Hidden Jobs and Why Workforce System Participants Can’t Find Them

By Edward DeJesus

The nation’s workforce development and social service systems are ill equipped to address the unemployment crisis in the United States.  Their efforts consistently fall flat because too much attention has been placed on short sighted workforce development strategies and practices.  By focusing attention and funding on programs that simply provide skills training and work readiness preparation; they fail to address a critical component that millions of jobseekers need just as much, if not more.  Research indicates that up to 85% of available jobs are not listed in the newspapers or on-line.  These employment opportunities exist in what economist call “the hidden labor market.” For in the hidden labor market, success is achieved by not only about what you know, or who you know; it’s more about who knows you and likes you.

This unspoken reality holds true in the realm of education. The parent who is waiting for the overworked high school counselor to provide their child with information will be waiting a long time. With caseload of up to 500 to 1, high school careers counselors don’t have the time, not to mention the training or access to information, to help student uncover the myriad of educational scholarships and training opportunities available.  Educational opportunity is also based on being in the know, and surrounded by people who know, too.

If the unemployment problem is to be effectively addressed, jobseekers must receive assistance in the area of establishing and cultivating opportunity networks, and then drawing from the resources that these networks provide. Without sustained access to these “opportunity networks”, a major part of the workforce development equation is missing.

An informal survey of program directors for youth summer jobs across the country revealed a glaring problem when it comes to providing youth the proper tools to build opportunity networks and the skills to sustain them.  When asked how many students sent thank you letters to their summer work supervisors or were even prompted to do so, an overwhelming majority answered “none.”

This example is indicative of a workforce system still deeply entrenched in old school workforce development strategies that honestly, have never met any high degree of success.  By staunchly sticking with old school methodologies simply because they exist is a testament to the lack of resolve and commitment among our nation’s policymakers and funding communities to change the nature of opportunity for low-income Americans.

Taking this disservice to jobseekers as a personal challenge, I developed a new program strategy: “Opportuneurship.”  Opportuneurship is a system wide set of principles and practices that gives jobseekers the tools, skills and opportunities to access the hidden employment and educational networks. Opportuneurship is not entrepreneurship. While a very small percentage of job seekers become entrepreneurs,  they all must become opportuneurs -  their future labor market success depends on it.

By equipping jobseekers with the tools that open the gateway to the 85% of jobs that are never advertised in the newspapers, their success percentage increases by significant levels.

The fact that the majority of unemployed are from low income communities only means they are from areas where the majority of people are unemployed and or underemployed.  In such an environment, how is one to ascertain good labor market information, especially when everyone else is in the same boat?  Though we’ve all heard of the “good ol’ boy” network, mainstream society refuses to openly acknowledge its existence, often promoting the façade of equal opportunity employment in public, while opening back room doors for their chosen candidates. This hidden labor market snatches employment opportunities away from low income job seekers that most times they were never even made aware of in the first place. The existence of this exclusionary network forces these poor job seekers to fend for themselves in an already diminished job pool.

What this workforce system needs is an infusion of resources that will allow local workforce boards and community based programs to build strong connections between jobseekers and the opportunities that so elusively remain hidden in the backroom good ol’ boy networks and associations. It requires a system with the willingness to invest in not only preparing people for jobs, but one that will give them access to the highway of information that allows them to drive their own futures, taking any off-ramp they choose.

In the current state of the job market only a select few are aware of these necessary strategies and are taking advantage of them. This gross oversight is one of the major reasons that the employment outlook seems so bleak to many jobseekers. A review of the national work readiness credential showed that there have been no measurements taken to determine the degree to which networking and helping participants sustain that network is essential to labor market success.  The fact that the concept of Opportuneurship is an overlooked and underfunded strategy while major corporations utilize networking on a daily basis, places a spotlight on this broken system that can no longer be ignored. I challenge the leaders of the nation’s workforce system and the policymakers that created it, to look beyond traditional approaches and immediately incorporate Opportuneurship as an essential program component.  We must demand the incorporation of Opportuneurship programs and strategies if our youth and dislocated jobseekers are to have a fighting chance.

It is pointless to profess concern and perpetrate vigorous strides towards resolving unemployment when the critical vehicles necessary to propel jobseekers onto the path of success is being omitted from the programs funded to help them. Why would a jobseeker take their time and energy to complete a program where the end result will not put them in any better of a position than when they started?   What we don’t do for people tells them more about us than what we do for them.  Subjecting millions of low-income job seekers to antiquated methods is doing nothing but showing how much you don’t care.

