Alan dropped out of high school because he felt like no one cared about his education. He took a job in construction, but after back surgery due to a work injury, he realized he could no longer rely on manual labor. His friend told him about Civicorps, where he could get his diploma while developing new job skills and gaining on-the-job experience. After completing his internship and diploma, Alan's Career Counselor encouraged him to apply for a coordinator position and he got it! He now wants to pursue computer graphics in college and as his career -- a field he never knew about before.
Why This Matters
The years between 16 and 24 are a critical inflection point that can determine a young person’s life trajectory. It's when teenagers and young adults develop their interests and talents, acquire skills and knowledge through education and/or work experiences, earn degrees and credentials, and expand their networks, all of which help them to navigate adult life and live more independently.
Once youth become disconnected, it is unlikely they will be able to reach their aspirations unless they re-engage in school or work. Only 1 percent of youth who’ve been disconnected will ever earn an associate’s degree or higher. Without postsecondary credentials or additional training, youth have limited options to earn a living wage. Studies show that 13-15 years after disconnection, opportunity youth made $31,000 less than their connected peers and were much more likely to be unemployed.
Battery Powered's Education to Workforce pathways Theme provides a deep dive into some of these issues. Read More here.
Our Approach
Given the right opportunities to re-engage in education and employment, youth can change their life course and realize their full potential. This reaps rewards for society as a more diverse set of talents, skills, and life experience are brought to bear in the workforce.
Prevention and Early Intervention
The best way to ensure opportunity youth stay on track is to prevent them from dropping out of school in the first place. Indicators like childhood trauma, chronic absence, early delinquency, and school discipline issues are highly predictive of poor educational outcomes. Programs that identify students most at risk, and provide them with services earlier, have a better chance of helping them complete school and successfully transition to adulthood.
Community and Youth Outreach is one example of an organization offering support to high-risk youth in schools located in neighborhoods with the greatest violence and crime. Another model that focuses on foster youth uses education “champions” to act as liaisons within a County system to ensure that all decisions, such as a change in foster care placement, are made in alignment with the youth’s education goals. The National Center for Youth Law is currently testing this model in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties with the hope that it will support more foster youth to graduate from high school and beyond.
Re-engagement
Opportunity youth who are already disconnected need on-ramps and low barriers to re-engage in school and work. The more challenging it is for them to get reconnected, the more likely it is that they will get frustrated and give up.
Video Courtesy of Beyond Emancipation
Most opportunity youth have not been successful in traditional school settings. Therefore, non-traditional educational settings are important to their re-engagement. Programs that provide options for job training and coursework in tandem are particularly effective, as they allow youth greater flexibility and make the transition to work more seamless. Paid internships or on-the-job training are also effective as youth receive hands-on learning while generating income. This is critical for the many opportunity youth who face the choice of completing their education or supporting their family with a job.
Education and workforce programs that target special populations of disconnected youth can also be effective. For example, the EMERGE program serves young women who are returning to school from confinement or incarceration. Many of these young women have been victims of sexual exploitation, and EMERGE's individualized curriculum uses a strengths-based, gender-specific approach that offers healing and positive relationship building.
It is also important to support youth in the juvenile justice system. Fresh Lifelines for Youth targets youth at high risk of further involvement in the juvenile justice system, providing mentorship, leadership training, and a legal education program. The Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center Transition and Releasing Center provides ongoing case management, counseling, and life coaching when youth transition from detention back to their home and school communities.
"We must act....to ensure that youth in our criminal justice system have the ability to return TO their education or get jobs upon their release, rather than reentering the system.”
TONY THURMOND, CA State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Employer Outreach
Ongoing support after obtaining employment is also important to ensure youth persist in their workplace. Employers play an important role in their success. Training programs designed to meet the specific needs of employers or industries, such as JVS, a Battery Powered grantee, result in better job placement and higher wages for graduates. They also reduce the job search process and potential mismatches between training programs and job openings.
Other programs prepare youth who need basic job readiness skills, such as New Door Ventures, which offers a 3-month paid internship alongside workshops on job readiness, case management, and psychotherapy. Upon graduation, the majority have the skills to matriculate into more intensive workforce programs such as Battery Powered grantee Year Up.
Employers can also offer paid internships and job training opportunities. Whereas higher-income youth might be able to afford an unpaid internship, many opportunity youth need income to survive. Organizations such as Genesys Works offer high-quality paid internships at corporate employers.
RESOURCES