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.

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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.

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.