that those seeking more detailed information contact the program liaison included in the resource matrix attached to this report. One program example is indicated for each theme, although other programs listed in the matrix may also have indicated that they use that particular approach.

• Strategic planning
  Developing a community-wide strategic planning process that includes a diverse group of stakeholders is a key to program success. First steps may include assessing needs or gaps program target (e.g., employers, employees, or community). Planning should involve identifying key stakeholders' self-interests, commitment and motivation and developing a plan and process for forming coalitions. It includes designating key decision makers and assigning roles and responsibilities to key staff involved in the initiative. Strategic planning may also involve research and development such as capacity analysis or long-term participant involvement.
  Program Example: Polk Works Community Health Care Initiative

• Forging partnerships
  The job of helping young people, including those with disabilities cannot be that of the WIB alone. Partners can include collaborations between government, non-profit, and private sectors (e.g., local businesses, disability service providers, community organizations, training and education agencies, BOCES, students, etc.). Successful collaborations involve trust, negotiation, conflict and compromise. Effective collaborations address issues of power and vested interests. It begins with a vision that all can endorse and commits to ongoing dialogue, shared risk and clear roles and responsibilities. Program Example: Rochester Works

• Blending funding streams
  Funding streams supporting youth development and job training and employment are often fragmented, unconnected and have different reporting and outcome expectations. Part of an effective strategic planning and collaboration process is identifying all of the available sources of funds dedicated to youth training and employment and deciding how to blend or coordinate those resources to reduce services systems gaps and duplication. Blending can include public and private funding sources or diversifying funding sources such as local/state grants with fee for services. Program Example: The Regional Out of School Youth Program of New York

• Engaging/motivating partners
  Local training and employment efforts need effective marketing strategies to be successful. Each potential partner may respond to a different marketing approach. Employers may respond to a one-time, succinct presentation of the “bottom-line” issues the project will address and a clear expression of ways their self-interests (e.g. getting and retaining qualified, committed workers) will be met. Provider agencies may respond better to videos and presentations involving 'success stories' that underscore how youth development and employment is congruent with their mission. Involving employers/partners in the initiative and garnering their support is not a one-time step in the project's inception but rather continuous and integral to the project. Partners must be entrenched in the process and believe in the mission. Offering updates, evaluations, and incentives all serve to keep partners engaged. Program Example: Coastal Counties Workforce Inc. Scholarship Fund

• Marketing to target populations
  Developing marketing strategies for connecting youth job-seekers with employers can take many forms. Brochures, posters, websites and Job Fairs are a few of these mechanisms. Another strategy is to develop a “learning event/conference” that targets employers and youth and includes breakout sessions that introduce and reinforce employability skills needed by the current labor market. When youth can have 'face-to-face' time with an employer representative, it helps to de-mystify the job application process and build a better understanding of the skills and aptitudes employers seek. Program Example: Latimer County Workforce Center.

• Managing change/continual service development
  Prudent service providers understand that their consumers' needs may change. Continuing evaluation of consumer needs is necessary to identify service gaps and help programs stay attuned to the changing needs of their customers. This may also include simply updating information and opportunities to keep current. Program Example: The Employment Services of Weld County Computer Learning Lab

• Team building/quality management
  Using a team building approach for large work groups is more efficient than employing a democratic management approach. Work groups can be divided into topical expertise teams to tackle small problems and develop performance outcome measures that are consistent with the goals of the project. Program Example: The Hempstead Works Quality Assurance Program

• Use of technology
  One-stops may have trouble attracting youth to their site for a number of reasons including distance, availability of transportation, and hours of operation. Youth may feel that services at the center do not meet their particular needs and may be reluctant to use them. Using technology to help Youth Councils to become web-accessible to young job seekers and provide a friendly “doorway” to career service may be a strategy to address these issues. This can also include integrating web-accessible job and career information into schools that is one more way to build coordination between education and job training and employment services. Program Example: Cattaraugus-Allegheny Workforce Investment Board 

• Customer-driven improvement
  Are consumers satisfied with your services? The best resource for providing this answer is your customer. Programs should have a regular process for soliciting customer input, measuring satisfaction and program outcomes over time and presenting this data to stakeholders, including funding agencies and employers. Program Example: The Hempstead Works Quality Assurance Program

• Customized/individualized services
  Youth development, training and employment programs must be congruent with the needs and expectations of their customers. Services to young people with special needs could include using case managers to help them navigate and negotiate services. Programs serving young people who do not speak English as their primary language need bi-lingual staff and staff. They should be familiar with the cultural and ethnic nuances and traditions surrounding work. Client-centered services allow consumers to pick and choose from a diverse selection of services to receive a "customized" package and providing case management support is a crucial element in beginning and keeping the connection to services. Program Example: City of Albany, NY Department of Youth and Family Services

