NLC Selects 12 Cities for Learning Community on Youth Employment Strategies

The cities selected for the Reengaging Disconnected Youth Through Economic Recovery Efforts learning community include Des Moines, Iowa; Dubuque, Iowa; Hartford, Conn.; Manchester, Conn.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Newark, N.J.;  Portland, Ore.; Reno, Nev.; Rochester, N.Y.; Tucson, Ariz.; Washington, D.C.; and West Palm Beach, Fla.

The YEF Institute selected these communities after a rigorous review process. Cities were asked to submit proposals demonstrating strong municipal leadership and commitment to the needs of disconnected youth and evidence of collaboration with key work force partners. This initiative will enhance the capacity of cities to plan and implement work force development initiatives for youth who are out of school, out of work, or have been involved in the juvenile justice or foster care systems.

The learning community is made possible by the generous support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a national foundation committed to providing pathways out of poverty for vulnerable youth and other disadvantaged populations.

ARRA Summer Jobs Funding

Learning community cities will begin sharing promising practices for reengaging disconnected youth in employment through a series of webinars. With cities in the midst of the summer youth employment season, the first webinar will include a dialogue with representatives from the Department of Labor on how to use ARRA funding to support local efforts.

The ARRA legislation includes $1.2 billion to help local work force investment boards, which may or may not have an active partner in city government, expand youth employment activities. Thirty percent of these funds must be spent on out-of-school youth, including young adults up to age 24. Although the funding can be used to support both summer and year-round youth employment, the Department of Labor expresses a clear preference that the money be used for summer jobs programs.

In addition to maximizing the use of economic recovery funding, other themes to be addressed by the learning community include utilizing local data resources, connecting youth to green jobs, engaging older youth and working with community colleges. 

Supporting Long-Term Collaboration

The learning community will support the work of local teams that include municipal leaders and other public, private and nonprofit partners, such as work force investment boards, school districts, community colleges and the business community.

The YEF Institute will seek to sustain long-term collaborations by helping local teams improve data collection and accountability, adopt specific youth employment targets, set benchmarks for measuring progress and share resources and capacity. 

After the first six months of the project, the institute will review progress made by learning community participants and select up to six cities that will receive more intensive, individualized technical assistance during the project’s second phase.

Sharing Best Practices

City leaders who are interested in advancing employment strategies for disconnected youth can benefit from the knowledge gained through this learning community and other resources offered by the YEF Institute. Earlier this year, the institute developed a briefing paper describing opportunities for cities to use ARRA funding to promote summer and year-round employment of disconnected youth. 

Lessons and experiences from the learning community will also be shared with the nearly 600 members of NLC’s Municipal Network for Disconnected Youth (MNDY) through the network’s monthly e-newsletter and quarterly audioconferences.

Details: The ARRA brief on youth employment, as well as a recording of a March 4 audioconference and a May 26 webinar on this topic, are available at www.nlc.org/iyef and www.nlc.org/recovery. To learn more about the learning community or to join MNDY, contact Carlos Becerra at (202) 626-3160 or becerra@nlc.org.