Edward DeJesus is a national expert of workforce and youth development. Reprint of article allowed as long as author is properly referenced. For more information on Opportuneurship or to get involved with the Opportuneurship Movement, please visit www.edwarddejesus.com or e-mail: edscinfo@gmail.com

The bottom 50% of Americans make less th

The bottom 50% of Americans make less than 33,048/yr while top 1% earn an avg of 380,000. Do the bottom 50% matter and do the top 50% care?

Helping Youth Succeed in the Workforce Will Take More than Skill Training

by Edward DeJesus

Ensuring that teens are properly versed on their rights as an employee and on our society’s economic justice principles is an imperative aspect in their overall preparation for life. Youth who are not properly equipped run the risk of being exploited and will likely have a poor experience in the workplace. Parents, teachers, and youth organizations must work together in order to provide teens with the skills and information that will enhance the probability of success.

Making teens aware of workers’ rights provides them with the guidelines of reciprocity. Employers make their expectations known by outlining them in guides or handbooks pertaining to their company. In turn, workers’ rights assure employees that in return for their honest labor, employers are bound to a standard that ensures that they are safe, respected, and duly compensated. Understanding the give and take of this relationship prevents youth workers from falling into a role of complete servitude, accepting practices or tasks that are demeaning, unsafe, or unfair. Knowing what their rights are provides youth with the platform to set their boundaries with an employer without the fear of losing employment for unjust reasons. It also gives them a clearer understanding of the process for filing a grievance and what their entitlements are.

Familiarization with organizations such as the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations) and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission further arm youth with the tools necessary to prevent employer manipulation and serve as a reference point for the majority of work related concerns. The knowledge of the principles enforced by both organizations will empower youth, preventing them from falling prey to discrimination by knowing where to turn when they have a problem, and making them more workforce savvy.

Just Got Paid?

Remember what it was like when you were first introduced to an entity called FICA? Unless you were previously forewarned it was no doubt a disappointing and eye-opening experience. Recalling such shock, consider how many teens go into a job believing that a job that offers $9 an hour actually pays $9 an hour. Why wouldn’t they believe that? Isn’t that what they were told? Along with knowing and understanding their rights as workers, teens must also be schooled on where their money is going and why. This information puts the bigger picture into perspective and helps teens to understand how business works and what to expect by way of compensation.

Economic justice defines deliverables from both the young adult and the employer. One famed theory of economic justice, known as The Three Principles of the Kelso-Adler Theory of Economic Justice, illustrates how input, output and feedback from both parties bring balance and profit to both employer and employee. These three principles are Participation, Distribution, and Harmony. It is essential that the young adult understands that their value to the company is predicated by the value of work they provide to their employer. This understanding is broken down even further within the explanations of each of these three principles.

The Principle of Participation is defined as how one employee can contribute to the economic process, allowing that individual to earn a living. This is done when the employee is afforded the opportunity to engage in acts that lead to productive work. This principle offers all persons the right to be a productive asset to the economy through their local employer. This portion of the theory of economic justice simply states to the young adult that the quantity and quality of work demonstrated can help them to advance within their current place of employment.

The Principle of Distribution links potential incomes of employees to productive contributions made by the employee. This principle also utilizes the free and open marketplace as a proper means to identify what is a sound price for products. Additionally, it also helps to determine just wages and profits for specific items and industries. This principle can help the young adult gauge their worth and their earning potential based off their contributions within a specific industry.

The Principle of Harmony simply ensures that the first two principles are recognized by all employers. It also reserves the right to inflict strong punishments and heavy fines on corporations and employers that seek to exclude and exploit their employees by demonstrating greed, harassment or other measures that promote unfair conditions within the workplace.

By explaining these principals along with the workers’ rights teens are able to walk into a job opportunity properly informed of what is expected of them and what they should expect and in certain cases demand in return. This empowerment produces a more confident, self-sufficient young adult, as well as a mature and balanced employee.

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To contact Edward DeJesus email him at: edwarddejesusseminars@gmail.com or call 301-252-0146

Jobs and Training for Poor Black and Latino Youth

 While the lack of skills of young adults is clearly an issue that needs to be remedied, there are three other critical issues that are rarely addressed – employer discrimination, the hidden labor market, and the segregated communities that many poor young adults are forced to survive in.

 

Employer discrimination not only encompasses the obvious lack of diversity in the workplace, but also includes the ill-treatment of young adultsonce they are within the company. Preconceived notions, stereotypes, and bias, play a huge part in the manner in which employers select their employees, and the often undue scrutiny to which young black and Latino males are subjected. These obstacles don’t make the corporate ladder hard to climb, but rather make it unreachable.