• Inclusive of diverse populations
  “One-Stops for all” describes the intent of the NYS workforce development strategy and includes increasing access by people with disabilities. But often people with disabilities are unfamiliar with or not comfortable with using One-stop resources. Area One-stops can lead the development of collaborations with public and private agencies serving people with disabilities. This can include involving disability services providers in planning and implementation of Job Fairs, including them on workforce development committees, sharing data bases and increasing access to One-Stop services by people with special needs through video training, presentations and organized tours. Program Example: The Staten Island Job Service Employment Committee/Department of Labor.

• Transportation
  Increasing access by youth to centralized career resources, especially in rural communities also means addressing deficiencies in the transportation system. Providing mobile services that reach out to customers in their own communities, combined with meetings and web-based resources can increase clientele inclusion Program Example: Huron County Department of Job and Family Services

• Dedicated, caring, flexible staff
  This is an essential component of service provision. Staff need to be aware of the particular issues and challenges faced by youth, their orientation to time and structure, preferred learning methods and environments, and the importance of helping young people sort out , plan and act on their preferred training and employment goals. Staff should be aware that often the best opportunities for building trust and rapport may be after school hours or on weekends and schedule time accordingly. Program Example: Catskills GED Services

Youth with Special Needs

A common challenge faced by employment advocates for youth with disabilities is helping employers to focus on the capabilities of job seekers rather than looking at their disabilities first. The challenge of addressing training and employment needs of youth with disabilities is complex: Jobs with a future to address poverty, partnerships and collaborations between labor, education and the disability services sectors to address holistic planning and reduce fragmentation, and skills and supports to help people overcome the implications of their disability.

The Program on Employment and Disability at Cornell University is one of the country's leading training and technical assistance centers on employing youth with disabilities and their website: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped/hr_tips/home.cfm includes a wealth of information on the subject. Cornell University will be conducting a training session on “Maximizing the Potential of People” as part of the present training series. It is also the lead training agency on disability issues for The New York State Work Incentive Grant (WIG). WIG increases the capacity of local One-Stops to serve people of all ages with disabilities. It provides adaptive equipment, including computers and training on their use, specialized training on disability issues and help in developing partnerships, program resources, and strategic planning that ensure that New York State One-Stops are accessible to people with disabilities.

For this brief issues paper, AHP reviewed a small number of national demonstration projects that addressed the needs of young people with special needs and those participating in projects specifically targeting youth in poverty and those at risk. The projects provided below offer a basis for further inquiry on ways Workforce Investment Boards might address the needs of youth with criminal justice involvement, at-risk behavior and psychiatric disabilities.

A constant theme in these programs, as well as those cited earlier is the importance of developing community partnerships and collaborations involving key stakeholders representing the special needs of those served. Youth Points of Contact can have a central role in helping to negotiate systems issues, seek community consensus among stakeholders and develop a strategic plan for job training and employment of young people with special needs.

• Academic preparation.
  Students with disabilities achieve at significantly lower levels, on average, than their non-disabled peers. They are held to lower expectations and are less likely than non-disabled students to take a full academic curriculum in high school.
  
• Minority over--representation.
  African American students are referred to special education at higher rates than their share of the overall population.
  
• High school completion.
  Only 55% of students with disabilities leave high school with a standard diploma, compared with three-fourths of the general student population. Young people with disabilities still drop out of high school at twice the rate of their peers.
  
• Postsecondary education.
  Young people with disabilities are less likely to go on to postsecondary education than non-disabled students, and those who start college are less likely to finish.
  
• Low employment rates.
  Young people with disabilities have less secure futures. Only 50% of working age adults with disabilities were employed in 1997, compared with 84% of non-disabled adults.
  
• Teacher shortages and needs.
  Many school districts are struggling to fill shortages of special education teachers. Regular classroom teachers do not feel well prepared to address the special needs of students with disabilities. Many special education teachers are overwhelmed by paperwork and time demands related to federal requirements.
  
• Technology.
  Many students with disabilities who could benefit from assistive technologies do not have access to them. And barriers such as inadequate teacher training impede students with disabilities from using internet technologies.

