Workforce Development TAG Resources

Incorporate Positive Youth Development into Professional Development Training

• Tools for Promoting Positive Youth Development 
  These online resources are designed to help state and local organizations develop and sustain positive youth development programs in their communities. Resources include videos, toolkits, research summaries, and other informational publications. (Child Welfare Information Gateway) 
• Manual: Positive Youth Development 101
  This curriculum offers an orientation to the youth development approach for professionals new to the field of youth work, including youth workers, supervisors and administrators, funders, and community volunteers. The 10-hour curriculum is structured in five distinct sections, each of which may be presented as a stand-alone workshop. (Assets for Coming Together (ACT) for Youth) 
• Putting Positive Youth Development into Practice - PDF
  This resource provides an overview of the positive youth development approach, as well as practical advice for launching and running programs that support the positive development of young people. It discusses key characteristics of programs that promote positive youth development and gives examples of promising practices. (HHS, Family and Youth Service Bureau)

Identify Services to Meet the Unique Needs of Opportunity Youth

• Back on Track: Designing for Success, Lessons Learned in Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund Sites - PDF
  This paper highlights key strategies used by communities that have designed and implemented pathways to re-engage disconnected youth to postsecondary and career opportunities. The paper highlights best practice examples that can enhance the field’s knowledge base and inform efforts of practitioners and other stakeholders involved in advancing positive outcomes for opportunity youth. (Jobs for the Future) 
• The Passport to Career Success
  Stakeholders may be interested in this example from The Next Generation Zone, in Spokane, Washington, a one-stop location for education, career skills training, and community and employment resources. The Passport to Career Success is a free multi-media career platform for use by young adults, teachers, and counselors. (Next Generation Zone) 
• Youth Employment Resources
  This federal website offers up-to-date information, tools, and resources of interest to youth-serving organizations and employers who are engaged in supporting young people’s success in the workplace. (Youth.gov, Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs) 
• Resources for Youth with Disabilities
  This online resource center offers an array of information, including tip sheets, guides, and other publications to support successful transitions to adulthood for youth with disabilities. For example, the publication By Youth for Youth: Employment discusses key issues ranging from building a resume to understanding one’s rights. (National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability) 

Work with Vocational Rehabilitation Partners

• Disability Employment Policy Resources: Youth in Transition
  This website highlights a range of resources to help youth-serving professionals successfully connect young people to programs, services, activities, and supports that help them gain access to chosen post-school options.  Topics include mental and physical health, transportation, tutoring, financial planning and management, and post-secondary supportive services. (U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy) 
• Fact Sheet:  What to Know about Work-based Learning Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities - PDF
  This fact sheet was created by the Federal Partners in Transition (FPT) workgroup, comprised of several federal agencies involved in promoting inclusive service delivery for transitioning youth with disabilities from school into postsecondary education, the workforce, and independent living. (U.S. Department of Education)  

Facilitate Mentoring Opportunities

• Mentoring: A Critical Support Strategy for Youth Career Engagement and Workforce Development - PDF
  This issue brief offers a research-based position on the importance of mentoring to success in the workplace for adolescents and young adults. It also offers three suggestions for promoting effectiveness and quality in mentoring programs. (MENTOR)
• A Call to Action: Mentor, Opportunity Nation
  See this website for information about how employers, educational institutions, philanthropies, and others can support quality mentoring opportunities for young people. (Opportunity Nation) 
• Full Circle Brotherhood Mentoring, a Group Mentoring Model
  Stakeholders may be interested in learning more about this group mentoring model, Full Circle Brotherhood (FCB) mentoring program, which offers mentorship support to middle school aged boys in Montgomery County, Maryland. (Latin American Youth Center) 

Identify and Improve Transportation Options

• One-stop Centers and Employment Transportation
  This report assesses the importance of transportation as a key component of ensuring an individual’s access to employment training and jobs. It also provides an overview of best practices and related efforts underway to enhance transportation services within the One-stop system, a network of workforce development and employment services provided by the U.S. Department of Labor. (Community Transportation Association of America) 
• Innovative Public Transportation Workforce Development Program Project Selections
  See this website for a searchable table of innovative federally-funded transportation programs that includes brief descriptions and locations of the programs. (U.S. Department of Transportation) 

Promote Financial Literacy for Youth and Their Families

• Building Financial Capability in Youth Employment Programs
  This report highlights lessons learned and effective strategies for promoting financial education in youth employment programs, based on a round table event with federal agency partners, program leaders and other issue experts. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) 
• Money Smart for Young People
  This is the website for FDIC's new instructor-led Money Smart for Young People series, which consists of four individual grade-level curricula available for free download. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
• Resource Guide for Youth Employment Programs: Incorporating Financial Capability and Partnering with Financial Institutions - PDF
  This resource guide is for youth employment programs that are interested in enhancing the financial capability of young people. It provides guidance on how partnerships with financial institutions can help young people achieve greater financial well-being and employment success. (Financial Literacy and Education Commission)

Engage Employers in the Community

• A Resource Guide to Engaging Employers - PDF
  This resource guide presents working models of successful employer engagement and lessons for securing and sustaining partnerships with employers. It is designed to help education and training providers build strategic, long-term, and intensive partnerships with employers. (Jobs for the Future) 
• Creating a Youth-Friendly Workplace: Tips for Employers - PDF
  This guide offers quick tips to help employers create an “youth-friendly workplace” in support of producing positive results for both employers and youth workers. It incorporates youth-development principles to help young people make a successful transition to adulthood and economic independence. (Sacramento Works for Youth) 
• The Goals and Dimensions of Employer Engagement in Workforce Development Programs - PDF
  This issue brief offers a simple framework for workforce programs seeking to engage employers, with a focus on describing why employers engage with workforce programs. It specifies how employers are involved with workforce programs and describes the challenges for both sides. (Urban Institute) 
• Hallmarks of Effective Youth Employment Programs from Research and Programs Across the United States: Implications for Detroit
  The publication outlines research, program models, organizational components, and promising practices of summer jobs programs in New York City, Boston, Hartford, Chicago, and Philadelphia and demonstrates the role that a summer jobs program can play in a young person’s life. This document was developed to assist the city of Detroit in designing its summer youth employment program. (Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation)

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