Youth Services Under the Workforce Investment Act

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) made significant changes to youth services to foster the creation of comprehensive youth development systems at the local level. WIA consolidated year round and summer programs into a single formula-based funding stream. WIA requires that local Workforce Investment Boards establish Youth Councils as subgroups to coordinate and oversee WIA youth services. Services are targeted to low-income youth, ages 14 through 21, who face one or more challenges as defined in the law to successful workforce entry. WIA requires that ten program elements, reflecting a focus on youth development, be made available to youth participants as well as one year of follow-up services.

These changes created opportunities and challenges for Youth Councils and youth service providers. Local areas have the opportunity to create comprehensive youth development systems that coordinate services and resources, bring together an array of public and community-based youth-serving organizations as well as employers, and leverage additional funding streams to serve at-risk youth in a community. As local areas have implemented WIA youth provisions, however, they have encountered challenges such as developing new partnerships, enrolling youth under new eligibility requirements, and finding providers with the capacity to offer the required program elements. This Resource Note highlights publications that offer guidance on developing youth systems under WIA.

States can play a valuable role in facilitating the development of local youth systems by coordinating youth policies across programs, aligning resources at the state level, and assisting local areas with building youth systems. For example, states can establish state Youth Councils, model collaborative planning, identify and disseminate promising practices, and use state funds to provide technical assistance and support to local areas.

Local youth systems under WIA serve a variety of youth populations, including youth who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and youth in families receiving TANF. In a number of areas, TANF funds help to support services for youth. The Youth Council may be responsible for some TANF funds. Youth Councils that have reached out to additional partners may have TANF represented on the Council. For more information, visit the Welfare Information Network (WIN) web page on youth services under WIA at http://www.welfareinfo.org/workforce_youth.htm.

Publications and Electronic Resources

Brown, Larry. Applying the Principles of Youth Development to Youth Opportunity Grants, WIA Formula Funded Programs and Community-Based Youth Programs. Washington, D.C.: WAVE, Inc., 2001. Available at http://www.waveinc.org/download.htm.

Callahan Consultants, Inc. How Youth Programs Manage Program Intake, Individual Service Strategy Development, and Case Files. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Opportunities, 2002. Available at http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/pdf/TEN4-01Iss.pdf.

Callahan, Jim, and Marion Pines. WIA Youth Policy Councils: Key to the Future for a Generation of Challenge. Baltimore, Md.: The Sar Levitan Center, Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, July 1999. Available to order at http://www.levitan.org/sumwiayouth.html.

Ferber, Thaddeus, and Karen Pittman, with Tara Marshall. State Youth Policy: Helping All Youth to Grow Up Fully Prepared and Fully Engaged. Takoma Park, Md.: The Forum for Youth Investment, 2002. Available at http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/papers/stateyouthpolicy.pdf.

Jobs for the Future and the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Evaluation of the Transition to Comprehensive Youth Services Under the Workforce Investment Act. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Opportunities, May 2002. Available at http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/pdf/transition_2002.pdf.

John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development. Recipes for Success: Youth Council Guide to Creating a Youth Development System Under WIA. New Brunswick, N.J.: John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, May 2000. Available at http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/youth/whatsnew/ACFD1.pdf.

Leonard Resource Group, Inc. Sources of Funding for Youth Services. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Services, 2001. Available at http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/maps-founding.asp.

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Services. Youth Council Toolkit: Tools to Help Youth Councils Build Effective Operational Youth Service Delivery. Washington, D.C., 2002. Available at http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/toolkit_2002.asp.

U.S. General Accounting Office. Workforce Investment Act: Youth Provisions Promote New Service Strategies, but Additional Guidance Would Enhance Program Development. Report to Congressional Requesters, GAO-02-413. Washington, D.C., April 2002. Available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02413.pdf.

John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, contact Laurie Santos, 732/932-4100; or visit http://www.heldrich.rutgers.edu/.

National Youth Employment Coalition, contact David Brown or Seth Turner, 202/659-1064; or visit http://www.nyec.org/.

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Youth Services, contact Haskel Lowery, 202/693-3608; or visit http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/.

The California Youth Council Institute (YCi) was established in July 2001 to assist California’s 50 Youth Councils in creating comprehensive, local youth-serving systems. YCi is supported by a contract between the California Workforce Investment Board (CalWIB) and New Ways to Work and its partner the California Workforce Association. YCi convenes and supports a statewide network of Youth Councils, provides technical assistance and support to the Youth Councils, develops and disseminates system-building tools, identifies and shares effective practices, and works with CalWIB and the State Youth Council. YCi draws on practitioner knowledge and experience to inform its work. With input and feedback from Youth Council members and staff, YCi developed a framework for a comprehensive youth-serving system – the “All Youth - One System” model – that the State Youth Council formally adopted April 2002 and that has helped local Youth Councils expand their role beyond WIA program oversight. YCi also plays a role in the relationship between local Youth Councils and the State Youth Council in the creation of effective youth policy. YCi facilitates peer learning and shares ideas, practices, and tools through meetings, a web site and a listserv. For more information, contact Lois Ann Porter, New Ways to Work, at 707/824-4000; or visit http://www.nww.org/yci/.

The Chemung-Schuyler-Steuben Youth Council serves young adults in a three-county region in New York. The Youth Council’s mission is to design a comprehensive workforce development system for all young adults in the region. Building on a successful school-to-work partnership facilitated the development of the Youth Council. The Youth Council has used the RFP process for selecting providers to require that service providers bidding to become program operators collaborate and form partnerships. The Youth Council also works with the local one-stop centers on serving youth. Youth services staff at the one-stops are part of a “Job Squad” that the Youth Council markets throughout the region. The Youth Council receives TANF funds for a summer program for TANF eligible youth. For more information, contact Phyllis Ribble or Matt Shick, Chemung-Schuyler-Steuben Workforce New York, at 607/937-8337.

The Louisiana Youth Policy Network (LYPN) is a state-level collaborative that brings together ten state agencies around youth development issues. Partners include the Governor’s Office of the Workforce Commission, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Social Services that administers the TANF program. Working with a variety of stakeholders in youth development and employment, LYPN crafted Louisiana’s Blueprint for Investing in Youth (available at http://www.layouthnet.org/221200BlueprintJH.pdf) that provides a policy framework – vision, guiding principles, and strategies – for positive youth development in the state across an array of programs, including WIA youth services. LYPN members meet regularly to develop collaborative initiatives, share practices, and evaluate progress in achieving goals and outcomes for youth. Members also work to foster state and local coordination. Supporting capacity-building is an important part of this effort. LYPN used federal grant funds to award seven regional planning grants to assist youth-serving partners in strategic planning and system-building. The state Department of Labor, using state WIA reserve funds, has partnered with the state Department of Education to provide technical assistance to the state’s 18 local Youth Councils. For more information, contact Andrala Walker, Louisiana Workforce Commission, at 225/342-2462; or visit http://www.layouthnet.org/.

The Welfare Information Network is supported by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.