Advocates for Human Potential helps public and private agencies throughout the country find ways to increase employment among people with disabilities and/or disadvantages. Further information on AHP and its work can be found on its website www.ahpnet.com In many projects, a key focus of AHP's efforts is helping to develop partnerships and collaborations. A recently completed project in New York City, funded through the Federal Center for Mental Health Services, brought together stakeholders from the business, mental health disability provider community, people with psychiatric disabilities, their families and others to create a “Design Template”. This Template was the foundation for the employment programs that were later developed. Although the program served primarily adults with mental illnesses, the consensus-building approach and Template can be replicable in addressing the needs of youth with disabilities as well.

1. Honor consumers' choices. Prepare to respond to a diversity of choices involving career aspirations, part-time vs. full-time, disclosure vs. non-disclosure, etc.
   
2. “Zero Exclusion” based upon presumed job readiness
   
3. “Whatever it takes.” Create programmatic resources to respond to a variety of needs for pre-employment support.
   
4. Ongoing post-employment support for as long as it's needed.
   
5. Honor employers' needs to acquire workers that can do the job.
   
6. Collaborations between stakeholders are key to Supported Employment success
   
7. Employment programs must be located in mainstream, community settings

One of the results of this stakeholder consensus-building project was a strong partnership with the Staten Island Department of Labor Career Center and disability services providers. Although the project serves mostly adults, the providers are included in Career Center training and workforce development projects. A training video was produced to demystify the services of the Center for people primarily with psychiatric disabilities who were reluctant to enter and use its services the video has resulted in an overall increase in inclusion of people with special needs in the Career Center.

The Youth Offender Demonstration Project's (YODP) focus was to provide and coordinate comprehensive services to help youth with criminal justice involvement find employment that would reduce dependency, crime, and recidivism.

Components of the YODP:

• Community-wide collaboration. Representatives from a variety of community sectors (workforce development boards, courts, schools, police, healthcare, human services, and community organizations) worked together to learn about implementing prevention and intervention efforts. The goal was to coordinate resources and reduce duplication of human services.
  
• Employment and training. Regular or alternative schools, developing business ties to the community to provide academic or job training to address needs/interests of students. These programs would provide students with HS diploma or GED and offer a certificate of achievement for learning a skill/trade that would help them gain employment after school.
  
• Alternative sentencing and community service. The project used Bazemore and Umbreit's Balanced and Restorative Justice model (1994): Offenders should leave justice system capable of being productive and responsible citizens; victims and communities should have losses restored to them and should be empowered as active participants in the juvenile justice process; justice system must protect society by providing range of intervention alternatives (mostly community-based) geared to the varying risks presented by offenders.
  
• Gang initiatives. Organizations and representatives of local communities joined forces to engage and control the behavior of young gang members, and encourage them to participate in legitimate societal activities.
  
• Aftercare for youth returning from detention. The Intensive Aftercare Program model stressed collaboration among juvenile justice system, probation and parole, and community-based service providers to address specific needs of youth offenders.

The YODP promoted a “Public Management Model”. It helps to better formulate and implement an effective service delivery strategy that responds to a community's unique needs.

Attribute	Patterns
1. Created a well-conceived plan	Clear and focused vision and mission Realistic and measurable goals and objectives Involvement of stakeholders during program development and implementation
2. Had previous experience with the juvenile and criminal justice system	Previous working relationship with juvenile and criminal justice system
3. Collected and maintained data	Regularly collected and reported program information
4. Developed a community support network	Involvement of youth and family serving agencies including community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and public service agencies
5. Maintained strong grantee involvement	Actively involved as lead agency, providing direction and coordination for the project. Continuous involvement and support.
6. Connected the workforce and justice systems effectively	Coordination with and utilization of resources available through the workforce development and justice systems
7. Leveraged resources through collaborations and partnerships	Identified and utilized other resources and funding streams
8. Developed a continuous improvement system	Conducted self-assessment and utilized available technical assistance
9. Shared leadership and information	Shared decision making and information with project partners

A little more than 50% of the WIA funds is earmarked for Job Corps, a federal residential education and training program. Job Corps serves disadvantaged youth 16-24 years of age. About 80% of Job Corps students have dropped out of school, more than 40% come from families on public assistance and 70% are members of minority groups.
(P/PV: Supporting Youth Employment: A Guide for Community Groups)

To provide the best possible evidence on program effectiveness, the National Job Corps Study is based on a national random sample of all eligible applicants to Job Corps in late 1994 and 1995. The sampled youths were assigned randomly to either a program group or a control group. Program group members could enroll in Job Corps. Control group members could not, but they could enroll in all other programs available to them in their communities. We estimated impacts by comparing the experiences of the program and control groups using data from periodic interviews conducted over a four-year follow-up period. A dollar value was placed on the individual impact estimates in order to calculate total program benefits, which were then compared to program costs in the benefit-cost analysis. The study also included a careful process analysis, which used data from week-long visits at 23 centers and from surveys of outreach and admissions agencies and centers, to document the program model and its implementation:

