Name of Promising Practice:Youth Employment Support (YES)
Category: Services to Job Seekers
Application Contact: Mary-Alane Wiltse, Director Workforce Investment Office
Organization/Address:
Columbia Greene Workforce New York
Columbia Greene Community College
4400 Route 23
Hudson, New York 12534
E-Mail Address: wiltse@sunycgcc.edu
Phone: (518) 828-4181
Step I: Identifying and Analyzing the Issue/Problem
The Youth Council and the Workforce Investment Board of Columbia & Greene Counties approved an out-of-school youth employment project to be operated by staff from the One-Stop Career Center. The project was designed to provide try-out subsidized employment opportunities with private employers. Employers agreed to permanently hire the youth who performed well on the job.
The project was having a difficult time recruiting and serving the “hard-to-serve”, high school dropout, WIA Title I, eligible population. In recruiting participants for the project we found that most of the youth who were interested in participating were facing multiple barriers to success. They were considered extremely “high-risk”. Most were high-school dropouts with basic skills deficiencies, very few had any work experience, many were ex-offenders and still on probation. None were interested in returning to any type of educational program, nor were they interested in participating in any type of pre-employment activity. The only interest these youth had was in making money. If they could not earn a wage they were not willing to participate.
Although try-out employment opportunities for them were arranged and case management support was being offered, the participants’ success at these jobs was limited. We were also facing the real problem of losing our credibility with the local employers who were participating in this project.
Step II: Goals and Desired Outcomes
The goal for this project was to create a staff supervised try-out employment program that would give “high-risk” youth a safe environment to develop some basic job-holding behaviors before they were placed in private sector jobs. This, we believed, would enable us to reach our overall desired outcome of meeting the WIA Title IB Youth Performance Measures.
Step III: Resources Needed/Critical Partners
In order for this program to be feasible we knew that the youth had to be given jobs that involved real work, while also providing them with the opportunity to develop job specific and work-behavior skills. Of course, operating an internship project becomes much more expensive when you have to add in the cost of a supervisor and supplies.
We had developed another successful project with the public Housing Authorities in our two counties. They had HUD Drug Diversion funds available. We contacted the Hudson Housing Authority to see if we could collaborate on this project. The Housing Authority did have some funds available and they also had empty apartments that needed to be refurbished before new occupants could move in. Our two agencies formed a partnership where the Housing Authority funded a Supervisor’s salary, and all the necessary supplies, and the YES project paid the wages of the youth interns and also purchased the necessary tools the participants’ needed to perform their jobs.
Step IV: Developing the Action Plan
Once there was agreement between the Hudson Housing Authority and the Career Center regarding the financial responsibilities of each organization there were a number of other steps that needed to be completed in order to implement this project. These steps included: developing a training outline of the skills the participants would learn on the job; applying to the Youth Council and the WIB for the approval of a WIB credential for successful completers of the project; and hiring a supervisor to perform the work and train the youth participants.
The Training Outline for a general construction laborer was developed with the input of four local construction businesses and the local BOCES carpentry instructor. They were provided with an outline of the tasks participants would perform on their internship and were then asked the following questions:
Once the training outline was completed a request was made to the Youth Council to certify the validity of the training and the method of evaluation. The request included a copy of the training outline, the input made by the local businesses and an explanation of the evaluation procedures. The Youth Council approved the training documents and made a resolution to the Workforce Investment Board of Columbia & Greene Counties to issue a credential to all participants that successfully complete the internship project (Attachment E). The WIB passed the resolution. This process took approximately one month.
As the credentialing process moved through its steps, the search for an appropriate supervisor was also underway. Hudson Housing Authority decided to handle the Supervisor position as a subcontract. Because of the nature of their work they had connections with numerous contractors in the area. They set up interviews with two local contractors who were interested in the project concept and with whom they had previously done business. Staff from the Career Center also attend these interviews. The contractor who was selected was also very involved in the local community and had previous volunteer experience with local youth organizations. This contractor understood exactly the goals of the internship project and the issues facing the youth who would be involved. He was very interested in participating and was selected as the contractor/supervisor.
