Summer, summer, summertime…

... time to find work, rise and grind. 

That’s right, it’s that time of year again! While many of us will take advantage of the next six weeks to escape the sweltering DC heat for some R&R, about 15,000 District youth will be staying put to participate in the 2016 Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). With SYEP participants ranging in age from 14-24 reporting to their first day this week, we thought it was a great time to reflect back on the major changes made to the program last year and to highlight plans for program year 2016.

As the first year of SYEP to serve youth through age 24, 2015 marked big changes to the program. While we saw the size and budget of the program expand to provide work opportunities to the District’s unemployed youth, we were also encouraged to see new commitments made to the quality and accessibility of the program.  The participation of 25 youth with disabilities was supported by a partnership between DC’s Rehabilitative Services Administration (RSA), SchoolTalk, and District schools. This pilot program (now called SYEP JumpStart) provided the individualized supports and services needed to ensure that these youth could access meaningful work experience through SYEP. In addition, the Office of Youth Programs (OYP) expanded the availability of transportation supports to SYEP participants in 2015 so that they could budget $110 over six weeks to travel to and from their jobs. At Council’s urging, we also saw an increased emphasis on DOES’s ability to demonstrate the impact of the program, especially for those youth 22-24 who stand to gain the most from participation in the program. Understanding that summer work programs like SYEP can provide a critical entry point into a broader array of workforce development, education, or employment opportunities, it’s especially important to leverage SYEP for older District youth who struggle to gain a foothold in the labor market.

Full Report Available Here

In addition to a DOES-produced report on the 2015 SYEP, the DC Auditor also released their report on the operations and outcomes of SYEP in comparison to eight other cities. In tandem, these reports provided valuable insight into the improvements already underway within OYP to strengthen the program, and also highlighted areas of the program which stand to benefit from greater attention. The Auditor’s report suggested that the District could draw more on non-local sources, such as federal or private funding to decrease the $20 million annual price tag of SYEP paid by DC residents. The report also strongly recommends the development of more diversified program options to meet the varied needs of District youth who participate in the program. For example, those youth who indicate their disconnection from education, their housing instability, or their non-resident status could be flooded with supports and transitioned into longer-term programming from their participation in SYEP. The report also highlighted that under statutory requirements in place since 2010, SYEP must receive an annual, independent evaluation. We’re hopeful that OYP will continue to welcome the results of this annual report in their efforts to seek new, innovative, and data-driven improvements to SYEP.

Building off of these report recommendations, Deputy Mayor for Greater Opportunity, Courtney Snowden, recently shared some of the plans underway for this summer’s program on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. In addition to continuing SYEP’s commitment to serve as a bridge for 22-24 year olds into employment (or educational opportunities), the Deputy Mayor also highlighted the program’s partnerships with the White House as a Summer Impact Hub, with LinkedIn to create more corporate and private sector work placements, and with DCPS to connect the students of DC’s 9 Career Academies to summer work placements that align with their courses of study. These new or intensifying partnerships demonstrate significant progress for the program in addressing long-standing concerns and leveraging SYEP as conduit for youth to pursue substantive, long term supports and opportunities.

As we take these plans and improvements into consideration, it’s important to highlight the significant growth of this program within a few years. While the program enrollment fluctuates annually (between 13,000 and 15,000 youth), the program’s budget has nearly doubled over the last 5 years from $11.5 million in 2012 to $20.2 million in 2016. The incremental increases to the District’s investment in SYEP over time have certainly yielded impactful improvements in the accessibility, quality, and operation of the program. Yet taken in context with the full array of workforce development programming offered in the District, additional investments of local funding should be used to bolster year-round programming moving forward. It will be important to work within the current budget mark to maximize SYEP’s quality and impact, and to further leverage its popularity and size to direct youth to the longer-term supports and services they need. While SYEP quality is paramount, we fully recognize that a six-week program will not be able to directly facilitate workforce outcomes like full-time employment, certification or high-tech training that other programs of an extended duration strive to achieve. More than ever, SYEP stands to serve as the District’s jumping off point for more intensive youth workforce development. While the crown jewel of DC’s youth workforce development system, SYEP is ultimately one of many gems the city must value.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. She credits her first summer job as a server on the Jersey Shore for teaching her how to multitask and how to remove tomato sauce stains from white shirts. Please contact her at amy@dc-aya.org with any questions or feedback on your 2016 SYEP experience.

