Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) created the Youth CareerConnect (YCC) program to improve the college and career readiness of young adults and to address the shortage of skilled workers in industries that rely on the H-1B visa program. DOL awarded $107 million in four-year grants to 24 applicants to bring together a group of community partners—including high schools, school districts, institutions of higher education (IHE), employers, workforce development system agencies and support service organizations—to provide youth with career-focused training and support services, tailored to each local employment market. YCC served a diverse group of youth. By spring 2018, 45 percent of YCC students were female, 45 percent Hispanic, 58 percent white, and 22 percent black. About half were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 7 percent had a disability, and 12 percent were English-language learners.

This paper examines YCC implementation and the approaches grantees followed for sustaining it as the program evolved. Report findings draw from multiple data sources, including two rounds of a survey administered to all 24 grantees about YCC implementation in one of their schools; three rounds of site visits and telephone interviews to 10 grantees, including interviews with schools and partner staff and students; and information from the participant tracking system on the services students received.

Results show that YCC services evolved as the program unfolded and students moved from lower into higher grades. Between the first and last two years of funding, schools offering YCC had:

• Increased enrollment. By the spring of 2018, grantees provided YCC services to 27,188 students, more than double the 13,073 that had received services by spring 2016.
• Increased services designed to prepare students for college and career. Services provided include campus visits, college preparatory coursework, and work-based learning experiences such as internships. These increases may have followed from growing employer and IHE partnerships: nearly all (91 percent) schools reported increased numbers of employer partners over time, and most (83 percent) reported stronger employer and IHE partnerships. Discussions with staff in the schools suggested that these partnerships were facilitated by designated YCC partner liaisons.
• Directly provided academic and nonacademic supports to help struggling students succeed. Schools appeared to provide academic (such as tutoring or homework assistance) and nonacademic support (such as assistance to help students with finances, health and well-being, and special needs) services directly: few grantees characterized their support service partners as involved or their relationships with them as strong.
• Began plans to sustain YCC services beyond the grant period. Roughly a year before grants officially ended, about a quarter of grantees had completed sustainability plans for at least some YCC services, and about half had partially completed such efforts. Grantees explored a variety of strategies to sustain services, such as tapping into existing partnerships; integrating YCC services into existing school or district services; and promoting the program to local, state, and national audiences.