Juvenile Law Center

In August, Juvenile Law Center launched a series of blog posts based on our new report on improving access to career pathways for system-involved youth. The series highlighted several initiatives taking place in Philadelphia that could be replicated elsewhere, and it featured interviews with key local stakeholders. In case you missed it, here’s a recap of the ideas and programs featured in the series:

• Series Introduction: We launched our series by describing how early work experiences remain elusive for many youth in the child welfare and juvenile justices systems – particularly youth of color – and by highlighting the strategies for reform offered in our report.  
• Part One: The Vitality of Vital Records: Bruce Morgan, an alum of our Youth Advocacy program who recently aged out of foster care, shared his story illustrating how important it is for system-involved youth to have access to their vital documents.
• Part Two: New Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities: Highlighting a new pre-employment transition services program offered by JEVS Human Services, this post described some of the creative workforce development programs that are possible under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
• Part Three: Providing Support for Trauma-Exposed Youth in the Juvenile Justice System: In this post, former OJJDP Administrator Bob Listenbee reflected on using a trauma-informed model to ensure that youth in the juvenile justice system benefit from career programming.
• Part Four: A Closer Look at the Juvenile Justice Services Center of Philadelphia’s New Career and Technical Education Program: This post described an innovative approach to bringing short-term CTE programs to youth in juvenile detention facilities, featuring an interview with Deana Ramsey, principal of the facility’s school.

We hope the ideas, innovations, and challenges being explored in Philadelphia can help advocates in other cities and states replicate and build upon this work. Here are some other steps advocates can take to help break down barriers to career opportunities for system-involved youth:

• Share ideas: As seen from our profiles of projects happening in Philadelphia, there are many creative ways for systems stakeholders and private providers to partner to develop quality career pathways programs that work for system-involved youth. Check out the Legal Center for Youth Justice and Education’s Blueprint for Change for ideas and resources!
• Listen to youth: Really understanding the existing barriers by engaging with youth and learning from their experiences and ideas can be key to designing an effective program or to identifying a needed policy change.
• Stay informed: Keep up to speed on this issue by following the work of national policy organizations focused on career pathways for youth, including the American Youth Policy Forum and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). You can also read our report!
• Support positive legislative initiatives: There is bipartisan federal legislation pending – the Improved Employment Outcomes for Foster Youth Act – that would expand the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to target older foster youth, in addition to many state-level initiatives.
• Keep kids in the community: A unifying theme throughout our discussions with local stakeholders was that youth are better able to gain work experience, take advantage of workforce development programs, and cultivate job skills when they remain in their families and communities, instead of in institutional placements.

By learning from each other and our communities, and by continuing to focus on the challenges that system-involved youth encounter, we can help ensure that all young people can have a path to a meaningful career.  

Many thanks to the Lenfest Foundation for supporting this work.