I Would Wonk 500 Miles (Just to Share the WIOA State Plan with You)

Today’s blog will focus on the youth-specific provisions of the State Plan. We hope to be a resource as you develop your feedback and recommendations before the Plan is finalized and sent to DOL. For details on how to engage in State Plan Public Engagement, skip to the end!

Two weeks ago, Mayor Bowser and her workforce team released their draft of the District’s WIOA State Plan for comments before the Plan is sent to the Department of Labor (DOL) for approval by April 1st. Beyond demonstrating the District’s plans to comply with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to the Feds, the State Plan also sets the course to better align workforce stakeholders and programs to create a comprehensive system of workforce development.

In and of itself, WIOA established some significant changes for Title I Youth stakeholders, including:

• Requires that at least 75% of youth formula funds are spent on serving out-of-school youth (up from 30% under WIA, though the District had been spending about 65% of funding on out-of school youth as of 2014[1])
• Expands in-school youth eligibility to include low-income youth (14-21) who are English language learners and those who have a disability.
• Requires that at least 20% of youth formula funds be spent on paid and unpaid work experiences that incorporate academic and occupational education.

Making Strides Towards Summer Work Accessibility

This week, we'd like to highlight a promising new pilot that was conducted this summer as part of the Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program. Through an innovative partnership between RSA, DOES, the Secondary Transition CoP, OSSE, DCPS, and select public charter schools, the first Summer Youth Employment Institute (SYEI) was formed to provide individualized supports and services for youth with disabilities to ensure a meaningful work experience in DC’s SYEP. 

We're excited by the success of this year's SYEI, and look forward to see this model of specialized support for under-served populations continued and replicated within SYEP to maximize meaningful summer work experiences for the  program's 18,000 participants. Read below for more insight into this innovative approach from our friends at SchoolTalk, who conducted this summer's SYEI!

Pilot Background

Working during high school has been found to contribute to positive youth development by increasing career awareness and employment skills, as well as the self-determination capacity necessary for all students to experience long-term, postsecondary success. Unfortunately, for youth with disabilities, especially those with more significant disabilities, accessing meaningful paid work experiences represents a major challenge.

The DC Secondary Transition Community of Practice (CoP), a collaborative group focused on improving postsecondary outcomes for students with disabilities in the District of Columbia, recognizes that many DC youth with disabilities face significant barriers to employment, including summer employment. In response to this issue, DC’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and Department of Employment Services (DOES), with support from the Secondary Transition CoP, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), and select public charter schools, stepped up to a pilot program designed to provide the supports necessary for youth with disabilities to be successful in the DOES 2015 Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). 

Program Description

Through an RSA contract with SchoolTalk, Inc., The DC Summer Youth Employment Institute (SYEI) pilot provided 22 youth from several DCPS and charter schools with the individualized supports and services they needed in order to be successful in DC’s SYEP.

Participating youth began the summer with a weeklong employment preparation boot camp where they engaged in hands-on learning to help them begin to build the self-awareness and soft skills necessary for successful summer employment.

During the six weeks of SYEP, the youth worked at job sites across the city where they and their employers received extensive supports from RSA and SchoolTalk case managers. RSA provided individualized supports and services, including job coaches and assistive technology, while SchoolTalk case managers checked-in regularly with the youth, their employers, and their families, in order to help them problem solve any issues that arose in relationship to the work environment, job tasks, and individual supports and services.

At the conclusion of SYEP, the participating youth came back together for a three day closeout session to reflect on their experiences, and to connect their summer work to their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), Individualized Plans for Employment (IPEs), and short-term and long-term employment goals.

Impact on Youth

All of the youth experienced increases in their independence, confidence, knowledge and skills related to work and the work environment. Youth demonstrated their growth through the documentation and discussion of their individual employment strengths, preferences, interests, and areas of need, as well as through the development of clear and realistic short- and long-term career goals. Twenty-one of the 22 program participants completed the SYEP portion of the project, and participated in closeout activities.