Step V: Carrying out the Initiative
Staff from the Career Center handled recruitment of participants for the project. The process took approximately 6 weeks and involved contacting local youth service organizations, including Probation, the Boys and Girls Club, and the local Community Action agency. The Housing Authority also referred residents. In fact all participants, although referred by various agencies, were residents of the Housing Authority. Recruitment, intake and assessment took approximately two months to complete. The entire enrollment process followed the basic standard of any WIA out-of-school youth project, but also included an orientation meeting between the participants, the Case Manager and the Project Supervisor, where the goals, expectations and responsibilities were discussed (Attachment F).
The internship project served six participants and operated for 10 weeks. The participants worked 30 hours per week, earning the minimum wage. During that time they repaired walls and painted six apartments, as well as the administrative offices of the Housing Authority staff. A case manager from the Career Center was actively involved during the entire ten weeks of the project, helping the youth manage life issues, and providing workshops on job finding and holding skills.
During the 5th week of the project the Case Manager and the Project Supervisor met individually with each participant and completed the formal mid-term evaluation. The evaluation was in two parts. Part one focused on basic job holding skills. Part two focused on the job specific skills of the training outline.
During the 10th week of the project a mini graduation event was arranged at the Housing Authority. Members of the Youth Council and the WIB, family members, the local daily newspaper and eight employers were invited to attend. The participants gave tours of the apartments they worked on, described the skills they learned, and discussed their goals for the future. Three of the youth got hired by employers that attended the event. There was also a very favorable article published in the local newspaper. Perhaps most importantly, all the youth received a lot of favorable comments about the work they performed and they had the opportunity to meet with successful adults who applauded and validated their accomplishments.
The Case Manager continued to work with the youth after the project was complete, assisting them with finding and maintaining their employment. One of the follow-up services the Case Manager attempted to provide was a weekly dinnertime pizza party. It was felt that this would give the participants an opportunity to maintain the group cohesion that developed during the project and also provide a safe environment for the youth to discuss work and life issues. Unfortunately, the youth were not interested and none of them attended. This was in spite of the fact that all the participants had developed a positive relationship with the Case Manager and did keep in contact with him on a regular basis.
Regular contact was extremely important in helping the youth maintain their employment. The Case Manager kept in contact at least once a week, if not more, during the six-month follow-up period. He continued to assist the youth with life skills and work issues. Three of the youth were very unhappy with their first job placement and the Case Manager helped them find their next job. If regular contact had not been maintained, we believe these youth would have just quit their job without bothering to find another.
The major pitfall we encountered with this project was an inability to successfully connect the youth with a GED preparation program. There were two main reasons for this failure. First, the youth were not interested in getting their GED, and although its importance for long-term success was continuously impressed upon them, they were not interested in pursuing their education. Secondly, the only GED program available to them within walking distance was a daytime class. They were even less interested in going back to a school environment if it meant they would not be able to work and earn a paycheck.
The entire cost of the project was $29,861; with the WIA Title I share amounting to $21,481, or $3,580 per participant. This included the Case Manager’s salary, participant wages, participant supplies and supportive services. The major cost for the supportive services included assistance in helping the participants obtain their driver’s licenses.
Step VI: Measuring and Sustaining Success
The youth served by this project were extremely high risk. As mentioned before, all the participants were residents of public housing, and all were young men. Half of the participants were African-American and another 33% were Hispanic. All but one of the participants were high school dropouts and all but one (including the high school graduate) were basic skills deficient. Two of the participants were teen parents, two were on probation, and only two had a pre-program wage. One person was on public assistance and another was receiving food stamps.
All six of the participants completed the ten-week project and received a credential. Five of the six participants in this project found employment. The sixth youth violated his probation and was incarcerated (which meant he was not counted in the WIA performance measures). Three of the five youth met the six-month job retention mark, even though four of the participants switched jobs during the first six months. Three of the five participants also found employment related to the construction/building trades.
While this first project was underway other youth (friends of the participants and residents of the Housing Authority) started contacting our staff, asking to participate. We decided that even though the Housing Authority did not have funding to support the Supervisor position for another cycle, we needed to continue the project. Since that first cycle, which ran from January to March 2002, we have operated four additional projects over the past year and a half.