 

Though we’ve all heard of the “good ol’ boy” network, mainstream society refuses to openly acknowledge its existence, often promoting the façade of equal opportunity employment in public, while opening back room doors for their chosen candidates. This hidden labor market snatches employment opportunities away from African American males that most times they were never even made aware of in the first place. The existence of this exclusionary network forces these poor young adults black men to fend for themselves in an already diminished job pool.

 

Our inability to deal with these issues of inequality, cultural competence, and the structural issues that impact the economic life changes of the youth we serve is a main reason why young people are not feeling our programs in the first place. In a country with only 250,000 publicized slots for 5.4 million out-of- school youth, our programs should not have a recruitment and retention problem.

 

I will give it to you straight no chaser. It doesn’t matter who signs your youth development certification credential, unless the aforementioned issues are dealt with, we are not ensuring jobs for the youth in our service, but rather for ourselves, the middle class professional youth service worker. The truth of the matter is that the majority of middle class youth workers are youth culturally incompetent.

 

At a recent conference where I spoke about the need to do basic things like change our voice mail system to make them a little more appealing to youth, one youth worker told me that employers are not interested in hearing youth culture when they call his office. I’m sure he meant well, but it is this type of thinking that keeps young black males estranged from their programs, but at the same time confused by society’s message. A particular example of this is Nextel’s commercial that states “WHERE YOU AT????????” On the surface this message indicates that Nextel gets it, that they know how to reach the young people. The underlying message, however, is that of suburban America telling young black males, “We can use your culture to draw you in and take your money, but we don’t want you working here.”

 

“If you can’t find the solution, it’s because you can’t see the problem, and if you can’t see it, how can you fix it?” If this statement that I use in many of my speeches is remotely true, then for the past 40 years the workforce development policy has been in need of laser eye surgery.

 

Training has been a cruel hoax on the poor and Negroes, as the trained are not placed on jobs and are shifted to other training programs or allowed to drift in the limbo of the irregular marginal economy. -Dr. Martin Luther King

 

If Dr. King had this type of insight in the sixties, why is it that we are still floundering around using the same ineffective methods, looking for a solution that is right in front of us? When is someone besides the young person going to stand up and say, “This isn’t working?” That time must be now. Youth service providers must shake off the cobwebs of their old systems, clear their goggles, and advocate for the following changes:

 

1. Increased Job Creation for Poor Young Adults. The emphasis here has to be jobs now, permanent jobs. Given the incompetence of the middle class youth worker, the lack of hope to address this competence, the unwillingness of employers to hire young adults, especially young black males, and the current economic crisis, it is imperative that we employ a nation of Young Adult Human Service Workers (Peer Support Workers (PSWs)) to provide much needed services in the battle for economic opportunity for America’s youth. PSWs can serve a role in human services that the middle class youth worker can’t. They can reach the youth because they haven’t forgotten what it takes to reach them. PSWs can: · Get a credible message out in the community where the youth are. They’re willing to go to the natural environments at times when the middle class youth worker does not want to be present. ·Attend weddings, funerals, cook-outs, krump battle sessions, showing their interest in the things that interest youth while promoting the FEO message at a time when the message will be well received. ·Inform and train the workforce and education system in how to respect the community. ·Reach the hard to reach because they don’t have to validate who they are and why they are there.

 

The PSW position can be invaluable if given the latitude and resources necessary. The PSW position must be integrated into every budget and made into a full-time permanent position with room for advancement into counselor, case manager, job developer, and director positions. Advancement must not rest on the acquirement of any traditional degrees, however. Non-traditional pathways to higher position must be created and legitimized by the research community.

 

2. Workers Rights Training. This training is a crucial part of equipping youth and yet is often overlooked within employment programs. Information regarding what youth should expect and what is expected of them inside the workplace must be integrated into every workforce curriculum and program. See my last article – The Forgotten Competency Workers’ Rights.

 

3. Office of Youth Cultural Competence. The creation of this element within a program is imperative in order to gauge, monitor, support, and sanction the use or non-use of youth culturally competent educational and workforce approaches within workforce investment areas and school districts. The focus must be on reaching these youth and boosting them into success rather than on satisfying the needs of employers who don’t want them and community colleges that can’t keep them.

 

The bottom line is that unless we are willing to step out of our collective comfort zones and embrace the culture where our youth reside, we are going to continue to lose them through the cracks. The only question is will we be the ones creating them?