Three participating youth were also selected to work as youth leaders.  They supported the staff and their peers throughout the course of the pilot program.  Their primary responsibilities included training their peers and staff on assistive technology, helping their peers problem-solve any issues, interviewing their peers for a video project, helping the staff to design and facilitate activities during the close out, supporting their peers in developing presentations about their experiences, and developing presentations for their peers and employers about disability awareness and disclosure. 

Next Steps

Implementation of the SYEI pilot program represents an important step in working towards providing full access to meaningful, summer work experiences for all DC youth with disabilities. RSA and DOES are hoping to expand the program to support at least 50 youth with disabilities during the summer of 2016. The program will continue to identify and work toward eradicating challenges related to youth disability employment including transportation issues, the securing of appropriate and timely workplace accommodations and supports, employer disability awareness, the setting of high expectations, and accessibility to the DC SYEP application and youth portal.

We'd like to thank the partners involved in this year's Summer Youth Employment Initiative for their commitment to ensuring meaningful summer experiences for all District youth, and for their contribution to this blog:

RSA, DOES, the Secondary Transition CoP, OSSE, DCPS, PSCB, and SchoolTalk

SYEP: The Promise of Program Year 2015

With the 2015 Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP) starting on Monday, and with 15,000 District youth set to participate, we’d like to take the opportunity to talk about the program’s big changes this year: an expansion of youth served (now through age 24) and some exciting new strategies to provide extra supports for youth. Last Wednesday, the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs hosted a Public Roundtable on the MBSYEP to call attention to the planning of the 2015 program, especially for the additional 1,000 youth aged 22 to 24 taking part in the program.

Photo credit: Office of Youth Programs' Instagram

Despite the overwhelmingly positive and constructive tenor of the Roundtable, the MBSYEP still struggles to fully shake its association with a troubled past (you might remember a particularly chaotic year marked by cost overruns and warehoused youth). But as the country’s second-largest summer youth employment program (second only to New York’s 36,000 youth served annually), huge strides have been made in righting the course of the program. When fully utilized by employers and youth, the online MBSYEP portal and matching system can be powerful tools for conveying expectations upfront and ensuring a six-week placement that both parties are happy about. The Office of Youth Programs spearheaded the effort to provide free bus and rail travel to youth who frequently cite transportation costs as a barrier to their success. And a new pilot program between DOES, RSA, and DCAYA member SchoolTalk will ensure that SYEP participants with disabilities will be connected with the supports necessary to have a meaningful and productive summer job placement.

Maybe most notably though, DOES spoke of their plans to provide the 1,000 youth 22-24 that are joining the MBSYEP this year with targeted work placements based on an individual assessment that will be given at the start of this year’s program. The assessments will ask youth about their educational attainment, career goals and interests, work readiness skills and any barriers they face to attaining full time employment. Data gleaned from such assessments will allow DOES to connect these older youth to supports beyond their work placements such as childcare, transportation subsidies, and help navigating TANF. Even more exciting (and impressive) DOES has cultivated the support of 120 SYEP host employers that have signaled a willingness to hire participants at the conclusion of the 6-week program.

This connection to long term employment is critical. The unemployment rate for DC residents ages 20-24 stands at 12.3%-- more than double the national rate of unemployment. The figure jumps to 23.2% when calculated for Black or African American residents in the same age range. With such staggering unemployment, particularly among our most traditionally under-resourced youth, it is a critical time to ensure that our city offers an abundance of entry-points into sustainable career pathways. Going beyond its long-standing functions of providing a productive summer activity, and offering supplemental income to youth and their families, the strategies being put in place this year build on best practices that are employed across the country.

