Don’t Let Change Stop On Nov. 4 – Create Jobs for Youth

 

America needs change. We’ve all known this for years, and we finally have a President Elect who shares the vision of a better America. The change campaign swept through this country, prompting millions of youth to take make their voices heard at the polling place, emphatically declaring that the time is now. However it’s one thing to talk about change, we must also be about it. Now that we have the power to effect change, what will we do with it? The time to roll up our sleeves is upon us and we all need to get busy. With an economy that is plunging daily, we must now examine the roots of this problem and devise a plan that effectively and inclusively involves all Americans in restoring our country and spreading the wealth equitably.

 

Presently, the employment rate is at rock bottom. Layoffs abound, and the unspoken last hired, first fired rule is in effect. At the same time, drop-outs rates are escalating, community college completion rates worsen and many youth workers who find themselves competing with college educated adults for a minimum wage job that will barely keep gas in their cars. Despite these facts, we’ve always known that large companies don’t hire those under age 25 for career level positions, not even at the entry level.

 

When the current outlook is so bleak, is it any wonder that youth are wondering why they should strive to enter the workforce or complete their education?

The recent election created a movement within the youth community that encouraged them to act, that convinced them that they matter, that change could occur. In fact, President Elect Obama got 23 million youth to the “polling place.” Now the question is: What will we do to get them to the “market place.” What do we need to do to ensure that the most disenfranchised of our youth get a chance at opportunity?

 

Change is coming, but where will it land? Will it hit the schools and youth programs? If we were tired of 8 years of backwards administration, we must be sick with 30 years of backwards youth policy. Although youth culture and the economy have dramatically changed in the past 30 years, many of our programs have not.  We have to many 8-track programs and policies in a MP 3 world. I am not talking about computers and Star Trek distance learning systems (they don’t work), I’m talking about the technology of youth engagement – a science that for many program programs means nothing more than letting youth rap at the local youth conference.

 

Our youth facilities are still trying to crank up the 8-track player and wondering why youth aren’t listening. Sadly, we think technology is the answer.  The youth who need our help want “High Touch and High Tech.” We are just getting the later. The cracks in misunderstanding between your average middle class teacher and hard to serve student have turned to craters.  It is a sad state of affairs when we have invested more research and time in making the things  of our world work better, but our interpersonal relationships remain stagnant. We are losing our youth, and unless we continue to promote change in every aspect of our lives, we will only be talking about it, and as we all know, talk is cheap.  

 

 

If President Elect Obama got youth’s attention through bottom up, grassroots efforts and organizing; then we need a bottom-up grassroots approach to youth education and workforce development.

 

At no time in history has the challenge to the future economic opportunity of out nations’ youth been most at-risk.  The rising cost of college, and the lack of any tangible success for the sacrifice perpetuates the cloud of despair that is the reality that many youth face. Has it ever been more apparent that we need change? There is a glaring neon sign that says now is the time, but where do we start?

 

Here are some suggestions:

 

-Encourage active participation of youth, obtaining their input in redesigning current programs and policies.

-Create a service corps of well trained and properly supported youth in the community promoting life, freedom and FEO (credentials, skills, degrewes, networks and work experience).

-Invest in research to determine why our youth and workforce system has been unable to engage the youth they are intended to reach.

-Incorporate workers’ rights training and education in all curriculum and job training programs

-Ensure that youth culturally competent mental health and substance abuse counseling is made readily available.

-Guarantee transitional jobs for all program graduates.

-Promote the use of the youth cultural competence approach to change program climates and community direction.

 

Engaging and supporting disconnected youth comes with many challenges. Yet the results of our success will impact all facets of society and rebuild stronger communities. Let us listen to their voices as they share their ideas for eradicating the perpetual cycle of poverty and inequality that they are caught within. Let their voices guide us to learn new ways to replace this despair with hope, healing and confidence in a newer, brighter tomorrow.