Three Jobs that Obama Needs to Create to Put Youth to Work, Improve the Effectiveness of the Youth Service System, and Reduce Government Waste on Ineffective Programs

Are the majority of participants in our nation’s employment and training system finding themselves in high wage/high growth jobs? Or are they finding themselves working where they used to work or not working at all? Despite the best efforts of our nation’s job training system, many youth simply find themselves still entangled in the youth labor market—a place characterized by low pay, no benefits, demanding schedules and job requirements that bite significantly into their paltry wages.

“The Forgotten Half—Non-College Bound Youth in America,” a national report on the status of youth employment in our country, states that many large corporations don’t hire youth for career level jobs, even at the entry level position. In fact, studies point out that employers these days are reluctant to hire native born youth, under the age of 25, and who reside within the local community for even the most basic of employment – the fast food position.

In many of my presentations I ask employment and training providers, “are we getting them started just to get them stuck.” Given this chilling bit of reality, it is time for policy makers to explore new ideas on how to reduce the 40% youth unemployment rate among our nation’s high school drop-outs.

While many policy makers still think all they need to do is solve the skills mismatch crisis – just give the youth the skills needed by business and they will get employed –  the opportunity to engage and purposefully employ today’s youth is slipping through the cracks. Rather than thinking outside the box, our political representatives are missing the mark and it’s time to change gears and focus to a new and integrated way of operating.

Would you believe that your youth workforce system is a pathway to opportunity if you were a youth who saw the majority of their peers coming out of the system unemployed or underemployed?

Of course not!

Issues of racism, discrimination, and the failure of the school system are subjects that the workforce development community does not like to talk about.  Although the President’s intent to inspire when telling our drop-outs that when they drop-out of school, they are dropping out on their country. The truth is we dropped the ball on these youth a long time ago.

It is time to put youth to work and stop hoping that the already decimated business community is going to rush to employ those with so many barriers to future economic success. Let’s start by creating a reason for youth to invest in, subscribe to, and complete our programs. Let’s offer guaranteed transitional jobs to all of our program graduates. Give our youth the opportunity to serve us with the skills that we have deemed imperative for them to acquire. Reward them by leveling the playing field and allowing them to take their place on that field rather than watching idly from the sidelines.

Let’s stop asking how do we serve youth and let them serve us where they are needed most – in the communities where they live and play.  An important characteristic for success in working with youth is the ability to communicate. Youth workers must know the language, attitudes and disposition of the target population. These qualities are best obtained if a percentage of youth workers are themselves a part of the local community. We must at all costs connect our youth to opportunities that reach beyond hanging in the streets and afford them the chance to be productive and meaningful contributors to our society.

Here are some recommendations for immediate youth job creations program.

Youth Outreach and Orientation Departments

Every federally funded social service organization should be mandated and funded to institute and support a department of Youth Outreach and Orientation. Here local youth can be trained and employed to address the insidious actions, behaviors and beliefs that misdirect the energy of millions of youth in low-income communities.

Utilizing youth in these departments can be an essential force in reaching at-risk youth at times and places when most educators won’t. They can help get the word out to high risk youth about the availability of education, workforce and social services, as well as correct much of the bad information that currently exists about these services.

Youth Educational Ambassadors

Given the number of youth who are not reading at grade level, we need to stop the idealistic thinking that schools are going to reach them.  I remember trying to recruit one at-risk young man, who told me, “I went to public schools and they kicked me out. The public transportation system doesn’t want to stop on my block. The Public defender is jerking me. So, what makes you think I’m all excited to be in your publicly funded program?”

That is the reality we are dealing with, and it’s time for our government to “wake up and smell the coffee.” We need to get innovative programs to the youth, reach out where they live, in their neighborhoods; on their stoops, and in their living rooms. Youth Educational Ambassadors are the key. By using youth trained to help those reading four or five grades levels below them we can implement a culturally competent curriculum that will effectively connect to those at-risk youth in a way that we have only wished for. What’s more, the effective use of youth to reach others is the best possible promotion a program could hope for.

Youth Program and Policy Improvement Committees.

Many of the nation’s youth educational service programs are on life support and young people are pulling the plug.  To help improve the relevance of youth services to the young people they serve establish youth representation in human services organizations, school boards, and policy organizations.  The key benefit is the utilization of youth popular culture to draw others to the organizations by making them look more youth friendly. Additionally, soliciting youth input in the staff hiring process and evaluation of services ensures a much more effectively run program as it speaks directly to the needs of the youth that will be served.

High wage/high growth jobs are obtainable, just maybe not all in the private sector. Let’s invest in our youth to lead us into a brighter today and a more promising tomorrow.

