Generation Work™, launched by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2016, aims to connect more of America’s young adults—especially young people of color from families with low incomes—with meaningful employment by changing the way that public and private systems prepare them for jobs. As part of the initiative, local partnerships in cities across the country have worked to align various education, employment, and support services to help young people develop the skills required to succeed in the working world, link them with employers, and increase their advancement and earning opportunities. By combining employer-facing strategies aligned to labor market needs with positive youth development (PYD) approaches—such as positive relationships, safety, a focus on young people, and youth agency—Generation Work aims to promote equitable employment opportunities for all young people.
Now in its second phase, Generation Work partners across the country are currently engaging with employers to expand how they understand their role in supporting young adults’ employment stability and career advancement.
Child Trends has served as a national partner since Generation Work began, helping local partnerships integrate PYD approaches into their programming and their employer engagement efforts. PYD is an approach that focuses on young people’s strengths and promotes positive outcomes for young people by providing opportunities for growth and learning, fostering positive relationships, and furnishing the support needed to build on their leadership strengths. In the workplace, young adults need structured and supportive opportunities to develop and expand their skills within a trustworthy and safe environment that encourages their input and ideas, opinions, and perspectives.
Program staff can better meet individuals’ needs by developing positive relationships with young people; ensuring physically and emotionally safe environments; strengthening linkages between organizations, families, and communities; and improving youth’s developmentally appropriate skills (that is, both their soft skills and their academic and technical competencies). Employers are also starting to incorporate PYD in the workplace to engage with young people in ways that align with evidence-based PYD principles. For example, employers are providing young adults with positive supervision that supports their needs, opportunities to build skills and advance in their careers, and ways to contribute and provide meaningful input.
For workforce development programs, a PYD approach requires nimble and creative thinking from staff and an organizational culture that supports both staff and young people, and organizations may struggle to identify concrete ways to implement PYD approaches consistently. For employers, the idea of PYD in the workplace is somewhat new and employers face unique constraints, as well as competing priorities. The individualized approach of PYD requires more complexity than simply sending staff to a training but is more likely to engage young adults and achieve positive outcomes. Child Trends has developed research briefs, blogs, and tools for the Generation Work initiative. These products aim to help workforce development organizations better understand PYD approaches in both program and workplace settings, integrate PYD into a program setting and employer engagement, and learn from the strategies implemented by other programs.
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