 

Reach all Youth

 

Edward DeJesus

 

 

A Youth Worker’s Letter to Wall Street

With all this talk about streets in the recent political debates, I think it’s time for a person with mad experience helping young adults off the streets to weigh in on the current economic situation. The advice that I’m offering is the same I offer to youth.

 

1.  Let go of (Wall) Street Values

The sole focus of corporate structures on excessive profits is one of the main reasons why this problem is so prominent in the first place. It’s called the Fast Money Disease, or perhaps you may recognize it a little better as something called Dividends and Bonuses. Power driven executives are often the recipients of these perks while those employees stuck a little lower on the totem pole suffer the same crushing effects that the common folk are dealing with. That’s not business, it’s robbery. The primary mission of a corporation should be the uplifting of society and the community it operates in, not the maximization of profits. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t make that money, I’m saying do it legally and ethically.

 

2.  Stop Hanging with the Knuckleheads.

Straight to the point! You’ve got a bad case of negative people connection (NPC), and that’s going to lead you absolutely nowhere. The old saying, “Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are,” isn’t just a myth. The company you keep not only reflects on you, you start to assimilate to it if you stay in it long enough. Who do you hang with? Are they a good or bad influence? If your answer is the latter, you need to invest in a new peer group. Start with the positive people in your community, elect them into positions that can help make a difference, like your Board of Directors or the Federal Reserve Board.

 

3. Fight Fast Money Disease (FMD)

I know you got it.  Everyone knows. Look what you’ve done did. C’mon you know quick money is no money. The problem is that you were going after that quick money and got caught up. Now, if the Feds were on you like a local brother on the corner over a bag of weed, you would have something to think about, and I would have something to stand on. In the real world of the streets you lose your life, freedom or future economic opportunity over FMD.  Breaking it all the way down, you either die, go to jail, or get so messed up with legal fees, restitution, fines and a record, that future success becomes a difficult if not impossible task. You might think you’re immune, but I suggest you watch your back. I heard the FBI is looking out and I think a lot of people are ready to snitch.

 

4. Hustling is an Addiction

Once you get caught up in the game it is hard to get out of the game. Most dealers are addicted not because of the money they make (the majority still live with their mothers), it is the addiction to hustling, that fast life, that gets you. Are you addicted to the economic profits of the stock hustle? Apparently so. Let me be the one to tell you that you need to get help now. This road is a no-win situation with a short lifespan. After all, how many successful retired hustlers do you know? Oops don’t answer that!

 

5. You got my Back; I got Yours

In the streets, if someone gets your back then it goes without saying that you’ve got theirs. America, for whatever reason, backed you up with over 750 billion. The question is, will you ever have theirs? In the streets you know what people are willing to do when they are disrespected, so what do you think America will do to you when you disrespect them (like you haven’t already)?  With an over 750 billion dollar bailout, you better make sure you do the right thing.

 

Please don’t take this the wrong way. On the street there’s a saying that goes, “If you’re not trying to help the struggle; don’t knock the hustle.” Since my tax dollars went to help your struggle; I guess a little knocking is appropriate.

America has a Youth Engagement Dilemma

 

The cry for more youth program opportunities can be heard clear across America. Each year, advocates point out the growing needs of youth and young adults and the lack of programs and services to meet those needs. I, too, am guilty. My call of foul at the 250,000 federally funded program slots for the 5.4 million out-of-school youth is a staple of my presentations to policymakers across the U.S.

“How can we expect any progress in reducing gang violence and youth unemployment, or expect to quell the dropout rate if we only have enough program slots to serve 3% of the 14-21 year old eligible population!” Many echo my outcry, and I usually continue by addressing the real crux of the problem. “We don’t have a gang problem in the United States; we have a youth opportunity problem!” I have touted this cry from boardrooms in Seattle to the hoods in South Florida, always receiving a response of thunderous applause.

Despite the strong audience affirmation, I still find myself walking away and feeling as though something is missing. Why? Many of us were part of the movement to bring positive youth development to youth workforce programs across the U.S., making sure we serve youth differently than adults, and taking into account their developmental needs, assets, and the different stages of their development. Surely there is no disputing the fact that there is a need for more programs and opportunities for young people to grow into healthy, positive adults. So, what is lacking? Where is the breakdown?