1. Job Corps centers deliver comprehensive and consistent services.
   
2. Job Corps makes a meaningful difference in participants' educational attainment and earnings.
   
3. The gains from Job Corps are found across most groups of students and types of settings.
   
4. Job Corps is cost-effective: the value of benefits from the program exceeds its costs.

The Annie E. Casey Jobs Initiative was a five year project to connect young, low-income central city residents to jobs with higher wages and growth potential. Intermediary organizations in the six selected metropolitan areas were selected to develop strategies to link disadvantaged workers to jobs in their respective cities. The initiative design was a three-phased approach with developing cross-systems partnerships and collaborations as a central theme.

Phase I: Planning:
Bringing key stakeholders together, analyzing barriers and opportunities, developing strategies, identifying projects as the focus of program investment.

Phase II: Capacity Building
Developing the model projects connecting inner city residents with jobs that paid at least $7 per hour.

Phase III: Implementation/Systems Reform
Program sites come to scale and develop a fully articulated agenda for systems reform.

Program Outcomes

• Jobs Initiative average placement wage was $9.15/hour
  
• 65% participants interviewed in a follow-up study were working 18 months after enrolment compared to 25% at the time of enrolment.
  
• Most participants placed in jobs remained employed for 12 months after placement.
  
• Participants placed in jobs were much more likely to receive medical insurance; the rate of people offered health insurance through their employers went from 33% to over 80%.
  
• Participants placed at higher wages increased both the number of hours worked per week and the number of weeks employed per year.

Lessons Learned:

• All Job Initiative sites targeted well-paying jobs and involved employers extensively
  
• Job Initiative sites found it necessary to assemble an array of resources to address obstacles to employment retention but post-employment services were not adequately covered nor adequately coordinated by public funding streams
  
• Independent evaluation shows that working participants are better off

Policy Recommendations:

• Increase investment in labor education and training
  
• Clarify intention to increase access to training and other workforce development services
  
• Hold states accountable to long-term retention and self-sufficiency outcomes
  
• Give states more flexibility in local contracting

Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Career Education Program

The Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation is one of the nation's leaders in promoting recovery and rehabilitation for people with psychiatric disabilities. Central to the rehabilitation philosophy are services and supports that help people gain or regain valued life roles in their community. This involves a menu of services that combine insight and skills development, coordination of health, mental health and community support services and a focus on achieving personal, meaningful life goals. It is a two-dimensional person-centered approach that supports integration of people with psychiatric disabilities into mainstream life as productive, contributing members.

50 young adults (18-35) with psychiatric disabilities participated in a study investigating the effects of a career education program conducted by the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation from1985-1989.¹⁶ The intervention was designed to help participants define a career goal and to develop and actualize a career plan. The current study follows up on 84% of these original young adults to ascertain the impact of educational and vocational status, hospitalization rates, self-esteem scores from 5-9 years post baseline. Initial gains in vocational status, self-esteem scores, and a reduction in hospitalization rates were maintained up to 9 years later. It is important to note that a control group was not employed so gains might have been made by a similar group of students who did not receive the intervention.

Summary

If we are to build healthy communities and prepare young people for the workplace of tomorrow, then local Workforce Investment Boards and Youth Single Points of Contact must have a significant role and stake in those efforts. Knowledge of what works best in New York State and throughout the country, dedication to person-first planning and commitment to developing partnerships and collaborations involving key stakeholders are only a few of the elements that must be considered in designing comprehensive, quality youth employment services. By including customers, their families, schools, employers and providers of specialized services in program planning efforts, we will help to ensure that young people with disabilities have a place in the workforce with the same advantages and hope for advancement as do their peers without disabilities. Employment is achievable for all who want to work if we and our customers believe in it and if we are successful in acquiring the knowledge and resources to bring that vision to reality.