With the DC Council’s addition of a requirement to conduct an SYEP evaluation this budget season, our program stands to join the ranks of Boston and New York as a beacon of data-driven decision-making and innovative strategies to meet the needs of the hardest to serve. For example, Boston has been able to demonstrate through the evaluation of their summer employment program that their combination of a paid work experience with quality supervision, a well-designed learning plan, and connections to supportive services can reduce economically disadvantaged youths’ involvement in risky, violent, and delinquent behaviors. Meanwhile, New York City’s SYEP has proven successful at increasing school attendance, graduation rates, and persistence within education and the workforce through a program design that marries job placement with instruction dedicated to education and training through workshops on topics related to time management, financial literacy, workplace readiness and etiquette, career planning and finding employment. While adjusting data collection efforts and systems to be more robust can be a heavy lift for all involved, the narratives they provide about cities like Boston and New York serving their youth efficiently and appropriately are invaluable.

With all of the planning and preparation on the part of host employers and the Office of Youth Programs at DOES coming to a close for this summer’s program, we’re looking forward to a solid 2015 MBSYEP. The program offers one of the greatest opportunities within the District for young people to step into the world of work. Its quality, capacity and, ultimately, its success matter. So as the program kicks off, and the weeks roll by, be sure to share your MBSYEP stories with DCAYA. We want to hear from you what’s working and where to focus for next year!

For more information on DCAYA's Youth Employment work,contact Amy Dudas, DCAYA Policy Analyst.

An Update: The Final Budget Breakdown

The final Council budget vote was June 10th. As we suspected, a number of major wins were achieved this year. Here is the final break down, and some major thanks to everyone that made it happen! 

Afterschool

DC Trust: The Committee on Health and Human Services, which oversees the Trust, committed an additional $2 million to the Trust’s baseline budget. With this additional funding, the DC Trust will be able to fulfill the majority of their grant commitments to afterschool programs. Much of the funding, $1.6 million, was moved over from the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, thanks to Councilmember Mary Cheh. Councilmember Yvette Alexander filled the resulting gap with just over $400,000 through reallocating funding from within two different health agency budgets. Although advocates originally pushed for an additional $2.5 million, the resulting $2 million is a huge win for afterschool programs and speaks to the power of our members and the community speaking up to testify on behalf of their life-changing programs.

DCPS: The Committee on Education did not find the $6.5 million to stop the cuts to DCPS afterschool, which will result in a cut to 25 cluster coordinators within the DCPS Out-of-School Time Office. The committee budget report rationalizes the cut with the following explanation, “DCPS has assured the Committee and school communities that there will be no reduction in service levels to families in FY16.” However, the committee report went on to say “The Committee also encourages DCPS to monitor this situation throughout the summer and utilize reserve funds, if necessary, to fill any gaps to service to families that may arise as a result of funding challenges for CBOs.” In other words, since DCPS insisted there was no need for the money that was cut, the chair of the committee, Councilmember David Grosso, was not in a position to fill that cut. We will continue to work closely with Councilmember Grosso to monitor the situation and offer on-the-ground feedback from CBOs and schools.

Many thanks to the members of the Committee on Human Services, the Committee on Education and the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, for working so collaboratively to make these critical investments. 

Youth Homelessness

Single Youth: Funding for homeless youth services remains stable at $1.3 million by the Committee on Health and Human Services in an effort to properly scale initiatives through data-informed measures. Advocates supported this funding mark and are continuing to collect data on homeless youth with the newly established Coordinated Intake System. Through the collected data, advocates and DC agencies will have a greater understanding on the investments needed to stabilize homeless youth and guide them onto a path of self sufficiency.

Youth-Headed Families: The mayor’s allocation of $40 million to replace DC General through FY17 was confirmed by the Committee on Health and Human Services.

Parenting Minors: The Committee on Transportation and the Environment, under the leadership of Councilmember Cheh, moved $500,000 to the Committee on Health and Human Services to enhance services to minor headed households. As a recent Washington Post article illustrated, homeless minors with children have few housing or service options. The pilot will begin to fill the service gap for homeless, parenting minors who do not experience levels of abuse and neglect that warrants CFSA involvement and cannot access adult shelters because they are under 18.

DCAYA would like to first and foremost thank Mayor Bowser and her entire Administration for their diligence in addressing homelessness in this budget.  We’d also like to thank the Committee on Health and Human Services and the Committee on Transportation for their hard work to find supplemental funds to address the needs of homeless parenting minors.  

