Percent of Youth Ages 16-24 Not in School and Not Working
Current Value
17.3%
Definition
Line
Bar
Story Behind the Curve
- Transportation:
- to and from education and job training
- to and from employment
- Culture:
- Seasonal employment
- of communities and families:
- case study: change in family culture when youth go on to education; outside the norm; tension within the family: "are you becoming uppity"
- Parent who have not experienced higher education they may be less able to help their children; may not have the knowledge about higher education
- sometimes parents are afraid to take the risk; and are afraid for their children
- May be a need for the child to help out at home, so don't want them to go off for education and/or work
- Parent who have not experienced higher education they may be less able to help their children; may not have the knowledge about higher education
- Has been a change in culture from seeing education as a "way out" to now not seeing it as much
- Sustainability beyond High School
- Opportunities for education; employment and empowerment
- competition for jobs: J-1 visas for jobs in Ocean City (available for longer-term employment)
- if youth aren't engaged in these structures from an early age
- Parent who have not experienced higher education they may be less able to help their children; may not have the knowledge about higher education
- sometimes parents are afraid to take the risk; and are afraid for their children
- competition for jobs: J-1 visas for jobs in Ocean City (available for longer-term employment)
Partners
- Grant Holders:
- Telemon
- Shore Up
- Transportation Providers: Shore transit, taxis
- Faith based communities
- County commissioners
- Chamber of Commerce in all the communities
- Veterans and Seniors providing mentoring to these youth (in taxicabs)
- Board of Education
- Rev. Jenkins in Pocomoke
- Mayor, Town Council in Pocomoke; Business leaders
- Maryland Workforce Exchange: portal to look for work
- Higher Education: UMES; Salisbury; Wor-Wic; Del-Tech; Eastern Shore Community College;
- Jail
What Works
- Off the wall ideas:
- Magic Bus: mobile bus to hit all the hotspots; on the bus will be peer leadership
- "on the bus"! (Education, Employment and Empowerment)
- Businesses providing vouchers for travel; provide incentives from the governmentBuilding a Youth Service Center in Pocomoke in the old Rose's building
- Currently working:
- Adult Education
- Telemon
- Shore UP
- Mobile One Unit: stops at all the libraries in the counties; Mike Pennington can arrange wherever you need
- Missing from the current programs:
- mentoring
- case management: addressing some of the issues a youth may be dealing with.
- facilitation of navigating the working world/educational world
- Needs to be a defined plan identifying responsibilites and the role of each of our partners
- we have the community resources to help the youth wherever they are. find the youth and connect them with resources.
Strategy
- Peer Leadership as a focal point
- Partnership with local colleges and people in the workforce to provide mentoring for youth in the opportunity youth age group; open to every student
- what are your dreams? What do you want to do?
- Expand existing mentorship program
- UMES, Salisbury, etc.
- Life skills
- Incentivize businesses to go into the schools to help middle school and high school students
- tax breaks for businesses
- Liability protection for the businesses (will have to go through legislation
- Sub-vendors of Telemon
- Transportation plan:
- Needs assessment (see research agenda)
- RFP for transportation solutions and business models from transportation contractors
- Youth Service Center
- Tap in with Faith Based Communities
- Find kids in school who are on -track to graduate but don't have a plan for what they will do after graduation
- idenify indicators of kids at risk to be not working and not in school after high school
- interview these kids to identify kids who are already in the opportunity youth population
- Establish the center in one of the "hotspots"
- Word of mouth to the opportunity youth from the youth at risk to become opportunity youth
- Services: use people from various agencies and businesses; tap into partnerships that we already have and talk with youth.
- Resume building
- Life Skills
- Bring in people from business and talk about what these jobs are like (restaurants, retail, etc)
- Provide internships for kids
- Transportation
Data Discussion
- Next year, the drop-out rate will be raised to 18 so this will impact the "curve" and forecast of the data
Research Agenda
- What is the data on the break-down of opportunity youth:
- throughout the county; will we see "hotspots
- Is this impoverished areas? Or kids taking a "gap year"
- By age:
- 16-18
- 22--24
- Transportation Needs Assessment of opportunity youth:
- Where are they?
- Where do they need to go?
- Identify trends