“Connecting to Community”

• Information regarding One-Stops (http://www.careeronestop.org/employmentcenter/EmploymentCenterHome.asp)

• The Hudson Institute's study of a results-oriented social sector (“Transforming Charity”) addresses education and training issues in its discussion of a “civil society” and economic self-sufficiency. Hudson Institute Publications P.O. Box 486, Westfield, IN 46074. 1-888-554-1325

• Youth risk factors: Blum‚ R.W‚ & Mann Rinehart‚ P. (1998). Reducing the risk: Connections that make a difference in the lives of youth. Minneapolis, MN: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health‚ Department of Pediatrics‚ University of Minnesota. (http://allaboutkids.umn.edu/cfahad/Reducing_the_risk.pdf)

• Information on Youth Development (www.nassembly.org) AYPF Publications

"What Works - Replicating the Effort"

• Public/Private Ventures and the Sar Levitan Center for Social Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Supporting Youth Employment-A Guide for Community Groups. Public Private Ventures, Inc. New York, NY 2002.
  (www.ppv.org)

• MORE Things That DO Make a Difference for Youth (1999). American Youth Policy Forum. Contains 69 summary evaluations of youth interventions that improve lives of youth.
  (http://www.aypf.org/compendium/index.html)

• Selected One-Stop/WIB initiatives from Workforce Excellence Network website
  (http://www.rnyworks.com/index.html)

• California One-Stop/Youth Programs:
  (www.nww.org/yci)

“Practices to better serve young people with special needs”

• US Department of Justice - issues concerning young offenders and the challenges they face returning to their community.
  (http://www.usdoj.gov/) (http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/fulltext/YODP.pdf)

• Cornell University Program on Employment and Disability. 105 ILR Extension, Ithaca, NY 14853 (http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped)

• Department of Labor studies concerning the effectiveness of Job Corps and Youth Opportunity Grants in serving youth with disadvantages as part of an overall one-stop systems approach. (http://wdr.doleta.gov)

• Does Job Corps Work? Mathematica Policy Research Inc. Princeton, NJ 2001. (http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/fulltext/document.asp?docn=6160)

• “Jobs Initiative” of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (http://www.aecf.org/) Workforce Development Policy and the AECF Jobs Initiative-Policy brief. Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD 2002.

• Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation on addressing employment transition for youth, including those with disabilities. (http://www.bu.edu/cpr/)
  Longitudinal Outcome of Young Adults who Participated in a Psychiatric Vocational Rehabilitation Program. Boston University, Boston, MA 1999.

• Connecting Vulnerable Youth-A Municipal Leaders Guide National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families March 2003 (202)626-3046 (www.nlc.org/iyef)

¹ Public/Private Ventures and the Sar Levitan Center for Social Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Supporting Youth Employment - A Guide for Community Groups. Public Private Ventures, Inc., New York, NY 2002
² Streeter, R.. Transforming Charity: Towards a Results-Oriented Social Sector. Hudson Institute. Westfield, Indiana4 6074
³ Connecting Vulverable Youth - A Municipal Leaders Guide National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families March 2003
⁴ Blum, R.W. & Man Rinehart, P. (1998). Reducing the risk: Connections that make a difference in the lives of youth. Minneapolis, MN: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota. (http://allaboutkids.umn.edu/cfahad/Reducing_the_risk.pdf)
⁵ Current Population Reports - Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Labor Force 1992-93. US Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration P70-57 1996
⁶ IBID
⁷ Making the Connections Center for Workforce Success/National Association of Manufacturers. Washington, DC 2000
⁸ Public Private Ventures 2002
⁹MORE Things That DO Make a Difference for Youth (1999). American Youth Policy Forum. (http://www.aypf.org/compendium/index.html)
¹⁰ Selected One-Stop/WIB initiatives from Workforce Excellence Network website (http://www.rnyworks.com/index.html)
¹¹ Twenty-Five Years of Educating Children with Disabilities: The Good News and the Work Ahead (Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum and Center on Education Policy, 2001)
¹² US Department of Justice - issues concerning young offenders and the challenges they face returning to their community. (http://www.usdoj.gov/) (http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/fulltext/YODP.pdf)
¹³ Does Job Corps Work? Mathematica Policy Research Inc. Princeton, NJ 2001
(http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/fulltext/document.asp?docn=6160)
¹⁴ Department of Labor studies concerning the effectiveness of Job Corps and Youth Opportunity Grants in serving youth with disadvantages as part of an overall one-stop systems appraoch. (http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/Pub818.htm) (http://wdr.doleta.gov/opr/fulltext/01-jcsummary.pdf)
¹⁵ Creating Change: Pushing Workforce Systems to Help Participants Achieve Economic Stability and Mobility. ABT Associates/New School University July 2002
¹⁶ Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation on addressing employment transition for youth, including those with disabilities. (http://www.bu.edu/cpr/) (http://www.bu.edu/cpr/catalog/articles/1999/ellison-etal1999.pdf)