Youth Workforce Development

SYEP Evaluation: During a Committee of the Whole legislative session, the Council approved an amendment introduced by Councilmember Elissa Silverman to require DOES to produce and publish basic information on SYEP participants, including long-term employment outcomes and participation levels at various points in the program. The amendment also lays the groundwork for the development of a rigorous SYEP evaluation to determine a baseline of program quality and identify opportunities for effective interventions within program design and delivery. Along with an amendment introduced by Councilmember Jack Evans to cap SYEP enrollment for youth 22-24 at 1,000 slots, an SYEP evaluation will go a long way to ensure that Mayor Bowser’s additional investment in SYEP of $5.2 million will be used effectively to engage youth 14-24 in a quality career exposure and work readiness training experience.

UDC Funding Restored: In a letter to Council outlining revisions to her proposed FY16 budget (called the Errata Letter), Mayor Bowser included the restoration of $3.5 million to the University of the District of Columbia. The mayor also committed to working with the UDC flagship and the community college to ensure that this investment will benefit programs that place DC residents on career pathways.

The focus of the entire Council, but in particular members of the Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs for all they have done to ensure the Summer Youth Employment Program is of the highest quality in years to come. Equal thanks to Mayor Bowser and her entire administration for the thoughtful investment recommendations outlined in the Errata Letter. These investments will go far in preparing our youth for success in the workforce. 

Disconnected Youth

Expansion of Kids Ride Free: At the Committee for Finance and Revenue budget oversight hearing for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), Committee Chairman Jack Evans expressed concerns about Mayor Bowser’s expansion of Kids Ride Free to rail. The Committee’s budget report stated that the Committee is “analyzing the funding sources for the School Transit Subsidy program to better understand the administration and distribution of the proposed $7 million for Kids Ride Free”.  After much deliberation: Funding for Kids Ride Free is indeed secure, and the Councilmember will work to ensure the sustainability of the program.


SLED Remains Stable: While the Committee on Education expressed their commitment to the maintenance and continuation of the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLED), the needed $1.36 million was not secured to fill the gap left by an expiring federal grant. However, the Committee and DCAYA received assurances from OSSE that a reduction in personnel-related funds will be absorbed internally through efficiency and prioritization and SLED will not suffer as a result. DCAYA will continue to monitor SLED’s operation, but we are confident in OSSE's commitment to maintain the system.

The commitment of the Committee for Finance and Revenue and WMATA to ease student access to school was fantastic.  Equally important, we thank the Bowser Administration, OSSE and the Committee on Education for their work to ensure that SLED remains a strong and valuable resource. 

Finally, we’d like to thank the children, youth, and member organizations who put tons of time and energy into the advocacy work for this budget. Your input into our advocacy agenda is, as always, priceless. Your willingness to mobilize and devote hours to testifying, attending meetings, writing letters and making calls is what gives the DCAYA community its strength and its power.  Thank you. 

WIOA Brings a Wave of Improvements for Out-of-School Youth

Every generation thinks that they had it tough when they were young. As someone who grew up BG (Before Google), I can recall the days when there was one phone in the house, you went to the library to do research, and you typed papers because computers were something that were more sci-fi than reality. And, of course, everyone had a summer or afterschool job.

Today’s youth face different and, many times, greater challenges. Not a day goes by when there isn't an article about a family who has been impacted by the recession. But, the recession has hurt youth even more than adults. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, teen employment has fallen from 50 percent in 1978 to 44% in 2011 to just 25.8 percent today.  

Today’s Millennials have now seen double-digit unemployment rates for over 70 consecutive months. The unemployment rate among all teens in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas nearly doubled. And, it is an even bigger problem for young people of color. Young Black and Latino males are much less likely to be employed than their white counterparts. Given the fact that many youth work to contribute to rent and basic family expenses, the unemployment rate is devastating.

