Project: YOUTH OFFENDER DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Labor through the Training and Technical Assistance Corporation
Status: In process
IPS Staff: Marion Pines, Michael Ford, Irene Hechler, Merry Perry, and Darnell Adams

Purpose and Approach  
Since 1999, the Department of Labor has funded three waves of local pilot projects designed to connect youth at risk of criminal involvement and court-involved youth with long-term employment opportunities. The Demonstration Grant provides funding to 28 local communities to serve young offenders ages 14-24 who are returning to their communities from detention or incarceration, are already involved in the juvenile/criminal justice system, are gang members, or are at risk of gang or court involvement.

Under this grant, staff from IPS’s Sar Levitan Center and their colleagues at the National Center on Employment Policy plan, coordinate, and deliver on-site and off-site training and technical assistance in the area of workforce development and youth employment for grantees, in addition to managing the MIS program for the Department of Labor.

The goal is to strengthen collaboration between the One-Stop Career System, established under the Workforce Investment Act, and those agencies in the juvenile and criminal justice system that are responsible for public safety – two systems not accustomed to working together. The project will also help engage local partners that provide a range of education, mental health, substance abuse, housing, and other services that young offenders require in order to obtain and maintain employment. The project draws on the principles of youth development, encourages strong partnerships to fill the gaps in the community’s existing interventions dealing with youth offenders, and reconnects these young people with caring adults and positive activities in the community.

Results and Publications
Forthcoming.

.