The second project was also held at the Hudson Housing Authority, where WIA Title I funds did have to cover the cost of the Supervisor’s salary. This project served eight youth and was held shortly after the completion of the first cycle. The Career Center sub-contracted with the same supervisor that worked on the first project. He was paid his going rate of $25/hr. Although it is undoubtedly obvious, it is important to note that the success of this project is due in large part to finding the right supervisor to work with these youth. Our supervisor has a clear understanding of these youths’ backgrounds and is able to show understanding and flexibility without allowing the youth to get out of hand or take advantage. We did not have a mini-job fair at the end of this project, as by this time the employers the Case Manager was working with had a clear understanding of the project and the skills the youth were learning.
The first two projects received such positive press that our other county wanted to get involved, so the third project took place in conjunction with the Catskill Housing Authority. Besides providing the supplies the Housing Authority was also able to reimburse us for 65% of the Supervisor’s salary. This project served five youth, and operated for only eight weeks instead of ten, due to the limited amount of work that needed to be completed in the apartments. In fact, some of the apartments were in such good shape that the supervisor got permission from the Housing Authority to cause some damage, so that the participants could learn how to do repairs.
The positive press also got another organization interested in working with us, so the fourth project was offered in conjunction with Housing Resources of Columbia County. For this project we had to pay the youth a higher wage because the working conditions were more difficult. The project took place in the winter in an unheated old building and involved gutting the interior so that it could be redesigned into low-income apartments. Housing Resources paid the entire cost for the Project Supervisor, who was an employee of their organization. This supervisor had less experience working with youth and more issues did arise that needed the constant intervention of the Case Manager. The supervisor started out being too nice to the participants and they took advantage. Once this occurred he had a difficult time getting them back under control.
The fifth project again took place at Hudson Housing Authority and ran concurrently with the project at Housing Resources. As a result these youth were paid at the same rate as the youth at the other project. This project also had our “regular” Supervisor, with WIA Title I funds paying for his subcontract. During the course of these two projects the Youth Council sponsored a breakfast for employers. Companies with entry-level jobs were invited to the breakfast to learn about the project and to meet current participants and successful graduates. Eleven employers attend the business breakfast and hired two of the interns.
During the entire year and a half that we have been operating these projects we have been able to generate a great deal of positive press, with four articles published in the local papers (Attachment G). In addition, each year the Youth Council sponsors a Celebrating Youth Projects Dinner, where the youth from all the agencies and school districts that operate WIA Title I youth projects come to a catered dinner and make presentations about what they accomplished during the year. Project supervisors, parents WIB members and Chief Elected Officials are also invited to attend. Each year the Youth Council selects a project to receive an Award of Excellence. The PY 01 award was given to the YES project.
The total WIA Title I costs for all five projects was $109,749, or $3,450 per participant. This includes the Case Manager’s salary, participant wages and benefits, supportive services, advertising, staff travel and the Project Supervisor’s salary (when necessary). Contributions made by sponsoring agencies (supervisor salaries and project supplies) have amounted to $45,900, or 29% of the total project costs.
The demographics of the youth that participated in this project are provided in the table below:
| BLACK | WHITE | HISPANIC | MALE | FEMALE | YOUNGER YOUTH | OLDER YOUTH | TEEN PARENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | 19% | 31% | 94% | 6% | 35% | 65% | 32% |
| OFFENDER | BASIC SKILL DEFICIENT | HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT | NO PRE-PROGRAM WAGE | TANFRECIPIENT | FOOD STAMP RECIPIENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42% | 74% | 74% | 87% | 19% | 26% |
The results in relation to meeting WIA Title I performance measures are presented in the table below (Note: We are unable to determine locally the Six Months Earnings Change for Older Youth measure, however the average weekly wage for those who found a job was $246.25):
| OLDER YOUTH | % | YOUNGER YOUTH | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entered Employment Rate | 78% | Skill Attainment Rate | 75% |
| Retention Rate | 83% | Diploma/GED Rate | N/A |
| Credential Rate | 94% | Retention Rate | 75% |
Other important results include:
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A – Training Outline
Attachment B – Mid Point Job Holding Skills Evaluation
Attachment C – Job Specific Skills Evaluation
Attachment D – Final Job Holding Skills Evaluation
Attachment E – WIB Credential
Attachment F – Orientation Handout
Attachment G – Newspaper Articles