DCAYA Youth Workforce Development Committee
Meeting Notes: August 29, 2013
Attendees: Carina Gervascio and Maeve Rafferty (Brainfood DC), Brendan Hughes (CentroNia), Nia West
Bey (FAN), Sean Nix (Academy of Hope), Ana Hageage (LAYC), Jazmyn Singleton (Urban Alliance), Adam
Angel (Sasha Bruce), Trisha Taylor (Sitar Arts Center), Ryan Kilpatrick (Horton’s Kids), Suzanne Haggerty
(MetroTeenAids), Alyia Parker (DC Hunger Solutions)
I.
Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) Roundup
-Organizations all reported on how their summers went. Problems with communications
around program dates and final rosters was a big issue this year as was new staff at DOES
who many providers reported were harder to get in touch with than they had been in years
past.
-Lots of issues with transportation and organizations needing to front money to SYEP
participants so they could get to programs. For some this was not a huge issue if they could
find mechanisms to get paid back, but some organizations just had to take the loss.
-FAN brought up a little known function provided by DOES where they front participants the
money and deduct it from their first paycheck. Jazmyn brought up that this is what
Baltimore does and provided information on the program here:
-Several providers brought up having youth assigned to their sites who never showed. It’s
unclear whether they got assigned to another site unbeknownst to host sites or whether
they just dropped out of the program. Everyone in the group agreed that this was a major
cause for concern given that many parents assume their children are at work and may not
be, but are falling through administrative cracks.
-New host sites brought up that the process of signing up was not very intuitive and they
were given little support from DOES. Group brought up if organizations that work with
young people and understand working with DC Gov have this much trouble, what must it be
like for employers? Serious implications of how hard or confusing this process is for DOES’
ability to do real outreach to private sector around youth employment placements.
-Also concerns about lack of provider curriculum/guidance around what to teach/cover with
young people while on site.
- Providers were very confused about the evaluation for young people. Some people got an
email but that was all the ever heard about it. Evaluation was NOT required of host sites yet
again. Anne explained the One City Summer Initiative evaluation and how that incorporates
SYEP but is not specific to youth workforce or SYEP-important to remember that a program
evaluation should be separate from an evaluation of an entire initiative. Still providers
should fill out the evaluation docs sent by CYITC staff.
-Providers serving foster youth, homeless youth and youth in year-round programs really
had a tough time coordinating with DOES around the program and the need for individual
agencies to better support “special populations” inside SYEP was brought up by Anne. The
Raise DC Disconnected Youth Change Network is doing some work around this specifically
around using SYEP and the homeless intake process at Virginia Williams to better refer
youth to year round services. Anne will update group on how the process is moving along.
-DCAYA not doing a comprehensive report card of SYEP this year. Program has come far
enough that Anne did not think the group needed to do one large report, however the
group will be doing a series of projects around discrete issues.
Next Steps:
SYEP Hearing is September 12th at 11am at the Wilson Building. Email Anne ASAP if you are able to
testify
Anne will reach out to Baltimore about their transportation program from Summer Youth Employment to
see what lessons we might learn for an issue brief .
Anne will reach out to people about individual issues to be covered by briefs 1) Transportation 2) Special
Populations and Referrals 3) Strategic Planning and Evaluation for SYEP before September meeting.
II.
Year Round Employment
- A few of the WIA providers explained the process for going through their recent audit
with the Department of Labor. Visits seemed to go well, but not everyone got visited as
part of the audit. A LOT of paperwork, but DOL reps also visited with panels of young
people from the organizations.
- Update on enrollment issues and WIA documentation. Anne is working now to see if the
group can do a learning exchange with Baltimore/Philadelphia about their Youth WIA
challenges.
- SYEP providers for the most part pretty disconnected from year round providers. Group
will be doing more “cross pollinating” of the two provider groups in next few months.
- Some providers reported issues with youth co-enrolled in both WIA and SYEP with
young people getting told to report to another site.
- Anne gave update on Raise DC Youth Employment Change Network work around Career
Pathways. Anne, Wendy Dixon Dubois and Jazmyn Singleton from Urban Alliance along
with a rep from DYRS have been detailed to cover “Hospitality and Tourism Pathway”.
Anne is in the process of getting feedback for the interview protocol from the group
now.
Next Steps:
Anne to follow up on possible collaboration with other cities
Youth Employment Change Network will meet again in September and Anne will do another report out to
group
III.
Disconnected Youth Survey and Awareness Month
-DCAYA completed a survey of 481 currently and formerly disconnected youth (ages 16-24) in DC
last spring. The report on the survey findings is currently in the final stages of editing and review.
-the survey was done in conjunction with the Raise DC Disconnected Youth Change Network and the
Community Foundation’s regional “Connecting Youth to Opportunity Campaign”, for which DCAYA
is the DC partner.
-October 4th, 2013 DCAYA will be hosting a “Connecting Youth the Opportunity Tour” during which
elected officials, agency staff, funders and others will go to three different sites currently serving
disconnected youth. The first part of the tour (visiting the three sites) is limited to elected officials
and funders but if there is extra room on the tour bus Anne will let people know. As of right now
Covenant House Washington and the Next Step PCS are confirmed sites.
-Second half of the event will focus on policy recommendations from the report and system building
efforts in other cities that have built comprehensive webs of services that support young people.
DCAYA members will be invited to this portion of the event. Anne is sharing high level findings but
the report is not finished and not ready for public consumption yet. If people have specific questions
about the data or recommendations they need to reach out to Anne individually. The panel
discussion will take place at the Next Step auditorium.