Solving the Youth Unemployment Problem

 

By Edward DeJesus

As a youth workforce development professional for the past 20 years, I have rolled with the punches, promoting and carrying out the order of the day in the effort of preparing youth for the employment world. First, I was told to emphasize pre-employment work maturity competencies, then focus on high stakes high standard testing.  From there I was prompted to help build an employer demand driven workforce system. And now — Green jobs.  At this stage, I have grown weary of following an uninformed agenda. How is it that those who don’t work in the field can make up these terms for those who do, as if they have a better read on the young people we serve?

Let’s keep it real for a minute. The young people I work with are facing challenges that reach far beyond the realm of pre-employment work maturity training.  How do you hold youth accountable to high standards when they’re dealing with the issues of a substandard living system?  How exactly do you take the hardest to serve, most at-risk youth and turn them into Lockheed Martin’s employee of the month six months later? I may be a lot of things, but magician is not one of those things, and it is that sort of unrealistic thinking that made the employer demand driven workforce system laughable. So now, I can’t help but wonder what miracle they want me to perform with Green Jobs.

Now don’t get me wrong – saving the planet and job creation is a good thing. Many of my colleagues would have me hog-tied and bull-whipped for speaking out against any job creation strategy that would put opportunity in the path of blue collar workers. And I agree. But I think there is something else that we are missing. We’re missing the power and potential of Brown Jobs. What is a Brown Job? Brown Jobs reflect the ultimate in reciprocity. These are the jobs where the unemployed are trained to help the unemployed, the poor are given the opportunity to help the poor, and the undereducated are trained to educate the uneducated.  These are the jobs where those that are forgotten and overlooked become the advocates for those who look exactly like they did once upon a time, with the most important aspect of their job is to make sure that they are not overlooked and undervalued again.

Community service, right? Wrong. Brown jobs are career tracked jobs that are tailor-made for the most disenfranchised.  Do-good students from Ivy League Colleges and Universities looking to spruce up their resumes won’t fit the bill because this type of work requires the ability to relate on a level that goes deeper then something you’ve “read about.”

Why Brown jobs? Simply put, the hard work has to be done by someone and who better than the youth who have lived the struggle? After all, the real battle often takes place in the communities well after the hours of 9 to 5. Who better than youth to fit this bill? I often ask my listening audience: “Are you willing to miss your son’s football game or your daughter’s piano recital to meet with youth leaders at 10:00 pm to organize against the local employer who refuses to hire youth within the community?” Most teachers are ready to pack up shop by 3:00 pm, so who else is going to take on this task?

There are none better than the youth we serve to fill in these gaps. Why? Because they are already there! Any youth worker will tell you that our goal is to make sure that when youth leave our program, our program never leaves them. Let’s put these youth to work in Brown jobs, uplifting their peers, community, and improving the educational and workforce system. The benefits for such an investment will be huge.  The Brown Job Industry would fulfill the following:

•  Sufficient job creation for poor unemployed youth.
• Youth entry-level positions that allow for rapid progression through a combination of experience, education, and on-the job training.
• Long-term benefit within affected communities and the society as a whole.

The only way to effectively reach the youth is with help from the youth.

This is a concept we as youth workers have embraced for several years. It only takes a couple of seconds of observation to see the enormity of the gap in communication between the average middle class educator and the young people they are supposed to assist. Instead of considering the road that has been traveled, many educators sit on their side of the table, judging the young person they see on the other side of the table.  Before properly assessing the situation, acknowledging the challenges that were overcome up to that point, they’d rather declare that they don’t have a chance. They’d rather assume there must be some sort of gang affiliation, or question why they dress or look the way they do.

What they need to say is, “I feel your struggle and I understand your hustle. Let us work together to find a way out of this mess.”

Who understands youth better than youth?

 Though I constantly hear clueless policymakers speak about reducing the drop-out rate, solving the unemployment rate, and getting more youth off the streets and into programs, they tend to get quiet when the question of where all these new teachers and support are coming from. They’re talking a good game, but if you can’t deliver, why waste the breath?

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics is unable to give a straight answer on green jobs creation, they sure know about the growth of human service occupations.  With a 34% increase in the next few years, jobs will be plentiful. The number of social and human service assistants is projected to grow by nearly 34 percent between 2006 and 2016, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. Besides, aren’t we the human service agencies that they are talking about? We are the ones that will need trained culturally competent workers?  I think I got it right?.  My target audience is not the dentists or computer engineers. My presentations are designed for the direct human service organizations or those pretending to be one.  We are the ones who will be creating the jobs, and who better to hire than the young adults we love and transform our educational and human service system?