Despite our best efforts at incorporating positive youth development we forgot one thing: incorporating youth. The sad reality is that many of our youth development and youth workforce programs struggle to get youth in the doors. Yes, I know this is a subject that we do not like to discuss. However, it is a subject that must be raised in the research and policy agenda in order to reach a viable solution. Of the millions of youth who desperately need education and workforce development in their lives, few are turning to the programs and services that can lead to better lives and opportunities. Those that do come often don’t stay. In this fact lies our advocacy paradox. How can we ask for more money when we can’t reach the kids with the money we have? The “ask” is not to serve more kids but to invest in strategies to reach the kids we have. Advocating for more resources in a system that cannot engage the youth it is intended to serve will eventually blow up in our face.

Now I know a few of you are crying foul. However, it is my experience that a few of you who cry foul are able to offer youth $300 or more every two weeks for attending. In fact, engagement has translated to money, at least for some. For others, it is obtained through sophisticated creaming strategies that, for the most part, has programs turning away from the youth who need the services most.

School Accountability: What about us?

If the educational system is forced to be more accountable, so should youth development and workforce programs. Let me break it down like a fraction – No Child Left Behind is exposing the incredible achievement gap that currently exists within the United States. The National Governors Association recommendation for states to recalculate dropout rates has exposed a national travesty: 50% of African-American and Latino youth drop out of high school.

The exposure doesn’t stop there however. The Beginning Post-secondary Students Longitudinal Study reported that only 31% of students who entered community college in 1995-1996 with the intention of earning a degree or certificate had met their goal six years later. For African-American and Latino students the rate is much lower.

As if that weren’t enough of a factor, Congress is trying to rescind 65 million of WIA funds partly because of unspent funds. While there are many excuses for why funds are unspent, the reality is that many programs have no youth to spend them on. It seems that despite the weeding out of those who are not serious, along with those who constantly whine or refuse to work with adjudicated youth, or youth in the foster care system, programs still can’t get it right. Once again, the question hangs out there—why?

Why?

Perhaps the most important program element is engagement. At YDRF, we believe in the Performance Formula: Performance is the function of Recruitment x Engagement (Pfx Rec x Eng). Without effective and consistent engagement efforts, programs can never meet expected outcomes. The primary challenge youth service providers face in implementing effective engagement strategies is to stop blaming engagement difficulties on young people’s deficiencies, but instead recognize that it is the deficiencies of the programs themselves. Building a youth engagement system in much different from incorporating positive youth development principles into program design.

A youth engagement system is a commitment to a set of principles and practices sustained by policy and sufficient resources, dedicated to creating an authentic and culturally competent service delivery system where young people feel valued as stakeholders and are compelled to invest in active and meaningful participation towards mutual goals. In short, we need a youth driven workforce preparation system, not an employer driven one– time and statistics have proven that’s not working!

In order to do this, organizations need to build and strengthen the routes (and in some cases open them) for young people to be fully engaged in the decisions, opportunities and challenges affecting their communities. One of the largest miscalculations that youth employment programs make is to attempt to provide services to the at-risk populations without first developing an intimate understanding of what truly motivates and interests this special group.

In The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives on High School Dropouts, Bill Gates tells us the most reported reason why youth are dropping out of school. They are bored with education! Sounds like something we could have figured out on our own, right? Probably, however that is only part of the story. What Mr. Microsoft failed to tell us is that they are not bored with education; they are just bored with the education and job training we subject them to. Youth are literally handing us the manual to how to help them become successful, but is anyone reading the pages? Not only is it time to realize that up until this point, the method used to increase youth engagement is not just flawed, it’s broken. If we want to make a change, it is we that must make changes, using their lead as a path to getting it right.

For programs interested in adopting the YDRF youth engagement system, contact us at 301-216-2566