Baltimore: A City Divided Closing the Gap
In Baltimore, an estimated 14,000 youth applied for YouthWorks, with 7,500 of those advancing through the verification process before the Coronavirus pandemic halted everything. Quickly, Digital Harbor Foundation (DHF), a local nonprofit organization and a YouthWorks host-site, saw and responded to the gap in services caused by the shutdown. DHF co-created a plan with the city to put measures in place to ensure youth would not lose employment opportunities as Baltimore closed down.
Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEP) serve as an entry point into the workforce for many youth and the only entry point for some. Participating youth come from low-income families and communities that were hardest hit by layoffs related to COVID-19. These youth are not eligible for unemployment nor will they receive stimulus checks, and their families depend on the income generated from their summer employment. Without Baltimore’s SYEP, the city’s youth will continue to experience additional barriers than normal kickstarting their career, long beyond the summer months.
The team at DHF put together a plan to adapt and develop a remote summer work experience. With everything shifting overnight to remote work, the DHF team saw the near- and long-term need to tackle three immediate challenges: internet access, access to technology devices, and a curriculum that simulates a virtual working environment. Here’s how they began bridging the digital divide:
Access + Technology
Baltimore has one of the largest digital divides when compared against other cities nationwide. Like many of Baltimore’s disparities, black and brown communities are most likely to be disconnected. In Baltimore specifically, “half of African Americans and 46.2% of Hispanic residents have internet, while white residents’ adoption is 73.3%. Along income lines, adoption falls with each bracket, with internet access as low as 33.8% among people making less than $25,000,” according to a report by The Abell Foundation.
The internet is arguably the most important communication and occupational tool of the 21st century. Today, more than ever, the internet serves as the connection point for work, education, grocery shopping, entertainment, and keeping touch with friends and family.
DHF worked with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development and Councilman Zeke Cohen to establish a rapid response plan. Together, a multi-agency coalition formed and secured funding. Funds were used to: (1) retain the Summer Youth Employment Program; (2) mobilize a MESH network, which boosts the signal from one public internet access point and expends connectivity to areas that were previously disconnected; and (3) raise and distribute computer devices to youth in households without access.
The Curriculum
Introducing young people to a virtual work environment is critical for developing skills needed to survive and thrive in the tech age. The need for remote youth employment opportunities became evident this year as the global economy transformed overnight. Those who do not have readily available internet or access to devices, may not have the opportunity to develop the digital literacy skills required for work and education that is only available remotely. As a result, being digitally disconnected contributes to a widening gap in immediate and long-term educational and career advancement opportunities.
To solve this, a team of youth development professionals, curriculum designers, and a cohort of youth leaders assessed and identified remote solutions. Based on their findings, they curated a playlist of pre-existing curriculum along with curriculum they designed and developed to address any gaps discovered. The resulting curriculum, called the Future of Work Curriculum, adds digital literacy and project-based learning to the traditional employment training standard which focuses on foundational (also referred to as “soft”) skills, financial literacy, and career readiness.
The Future of Work curriculum is designed to be delivered to cohorts of 15 with a Job Coach managing and facilitating daily team stand-up meetings and providing individualized supports in between check-ins. The curriculum is intentionally designed to be self-paced, interactive, and replicate remote work-life. This aims at a goal for youth to develop skills like time management, task management, troubleshooting, and self-advocacy while also learning and applying the use of technical tools that will be used in their future careers.
Setting Youth Up for Success
To ensure youth were supported in this transition, the Baltimore team knew it would require Job Coaches who not only understand and empathize with the youth participants but who could help them translate the learnings to real-life job experience. For this reason, the team developed a guide to accompany the onboarding for Job Coaches. This guide takes coaches through the curriculum and learning objectives while training them on how to facilitate "learning how to learn" specific to each module.
The goal of this curriculum is to help youth learn how to learn, inspire curiosity, and empower agency, independent thinking, and problem-solving for self-guided, deeper exploration.
In order to help share the learnings from Baltimore’s 2020 Virtual program, The Future of Work curriculum is currently being readied for free and public release. The curriculum incorporates the principle of universal design learning in order to accommodate different learning and work styles. The hope is that while this won’t supplement the lost wages youth will experience in other cities, it will help them reduce lost learning opportunities, and prepare them for their future careers.
If you’re interested in learning more about their program and their curriculum, please contact Nyah Vanterpool at nyah@digitalharbor.org if you would like to learn more about the program and register for access.