Mapping Opportunities for Disconnected Youth

 

#FUNDTHEYOUTH

Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEP) are essential for opportunity youth and their futures, but these programs have to be funded with a consistent investment in the preparation for the future of work. This means better systems for job matching, coach pairing, and participation tracking to have the impact they’re designed to have. Learn more about how Youth Jobs Connect is helping communities build hyper-local solutions.

 

Prep for Future of Work

SYEPs serve 41% Black youth, 20% Hispanic youth, and 11% Asian youth. The loss of these programs perpetuates the inequities. SYEPs create access to better futures with a lasting impact on racial justice. Learn how Youth Jobs Connect helps with the rapid response to incorporate curriculum designed to close the digital divide and prepare youth for the future of work with solutions for access to the internet and devices.

 

Connect Nationwide

Access to influential networks has a significant impact on career opportunities and long-term success. Youth Jobs Connect is curating those networks for youth nationwide with a national virtual mentorship network connecting youth with professional mentors at all levels and youth to other youth across the country. Learn more about how Youth Jobs Connect is creating connections for youth nationwide.

 
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City Spotlight: Baltimore

Baltimore, a city that ranks 29th out of 33 cities for its digital divide, has quickly pivoted its Summer Youth Employment Program to a virtual learn-and-earn simulation of a remote working environment. The Rapid Response team quickly responded to the digital divide in Baltimore by tackling Internet access, access to technology devices, and virtual, interactive curriculum to boost digital literacy, financial literacy, and career readiness. It is designed to help preserve city budgets for FY 2020 and FY 2021 (…read more)

In The News

What's Happening?

“The country’s disconnected youth are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty, more than three times as likely to have a disability of some kind, nine times as likely to have dropped out of high school, and more than twenty times as likely to be living in institutionalized group quarters as their connected counterparts.” - Measure of America

“More than 90 percent of applicants to Chicago’s OSC+ Program received free or reduced price lunch, and applicants lived in neighborhoods where a third of households live below the poverty line and unemployment averages nearly 20 percent.” - J-Pal Policy Briefcase

“The best way to prevent looting is to provide people with a living wage, provide for their basic needs,  treat them with human dignity, and facilitate a life that is about thriving.” -USA Today

“The need to develop trust and transparency between opportunity youth and employers as a way to overcome the biases that erect formidable barriers to connection” - Schultz Family Foundation

“Providing in the short term for the basic needs of these communities and committing over the long term to building an infrastructure of opportunity for young people in isolated and impoverished rural areas as well as in deeply disadvantaged urban neighborhoods must be our priority” - Measure of America

“Compared to white students, Black students were more likely to have extended family members who needed money and asked them to help. When Black students got a summer job, for example, they might end up sending checks to help a nephew or a cousin. Economists refer to this as ‘leakage.’” - Investopedia

“The SYEP initiative also serves as a source of income for low-income families, the IBO said. Last summer, 85 percent of participants came from families reporting incomes of $31,000 or less, and many of them lived in the city’s public housing.” - New York City by the Numbers

“Funding cuts for the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) might cause young people to lose over $109 million in wages in 2020 (NYC)” - Manhattan Times