Serving Out-of-School Youth

Serving Out-of-School Youth Presenter: Diana Jackson Executive Director, Youth Workforce Solutions dianajackson@youthworkforcesolutions.com www.youthworkforcesolutions.com

Why serve out-of-school youth?

By the numbers • Minnesota’s Overall Dropout Rate: 12% • Minority Dropout Rates: • Hispanic: 54% • Black: 53% • Asian: 29% • American Indian: 64%

Disengaged Youth • In Minnesota • 17,000 youth age 16-19 are not attending school and not working • 55,000 young adults age 18-24 are not working, not attending school, and have no degree beyond a high school diploma

What are the consequences if we don’t engage these youth? • Economic • 1 in 4 young adults age 18-24 lives in poverty • These youth are being left out of the employment pipeline for high-quality jobs • Dropouts cost state billions in lost revenue and taxes and hundreds of millions in funding criminal services and social services • Dropouts from the class of 2008 cost Minnesota almost $4 billion in lost wages over their lifetime.

What are the consequences if we don’t engage these youth? • Social • More likely to commit crimes • More likely to be incarcerated • More likely to be on public assistance • Less likely to vote • Less likely to have intergenerational mobility

What are the consequences if we don’t engage these youth? • Individual • Lifetime earnings gap between high-school dropouts and high-school graduates is $260,000, with the average loss of $1 million compared to college graduates • More likely to be and remain unemployed • Unemployment is associated with increased mortality, suicide, and admission to mental hospitals • The U.S. death rate for persons with fewer than 12 years of education is two-and-a-half times higher than for those with 13 or more years of education

WIA requires serving out-of-school youth • Local areas must spend 30% of their local youth allocations on out-of-school youth.

Who are out-of-school youth?

WIA definition • WIA eligible youth who is a school dropout OR • An eligible youth who has received a secondary school diploma or its equivalent but is basic skills deficient, unemployed, or underemployed

Characteristics of Out-of-School Youth • More likely to be older and consider themselves adults, not youth • More likely to have adult, including family, responsibilities • Often need immediate income • Often have little interest in long-term programs • Often cynical and suspicious of adults • Often have negative attitudes toward school and learning

Characteristics of Discouraged Learners Impatient with routine, sitting a long time, or learning environments with little variety Externalizers—do not see a relationship between effort and achievement Believe that results are beyond their control and so do not take personal responsibility for success or failure Practical learners

Characteristics of Discouraged Learners Low self-confidence, have deep feelings of helplessness Avoiders Distrustful of adults and adult institutions Don’t see a future, so planning may be irrelevant to them Basic skills deficient Parents and family members often have same characteristics, which makes involving them difficult Often prefer peer relationships to adults’ attempts to engage them in positive (from the adults’ perspective) social activities Source: At-Risk Students: Reaching and Teaching Them by Richard Sagor and Jonas Cox

Potential Effects on Retention • May avoid you if they are having problems or feel they have failed • May distrust intrusive questions, especially from a stranger • May lack a supportive environment, which makes it easy to fall back into old patterns • May not understand the connection between their behaviors and challenges or setbacks • May still need help with basic skills to succeed or advance

Intensive employability needs • Basic academic skills • Work readiness skills • Occupational skills • Career exploration and counseling to identify long-term goals and career and educational pathways • Often have more extensive—and expensive—supportive service needs to be able to gain work experience

Reaching Out-of-School Youth

Using WIA funds to pay for outreach • WIA youth funds can be spent on any youth for outreach and recruitment • Make sure to include funds for outreach and recruitment in your budget

Principle 1: Recruit youth where they are • Community Events • Have a booth a local fairs, community events, job fairs, athletic events • Have literature available that answers youth’s questions • Engage youth in conversations; ask about them and their needs, don’t just talk about your program • Have current or past participants at the booth as well as adults • Give away inexpensive items like pens, water bottles, etc. (A dish of candy works well, too)

Principle 1: Recruit youth where they are • Provide outreach in places youth congregate • Youth centers • Community centers • Churches • Malls

Principle 1: Recruit youth where they are • Example: • CHALK in San Francisco trains teams of youth to go to bus stops and talk to other youth about the program. Youth also staff Youthline, a phone-based service that provides information about programming as well as crisis intervention.

Principle 2: Talk to everyone • Make connections with people who come in contact with out-of-school youth for referrals • Pastors, youth leaders • Parole officers • Trusted adults • One-Stop contacts • Make sure it’s all right to mention who referred the youth • If possible, have the person who knows the youth make a personal introduction

Principle 3: Make media work for you • Having a website is non-negotiable • 1 page with your mission statement, address, and phone number is not enough • Include • Purpose of the program • Benefits: what will they get out of it • How long will it take them to get that benefit? • What services do you offer? • Who is eligible? • A virtual tour • Contact information, including a person’s name, phone number and email

Principle 3: Make media work for you • Public service announcements • Advertise on youth’s favorite radio stations • Some movie theaters show PSAs along with advertising before the movies start • Use local media to your advantage • If local news has a spot for interviews or local profiles, ask to be featured • Advertise in neighborhood papers • Don’t overlook the media that parents or grandparents may use; adults may be looking for programs for youth

Principle 3: Make media work for you • Use social networking sites, like FaceBook, Twitter, Tumblr (or whatever is the “in” site) • Provide information about programming and upcoming events • Encourage communication with current participants • Have current participants encourage other youth to friend you • Practice safe Internetting: monitor all communication

Principle 4: Get them in the door • Provide opportunities for youth to come into your physical location • Advertise • Have current participants invite friends • Invite adults • Serve food • Have giveaways • Have local youth perform • Provide information about the program • Talk to them—and more important, LISTEN to them

Principle 5: Use your best recruiters — your participants • The most effective recruiting method is word-of-mouth • Encourage youth to tell other youth about your program and how it can help • Provide incentives for recruiting other youth

Principle 6: Follow up • If a youth seems interested, ask if you can contact them in a few days after they’ve had time to think about the program, visit the website, or talk to other youth • Ask them how they’d like to be contacted: home phone, cell phone, email, text message • Make references to your previous conversation: “I remember you told me about…” • If you don’t think your program will meet the youth’s needs, refer them to one that will • If you say you will follow up, do it!

