On Wednesday, May 7, 2014, the Office of Family Assistance's Peer TA Network, along with partners from the U.S. Departments of Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, hosted the Investing in Youth and the Community: Summer Youth Employment Programs Webinar. This Webinar explored emerging initiatives, partnerships, and strategies for implementing summer youth employment programs. The Webinar highlighted federal, state, private, and public services available to engage youth in summer employment, while also providing TANF-serving organizations and other stakeholders with the opportunity to learn how to engage various partners in support of summer youth employment activities. Presenters included representatives from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Brandeis University's Center for Youth and Communities, and the Denver Public Housing Authority's Youth Employment Academy.

As a followup to this presentation, OFA created a series of Summer Youth Employment Program Profiles – providing more in-depth information on the background, program model, lessons learned, outcomes, and successes for a number of programs engaging youth in summer employment. These profiles highlight the activities of the City of Richmond, Department of Employment and Training's YouthWORKS Division; the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Employment and Training Center; and the Denver Housing Authority’s Youth Employment Academy.

The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have issued a letter to their respective customers encouraging partnerships among the network of state and local youth service and workforce development providers, human service agencies, and public housing agencies to develop summer jobs programs for needy and at-risk youth that provide employment, educational experiences, and essential skills such as financial literacy and time management.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics released an economic news release on the summer youth labor force for the summer of 2013. From April to July 2013, the number of employed youth 16 to 24 years old increased by 2.1 million to 19.7 million. This year, the share of young people employed in July was 50.7 percent. Unemployment among youth rose by 692,000 from April to July 2013, compared with an increase of 836,000 for the same period in 2012.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted the "Leveraging Private/Public Partnerships and Funding to Improve Summer Youth Employment Opportunities" Webinar on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST. This Webinar provided background information on funding strategies for summer youth employment activities and discussed methods for leveraging both public and private funding streams. The Webinar featured speakers from the LA Conservation Corps, the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, ABCD Inc., and the Philadelphia Youth Network. The speakers encouraged those implementing a summer youth employment programs to collaborate with TANF agencies, the business community, community action agencies and other CSBG-funded programs, workforce investment programs, and private foundations in an effort to better serve youth, reach TANF participants, and engage key stakeholders.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted the "The ABC's of Creating Summer Youth Programs and Partnerships" Webinar on October 17, 2012 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EDT. The Webinar featured speakers Mathematica Policy Research, the Southeast Tennessee Development District--Local Workforce Investment Area Five, the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, and Corporate Voices for Working Families who provided an overview of strategies for developing summer youth employment programs that can work in a variety of contexts with different types of employers. Speakers also discussed the strategic partnerships, funding streams, and recruitment and placement strategies that can be utilized to increase summer youth employment opportunities.

The Employment and Training Administration released Training and Employment Notice (TEN) TEN 45-11, to share with the workforce system a joint memorandum by the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Assistant Secretary of the Army, and the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality to agency leadership recommending they encourage their respective field staff build on or create new partnerships to employ young Americans this summer. This memorandum also provides the workforce system with information on partnering with public land management agencies and conservation corps to create or expand summer employment opportunities for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth and young adults on public lands.

This report was authored by Mathematica Policy Research with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Conducting site visits to eight local sites, this report details findings from the post-summer youth employment initiative, designed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. States received funding to give States the option to continue to fund work experience opportunities for out-of-school youth ages 18 to 24 for an additional six months.

This report details early findings from an implementation evaluation of the summer youth employment activities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Authored by Mathematica Policy Research with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, this report provides information on the national context for implementation, the experience of local areas, and lessons on implementation practices.

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development, Evaluation and Research by The Center for Youth and Communities and the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, this report details the implementation of the Recovery Act summer youth employment initiative in four communities. Researchers conducted interviews and site visits in Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana; and Phoenix and Maricopa County, Arizona. Authors provide information on implementation, innovation utilized by the sites, and best practices for future program development.