Not only is this a social and moral issue, it is an economic issue. Research shows that these losses are compounded as lack of work experience leads to additional cost in terms of lower productivity, lower wages and lower employment rates later on in a young person’s career. By one estimate, total annual cost of severely high unemployment rates for 18- to 34-year-olds on the federal and state governments is almost $8.9 billion in terms of lost wages and higher public benefits.

We can’t afford to let an entire generation of young people languish in the labor market. Earlier this summer, the President signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) into law. WIOA recognizes that the unique needs of disadvantaged youth and support efforts to prepare youth and young adults for success in the today’s labor market.

In addition to supporting quality programming, increasing transparency, and measuring progress over time, the new law also:

·    Targets Limited Resources: Title I targets 75 percent of youth funds to provide services for out-of-school youth – a population that has been a challenge to serve.   

·    Simplifies eligibility: The legislation removes some of the cumbersome eligibility issues that can make it difficult to serve youth who are most in need.

·    Supports work-based learning: We know that hands on, experience-based learning makes a huge difference and WIOA requires that that 20% of the youth funding support work experiences.

While it is great to have new legislation, we have to do our part. We are entering into an era of unprecedented scrutiny and accountability and we have to perform. Now is the time to double down on recruitment and engagement efforts. Now is the time to measure return on investment of each of our programs to ensure maximum effectiveness. The work that we do is so very important. It will pay dividends in the future…stronger economy, safer communities, and healthier families.   

Bridget Brown is the Executive Director of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP), an organization that advocates for the workforce industry and works to develop the professional capacity of workforce professionals seeking the highest standards of excellence in credentialing, applied learning opportunities, and cutting edge tools to excel in serving job seekers and business.  

We were thrilled to be joined by Bridget at our first Youth Workforce Leaders Academy (YWLA)* session on July 24^th, where she demonstrated her 20+ years of experience to prepare our cohort of leaders for upcoming changes to local youth workforce programming as a result of the Workforce Investment Act’s reauthorization in July.

*This program is supported by a grant from the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, an initiative of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

D.C.’s Second Chance System

With the establishment of D.C.’s first Re-Engagement Center approaching this fall, DCAYA and our community partners have a growing interest in the need to align a robust re-engagement system to the frontline work of the Center.   A few weeks ago, DCAYA and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region brought together national experts in youth re-engagement for a virtual, interactive Vonvo discussion with D.C. community providers.  The experts were Andrew Moore, Robert Sainz, and DC’s own Celine Fejeran.  The discussion highlighted three main takeaways.

Trusting Relationships

All of our guest experts touched upon the importance of trusting relationships in the success of strategies to reconnect youth to educational, workforce, and wrap-around service opportunities.  Echoing the findings of our 2013 Connecting Youth to Opportunities Report,   Robert Sainz emphasized the importance of approaching reconnection efforts by first recognizing that each young person has a story and a particular set of needs.  When adults invest in those individual youth stories through mentorship, coaching, or case management, both parties benefit.  Adults gain a clearer understanding of which packages of services will best fit that young person’s goals, skills, and needs.  Youth gain a trusted resource of support through challenges, guidance in setting goals, and a safety net in the case they veer off-track.  In considering national best practice, the exact model of this adult:youth relationship can vary, but the panel of experts stressed that it remains key to successful re-engagement.

Second Chance Systems

Our Vonvo conversation also underscored the practice of building second chance systems around the needs and demands of youth, which necessitates cross-sector collaboration and diverse stakeholders.  While a young person might be most strongly motivated to seek support in order to attain employment to support themselves and their families, in many instances they lack the levels of educational achievement to find self- and family-sustaining work. In response to the simultaneous needs for youth to learn and earn, Celine Fejeran spoke of the decision within the District to house our first Youth Re-engagement Center at the Department of Employment Services in order to streamline youth access to work opportunities and educational re-engagement.  Another critical advantage of cross-sector collaboration is the ability to gather data across various agencies to gain clarity on the specific circumstances of each young person’s experience that stymie sustained engagement.  As Andrew Moore mentioned in our conversation, this shared data about which young people have left school is also the best starting point from which to launch youth outreach efforts to connect them back to opportunity.