How to waste your outreach time and money • Send out letters, especially letters with county agency letterhead • Make cold calls • Include your mission and vision statements on your recruiting materials • Use a lot of administrative, bureaucratic jargon • Use brochures that are text-heavy • Advertise on public-access channels

Engaging and Retaining Out-of-School Youth

Principle 1: Meet immediate needs first • If a youth needs help NOW, meet that need as soon as possible • Do not wait until you’ve done an objective assessment; as soon as you determine eligibility, you can start providing services • Even if it isn’t an urgent need, use the initial assessment to identify something that would help the youth right away and provide it as soon as you can • Meeting an immediate need builds trust; the youth is more likely to give you a chance because you said you would help them and you did

Principle 2: Help them envision a future • Many older, out-of-school youth don’t see a future for themselves • Help them see where they can go, beginning with where they are • Break up the “big picture” into small, manageable steps • Point out positive role models—adults who have overcome similar difficulties

Principle 3: Make planning a partnership • Never develop a plan FOR a youth, only WITH a youth • Don’t force goals onto a youth • Talk about options and let the youth make the choice about what program or service is right for them

Principle 4: Focus on assets • Every youth has gifts, talents, and assets • When planning (e.g. developing an ISS), start with the youth’s strengths and build on those instead of starting with problems and barriers

Principle 5: Don’t set youth up for failure • Don’t • Enroll drop-outs in any program that looks like a traditional school (e.g. large group instruction without personalization, inflexible scheduling, etc.) • Insist that a youth get a diploma or G.E.D. before providing them with work experience • Enroll basic skills deficient youth in G.E.D. preparation without remediation • Use a one-size-fits-all approach by placing youth in your “out of school program” whether or not it meets their needs

Principle 6: Use assessment wisely • Don’t give them a test as soon as they walk in the door • Explain every assessment completely: why they are taking it, how the results will be used, how knowing the results will help them • Make sure they understand they cannot fail • Make any assessment process youth-friendly • Use appropriate assessments, understand the results yourself, and explain results to the youth

Principle 7: Programming must be interesting and relevant • Out of school youth are not typically engaged by • Abstract, theoretical instruction • Passive learning activities like lecture • Activities that are disconnected from their experiences or needs • Out of school youth are typically more engaged by • Active, hands-on learning activities • Academic instruction that is presented in an authentic, relevant context

Principle 8: Provide a positive social environment • An environment that is fun and productive will keep youth involved • If either element is missing, youth won’t remain engaged

Principle 8: Provide a positive social environment • All youth must feel respected and valued • Teach tolerance, value diversity • Race, ethnicity, culture, religion (or lack of it), sexual orientation, gender identity

Principle 8: Provide a positive social environment • All youth must feel safe • Have policies and procedures in place that assure all youth are protected from all forms of violence, including bullying and harassment

Principle 9: Focus on goals • Help youth set long-term and short-term goals • Long-term goals should focus on youth becoming self-sufficient • Long-term goals should include post-secondary education or advanced training • Short-term goals should be specific, measurable, realistic, and relevant • Encourage youth to think about the steps needed to reach their goals, don’t simply tell them what they need to do

Principle 9: Focus on goals • If youth start to lose interest or commitment, revisit their goals with them • Remind them of why it was important to them in the first place to become involved • Listen and find out if their circumstances, needs, or goals have changed

Principle 10: Keep it personal • The single most important factor in engaging and retaining youth is building relationships • Make connections with youth • Don’t try to be “one of them”; they have friends, they need caring adults • LISTEN

Following up with Out-of-School Youth

Principle 1: Remember why you’re doing follow up • The law requires it for at least 12 months after exit • You want to help youth to become stable in their jobs, post-secondary education, and/or training • Yes, you do need the information for performance measures (but that’s not the most important reason!)

Principle 2: Exit is your word, not theirs • If you want a youth to disappear on you, tell them they’ve exited the program • If you want to keep in touch with a youth, • Tell them they are transitioning to a new phase where they’ll become more and more independent • Treat this step as a celebration of success • Remind them that you’ll still be there to help • Make frequent contact at first, then gradually increase the intervals between contacts

Principle 3: Have a plan • Develop an individual follow-up plan with each youth • Keep youth focused on education or employment goals • Provide opportunities for career and job counseling (do they know how and when to ask for a raise? How to get a promotion?) • Help them learn to solve their own problems: if your car breaks down, what is your plan? If you need a last-minute babysitter, what will you do?

Principle 4: Use technology—they do In a recent survey of over 7,000 US college students, researchers found that • 97% own a computer • 94% own a cell phone • 76% use Instant Messaging. • 34% use websites as their primary source of news • 28% own a blog and 44% read blogs • 75% of college students have a Facebook account

Principle 4: Use technology—they do • Don’t use snail mail and expect a response • Communicate the way Gen Y does • Cell phones • Email • Text messaging • Social networking sites • Instant messaging (IMs) • Have at least 3 ways to contact a youth (not just 3 phones numbers)

Principle 5: Relationships again • If you have a positive relationship with a youth, you don’t have to worry about keeping in contact (but you might have to worry about getting rid of them)

Questions?

Serving Out-of-School Youth