Simple!

It is my opinion that more youth will find more successful, productive work in the human service system than in the green industry, which may lead to nothing more than moving shrubs and clearing bushes.  The report, 7 Myths about Green Jobs published by the University of Illinois and Case Western University challenges the efficacy of the Green Jobs Model. Programs already have a hard time getting youth off the streets and into the construction labor unions. What makes the Green Industry any different? I say let them work of us.

There’s one caveat. It is our responsibility to make these jobs permanent and incorporate them into the matrix of our human service system. For the past three years, YDRF has pushed Peer Support Workers (PSWs) as an entry level entrée to the workforce development system. Groups of trained and paid youth with intent focus on program and peer development activity should adorn every school, GED class and Job Training program.  The PSW will have a detailed career track to other positions in the organization and within the civil service system.

It should come to us as no surprise that if we keep using traditional measures to select teachers and youth workers, those who fall outside those traditional measures will be discounted and overlooked. Consequently the Ivy League student gets more opportunities to work in the hood than the committed, ex –offender who knows the error of his ways and is committed to making sure no one walks down that path.

If we continue to use these traditional measures for building the human service workforce, we will get the same substandard, lack-luster results we’ve always gotten, and we will deny the opportunity of a new breed of workers to carry the torch to take their peers into the 21^st Century, fight injustice, and advocate for those who are undervalued and overlooked.

The new Brown economy is an economy of service to our fellow humans, the ones who need it most. It is ready and waiting for us to put it in force.  Let’s put those who’ve been there, back there and watch what happens.

Edward DeJesus is a notable thinker in the field of workforce development and education. He is a national speaker, trainer and consultant. He can be reached at http://www.edwarddejesus.com. reprint permitted with full reference to author.

A Letter of Apology to My Checkout Girl

Dear Rosemary:

The world is full of folks that mind their own business and don’t get involved, but I’m not one of them. I’m also not one of those folks who would rather run my own items over the scanner and listen to a machine drone the prices while I bag it myself. Forgive me, but I’m a little partial to a warm smile and the occasional chit-chat about how your day has been, or the way you scan slower to give me more time when I run out of line to get the milk I forgot.

Please understand that I wasn’t trying to be rude or disrespectful when I jumped into your line instead of hurrying through one of the eight automated check-out machines. It’s just that there was no one waiting in your line and I’ll always choose a friendly face over some machine that’s designed to take your place. It may seem a little strange, particularly in an age where everyone wants things to be bigger, better, and faster. But what happens when the machines take over? I don’t want to know and I refuse to be one of those folks who supports technology over hospitality. After all, I happen to like the fact that you’ve been checking me out for the last five years (excuse the pun), and I’ve gotten used to seeing you twice a week.

So please don’t get mad at me when you see sneak pass those checkout terminators and into your lonely line. I just like your style. I like the fact that you know me and don’t bust me out when I buy that Snickers that I know I don’t need. You know, the way others do, when they ask if I want it in the bag? You don’t put me on blast like that; instead you slide it over the counter so I can get my junk food fix. There’s not a machine in the world that could be a better partner in crime, so please understand that I’m doing all I can to make sure they keep you and not the machine.
You’ll always be my checkout girl.

Ed

Questions for discussion?
1.What point is the author trying to make?
2.What has been the impact of technology on jobs in your community?
3.List five jobs that are no longer around because of changes in technology.
4.Write a letter back to the author from the perspective of Rosemary, the checkout lady.
5.How many people in your community may lose their jobs because of technology? What can be done, or is being done, to address this issue?

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Please feel free to post this on your blog or email it to whomever you believe would benefit from reading it. Thank you.
Reprint rights of this entire work are granted under the following conditions:
1. Please forward the location & nature of the reprint to edward dejesus. info@ydrf.com
2. If using electronic media, provide a direct link to the download (if applicable) or first page of this article.
3. The following byline must be used if this work is reprinted in its entirety.
Edward DeJesus—President and Founder, Youth Development and Research Fund. Author and national speaker/expert on youth development and employment. Visit him online at http://www.ydrf.com or http://www.edwarddejesus.com.

Obama’s Chance to Change the Course for Youth

In the midst of the highest levels of unemployment in the past 50 years, a unique opportunity has opened up for President Obama to change the course of opportunity for youth and address many of the ills that plague them.

Similar to the feat that lay before President Roosevelt in the 1930s, President Obama faces a nation that is wading in the murky uncertainty that we call a recession. With the bleakness of our current condition there comes an opportunity just over the horizon for President Obama to implement a program that will put the jobless back to work and provide the lifesaving breath that our country so desperately needs.