Community Connections

Our last key takeaway was focused on the need to encourage a symbiotic relationship between re-engagement centers and the communities they serve.  This applies to the ability of a re-engagement center’s youth outreach specialists to simultaneously build relationships with youth and strong connections to a wide array of wrap-around services.  Los Angeles and Denver are excellent examples of where this has been done well. On the flip side of this relationship is the opportunity for the influence of the re-engagement center to reach the youth’s friends, families, and caregivers.  If a re-engagement center can build these relationships as well, then the success of the re-engaged youth will have ripple effects throughout their communities.

Overall, the national experts and community providers agreed that this is an incredibly exciting and critical time for re-engagement efforts in D.C.  We all must stay invested and involved in the upcoming implementation of D.C.’s first ever re-engagement center.  We may not get a second chance.

Watch our Vonvo discussion here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LpZEg98ZA  (full length)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsdpJymHu4   (highlight)

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. She’ll be meeting with youth providers this summer to discuss how to best link their programming with the District’s citywide plans to re-engage youth.  If you’re interested in these meetings, please contact her at amy@dc-aya.org.

A Re-Engagement Center On the Horizon for DC Youth

Excitingly, Washington DC is on the verge of seizing an opportunity to re-engage its 7,000 school dropouts in education - joining some 15 other cities in this pursuit. The innovative D.C. Re-Engagement Center, which has been in the planning stages for the last several months, is slated to fully open in the fall of 2014.

Re-Engagement Centers fill a critical niche for disconnected youth ages 16-24 by providing a one-stop location for assessment of education status, referral to one or more school completion options, and support to re-enroll and stay enrolled. Centers also conduct outreach to find the young people who need opportunities to finish high school and move on with their education. The National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families has documented that centers in 13 cities supported re-enrollment of more than 6,000 youth and young adults over the past two school years. 73% of these youth stayed with their new school placement for at least a year or graduated with a credential.

The formula for launching a successful center is both straightforward and complex. The latter, in part because public policy concentrates on ensuring the success of students who remain in school, and only rarely focuses on the 25%+ who do not.

For a citywide Re-Engagement Center, the straightforward portion of the formula involves:

• Leadership and support from the top, from mayors, superintendents, foundation executives, and leaders of workforce agencies and community colleges, as well as a clearly designated lead implementation agency;
• Newly identified or re-programmed resources, often stemming from the per-pupil funds districts recoup once students re-enroll;
• A youth-friendly physical or virtual portal – for outreach to known dropouts, and to welcome dropouts looking for options;
•  Staff with an orientation toward youth development, capable of building strong relationships with youth who have the most updated information at their fingertips about the range of referral options for education and non-academic services for disengaged youth; and
•  A range of alternative school options at which former dropouts can complete their education and get launched toward next steps in schooling and employment.

The District is following the success formula to an “R” (for re-engagement). The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) commissioned a feasibility study to draw upon promising national practices and to situate plans in the local context. The Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) has stepped forward to serve as the lead agency. The Department of Employment Services (DOES) identified space for an initial physical hub location in its headquarters building in one of the highest-need neighborhoods in the city – thus co-locating education and workforce services. Together, DME, OSSE, and DOES are on their way to a well-functioning partnership. In addition, a working group of the Raise DC partnership that focuses on this population is actively exploring innovative virtual options to make it easy for tech-savvy dropouts to connect with re-engagement counselors and school options.

With so many pieces coming into place for scaled-up and purposeful re-engagement efforts in D.C., the future is bright indeed. District residents, youth advocates, and service providers can lend a hand to the project partners by sending young people to the Center once it opens. Innovators and education entrepreneurs can help tackle the forthcoming need for more high-quality school completion options, as current options will prove insufficient when re-engagement takes off.

And -- in a capital city where messaging is sometimes paramount -- launching the DC Re-Engagement Center will send a positive public message about the importance the District places on re-engagement. At the policy and institutional level, establishing a center represents a firm embrace of an “all students achieve” agenda, and affords an opportunity to maximize the return on investments made prior to the time that students dropped out.





Andrew Moore is the Senior Fellow at the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. The YEF Institute helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their community. 
  

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.