Investing In "Disconnected" Youth

Juvenile Law Center,
Two youth sitting together, smiling at camera.
Above: Shy and Jeremy pose during a youth advovate event. As former youth advocates in Youth Fostering Change and Juveniles for Justice, they used their work experience advocating for other youth to get jobs.

Think back to the first job you ever had. Perhaps you babysat, bagged groceries, bussed tables, or worked as a pool lifeguard. Whatever your specific position, chances are you learned important job skills and gained valuable experience. That first job could even have been the foundation for your early career.

Without early work experiences, foster youth and justice-involved youth fail to develop the necessary job skills and networking experience to find family-sustaining jobs as young adults.

These “stepping-stone” jobs are out of reach for many young people, particularly youth of color. Although the overall job market is improving, the unemployment rate for African-American youth age 16 to 19 is still a whopping 25% – almost five times the unemployment rate of the general population. Nationally, more attention is being focused on how to re-engage “disconnected youth,” young people who aren’t working or in school. But youth in foster care and the juvenile justice system – who are disproportionately African-American and often struggle to attain jobs or career training – are often left out of the conversation.

For these youth, early job experiences and strong vocational training are particularly vital, but they face significant barriers to finding and securing those opportunities. Many foster youth don’t have access to their important documents, such as a social security card or state ID, and they may miss an application deadline while waiting for a caseworker to track down their paperwork.

Even preparing to enter the job market is difficult for youth in both systems. Moving to a new foster home can disrupt a job training program. Youth who change schools or leave a juvenile justice facility often can’t transfer their educational credits which are important for earning industry-recognized, skill-based competencies. For youth in institutional placements, obtaining work experience of any sort can be almost impossible. Without early work experiences, foster youth and justice-involved youth fail to develop the necessary job skills and networking experience to find family-sustaining jobs as young adults.

Recent federal legislation has taken aim at some of these barriers. The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act requires that foster youth receive their vital documents and encourages their participation in age-appropriate extracurricular activities, such as after-school jobs or internships. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) dramatically expands youth-specific training and education opportunities. And, most recently, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) increases school stability protections for foster youth and includes provisions for education in the juvenile justice system, as well.

These are important steps towards ensuring that all young people have the opportunity and skills to apply for and get a job, but there is still work to be done. With support from the Lenfest Foundation, Juvenile Law Center is working to ensure that these laws result in expanded opportunities for young people in Philadelphia. 

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