The challenge, however, is multifold. Although President Roosevelt struck gold with his “New Deal” in the 30s, it was not embraced by all Americans because it did not encompass all Americans. In fact when given a critical look, his program which made jobs available to many, turned a cold shoulder to a large demographic of individuals, namely Women and minorities. Deemed the largest job creation effort in history, Roosevelt’s plan almost exclusively created jobs designed for white, male, manual labor. The result was a return to the workforce for many, but not nearly enough to address the needs of all out of work Americans.

Demographics have changed significantly since then, and while the tide of the workforce has changed tremendously to encompass both women and minorities in the workplace, there is still an underrepresented voice that must be heard and acknowledged. Youth. In a society where the world has become increasingly fast-paced and technologically progressive, it is imperative to not only involve today’s youth in the future of job creation, but also to recruit their efforts.

In his address to schools across America earlier this year, President Obama spoke about the opportunities that youth are able to create for themselves by continuing their education and by working hard. Yes, many youth already know this. What millions of youth don’t know is that these opportunities are just not there. High unemployment has unleashed many skilled, college educated workers into the jobs reserved for the energetic young job seeker.

It is time for the Obama administration to focus on the issues of jobs for youth. Current levels of unemployment have eliminated the few job opportunities that previously existed for youth. It’s time to step in the right direction and an analysis of Roosevelt’s New Deal program can help show the way.

The Federal One Program, a highlight of Roosevelt’s New Deal, consisted of five distinct components. Each of these efforts tapped into the cultural capital of the nation: The Federal Writers Project, The Federal Theater Project, The Federal Arts Project, The Federal Music Project and the Historical Records Survey Project. These components focused on job creation for those who were not served well in traditional New Deal programs. Using similar framework, President Obama has a prime opportunity to create jobs for youth in a manner that utilizes the wealth of youth resources that have to date been virtually untapped.

With the continued innovative thought that has embodied the Obama Administration, the opportunity to create a more all-encompassing Federal One Project is ripe. The Obama Administration has the ability to create a massive job creation program that utilizes the cultural and highly influential power of young people. By harnessing this power, this administration has the ability to reconnect with millions of disenchanted youth and promote the prosperity in America that has been envisioned.

Just a few examples – the administration can revamp the Federal Theater Project. Similar to the new Deal, local youth artists, rappers, dancers and performers can develop and deliver a series of performances educating their peers on ways to deal with life’s challenges and ways to avoid violence.

A newly formed Federal Music Project could offer local Community Based Organization grants to support artists committed to creating positive music dealing with issues of violence, education and substance abuse. This effort is particularly essential in today’s society where the rap and television media heavily influence youth and have the ability to engage them. Think of how powerful this project could be if these media outlets were used by youth to reach youth with messages that promote positive and healthy lifestyles.

Finally, a Federal Arts project could use the expertise of local artists to interview and take pictures of former at-risk youth who made the transition to successful careers. They can create “What They Are Wearing Now Murals Across the U.S.” – a peer based way to show the transition of successful youth from street clothes to work success. A great replacement for all those “Successory” postesr adoring program walls.

There now exists a new opportunity to take the cultural interest of youth and turn it into a positive movement that can transform a community and create effective and lasting change.

There has never been a better time than the present, and there have never been more youth resources than there are now. The vision that President Obama has strived to pass on to the country is attainable and sustainable through the utilization of all of Americans. We simply need our progressive leadership to be exactly that-progressive.

Edward DeJesus is the President and Founder of the Youth Development and Research Fund (YDRF). He can be reached at ed@ydrf.com

What the Obama Administration Needs to Know About Reaching Youth

In the effort to guide our youth in a direction that promotes financial economic opportunity, continued growth, and enhanced education, it is imperative that the Obama administration take a long hard look at the signals that they send. Time has proven that the old method of doing things is simply that—old.

Youth are non-responsive to the methods that brow-beat them, and attack the popular culture that they have embraced and identify with. The fact that popular culture is often at the core of their personalization, is a fact that must be understood and dealt with in a manner that separates whatever disdain may be held by policy makers for this popular culture from the positive that can be derived and utilized in reaching them on their level.

By understanding what motivates and drives our youth, recognizing and acknowledging their concerns, and making a genuine effort to relate to them by creating some sort of common ground, policy makers open the lines of communication and begin to bridge the gap that has been ever-widening. The age old “Father knows best,” theory has been generally based on a platform that suggests that “I talk and you listen.”

