YEF Institute Research Reports

NLC has prepared a new report under contract with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and CFED tracing the growth of the Bank On model within the broader financial access field and examining the current landscape of Bank On programs.

Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, this NLC report highlights a growing trend in communities nationwide:  the emergence of comprehensive, citywide afterschool systems for children and youth.  The report identifies 27 cities that are among the most advanced in their efforts to coordinate afterschool opportunities and shows how these efforts are yielding concrete academic and public safety improvements.

This paper – coauthored by Clifford M. Johnson, executive director of the YEF Institute; Amy Rynell, director of the National Transitional Jobs Network; and Melissa Young, associate director of the National Transitional Jobs Project – makes the case for using public-service employment (PSE) and transitional jobs programs to combat economic recession and advance long-term workforce development goals.  The paper was originally presented at an Urban Institute conference on Reducing Poverty and Economic Distress after ARRA held in January 2010.

This 2005 NLC poll of local officials in 436 cities provides data on how many cities enforce youth curfews, and their views on the effectiveness of curfews in fighting juvenile crime, truancy, and gang violence.  The poll also offers a comparison with survey results from 2003, 2001, and 1999.

The report finds that cities are constrained in efforts to support children and families by tight fiscal conditions and that cities' greatest strengths in meeting the needs of children and families are in recreation and elementary through high school education.

Among the findings are that early learning opportunities are seen as critical needs in cities; four in ten city officials dedicate funding to early childhood; city leaders believe their cities have a stake in early childhood success; and local officials strongly support federal policies benefiting families with young children.

This report finds that city leaders see youth as one of the most underserved groups in America; job training and employment opportunities are seen as an especially critical need; youth voices are valued by local officials; and cities are providing youth with multiple opportunities to become involved in civic life.

Among the findings are that afterschool programs are a top priority for city officials; cities of all sizes have increased their investment in afterschool programs; there are several areas in which improvements can be made in municipal involvement; and an increased number of cities are not yet involved in afterschool.

Research findings are that cities are making the best of limited resources as they feel a financial pinch; funding sources for child and family services are changing; the greatest barrier to providing services is insufficient funding; and changes in state and federal funding allocations have hurt cities' ability to provide services.

This report finds that homeownership incentives and transportation improvements are the strategies cities are most likely to use to improve family economic security; city leaders consider a wide range of strategies to be effective; and most officials say job training and education are effective in helping low-income families.

This report presents conclusions from research on youth employment in the U.S. labor force conducted by Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies in 2003.  The report highlights how young Americans were hit hardest by the 2001-03 economic downturn, how over the long term young men are facing falling earnings, and how fewer high school students are able to gain a foothold in the job market.