Sectoral Employment Strategies for Young Adults: Lessons for the New Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Programs

The long-term changes in the labor market have disproportionately impacted low-income young adults who do not graduate from high school or pursue post-secondary education. The quality of the second chance system has been questioned by many funders based on evaluations of these programs prior to 2000. However, the significant increase in private funding of young adult programs in New York City has produced a number of promising programs that focus on the demand-side of the young adult workforce system. This briefing will focus on the work of a number of collaborative programs that have developed out of the JobsFirstNYC Young Adult Sectoral Employment Program. This work builds on the Public/Private Ventures Sectoral Employment Impact Study and follow-up work to explore adapting these strategies for young adults.

 

In 2014, President Obama signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to replace the current Workforce Investment Act. This legislation has a number of changes, including raising the maximum age from 21 to 24 years, increasing the out of school youth minimum allocation of funding from 30% to 75%, and requiring 20% of the funds to be spent on work-based learning activities. The legislation also encourages more emphasis to be placed on sectoral employment strategies, career pathways, and other strategies that engage employers.

 

The leadership of Comprehensive Development Inc., Phipps Neighborhoods, and Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation - along with a group of employers - will outline their work to date and discuss the implications of these employer-driven strategies for the new WIOA programs that will be implemented across the country effective July 1, 2016.