This dominant and dictatorship method does not work, and often serves to make youth “turn up the volume” of the music in their heads. When it becomes clear that they are the only ones grooving to the beat of what drives them, they shut down and look elsewhere to find the answers and help they need. Often times, they don’t find it, and the downward spiral becomes a cycle of despair and inevitable doom.

Obviously as concerned citizens, no one wants to see a child fail, however not many policy makers are willing to take a step back and realize that perhaps their methodology is one of the barriers that makes success a pipe dream versus a reality for our nation’s youth and young adults. Policy makers and society as a whole have to shed their judgmental ideations about the popular culture teens have adopted, and begin to ask the hard questions. What is the message?

 The seeming fixation on fast cash and “Pimpin Rides’” don’t necessarily indicate that teens condone the methods of obtaining the lifestyle depicted, but it does indicate that financial stability is of huge importance. Teens want to have some control over their futures and having grasped the dynamics of society, they do understand that money brings power. What parents, educators, and teen programs must do is find the thread that ties the ability to gain financial prosperity with the necessity of becoming educationally, emotionally, and physically sound.

 By making this connection, policy makers have introduced a path that is alternative to the negatives that they perceive in popular culture, and still strikes commonality with youth by addressing their underlying concerns about their future. Connecting with youth is by far a task that is ongoing, and requires policy makers and practitioners to develop a systematic way of utilizing youth popular culture, peer influence and youth involvement in a way that promotes life, freedom and young people’s future economic opportunity.

 This stuff is not taught: it’s caught. Policy makes must keep their thumb on the pulse of what relates to youth. The difference is that with today’s youth, that thumb cannot be used to apply the pressure of dominance that once worked. Teens are smarter and more conscious than ever, and want to be acknowledged as the authority of what is important to them as opposed to being told that they are giving up on their country when they drop-out of school. Adults must relinquish this notion, and consider that it’s us who gave up on them.

Summer Jobs Article Debate- Join in

Mark, thank you for your response. I welcome the free flowing debate that the internet offers and democracy provides. I am in total disagreement with your conclusion that the Washington Post is a supporter of youth employment, namely the summer jobs program. They have consistently refused to write anything about the high youth unemployment rate and the need for more youth employment services. Moreover, the majority of the Post’s articles regarding the summer jobs program have been nothing but acrid criticism.

Now Mark, I am going to assume that you have been in youth services for quite some time. As a youth service advocate , I have been trained to use an asset based approach to working with, and supporting youth. A main part of this approach entails looking at what others don’t see. Here’s what I see:

1. 200 youth wanted a job!

2. DOES had only a “1%” disqualification rate. (201 out of 21,000) They are doing better than the Obama administration!

3. A major lesson was learned: “youth workers are incredible people. How were they able to get serve so many youth in such a short of time?”

Mark, I would never excuse a poorly run program nor would I ever criticize programs for policy mistakes.

In New York , I met Mr. Smith, the Director at the new River Bank State Park in Harlem . Mr. Smith had more than 40 years of youth service under his belt and I admired him for his commitment. For opening day, the State brought in 1000 children from all over Harlem to participate in a day of festivities and fun. The state spent thousands of dollars on new flowers and shrubs to beautify the park. On opening day I stood in Mr. Smith’s office as his staff came screaming in: “Mr. Smith, Mr Smith!” They yelled. “The kids are destroying all the flowers, the kids are destroying all of the flowers!” Mr. Smith calmly looked over his shoulder at his staff and stated in a smooth clam voice: “They are not destroying all of the flowers, they’re destroying 30% of the flowers.”

99% of the youth served by DC and those served in the summer of 2009 will be served well. Will 1% fall through the cracks? Probably. Will we get the policies and resources to make things right? Probably not?

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I would say that you have seriously misinterpreted the Washington Post article article, which I also read this morning. The article was > about the serious mis-management and mis-operation of the summer  youth employment program in the District last summer, that  resulted in many poor quality employment opportunities, lost  opportunities for employing additional youth, and wasted financial  resources, the combination of which will likely discourage youth,
 employer, and provider participation in the program this coming  summer unless significant corrections are made to program  management and operations. There was nothing in the article
 indicating that summer youth employment programs are not  important, and, in fact, the Post editorial staff has long been a  proponent for increased and enhanced summer employment
 opportunities for youth in the District. The problems in last  summer’s program as reported in this article point to the need for  the District to run a more effective and efficient program, not to
do away with the program. What, you would choose not to run the story because some yo-yo reader interprets a poorly run program to mean there should be no program at all?