EducationWorks' Youth Workforce Development (YWD) programs are funded by the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN), a non-profit intermediary organization funded by the U.S. Department of Labor. PYN works to align programs, systems and resources that promote academic achievement, career success and productive citizenship for Philadelphia youth ages 14 to 21 years old.
Under contracts from PYN since 2000, EW staff and AmeriCorps members have helped Philadelphia in-school students and out-of-school youth to:
• Appreciate the interaction between academic skills and work;
• Initiate and complete work-based and service learning projects;
• Explore, experience and understand the demands of the workplace;
• Acquire the tools to explore career options including paths to higher education;
• Enhance employability skills;
• Interact with professionals and employers through campus and workplace visits and in-house lectures;
• Practice leadership skills; and
• Gain competency in their role as a productive citizen.
How It Works
YWD students participate in one of two modules: academic year and summer, or summer only. Each module combines three major activity areas--Academic Support, Life Skill Development, and Job Readiness. To minimize duplication of services and to maximize collaboration, services are aligned with other local youth development initiatives, such as Beacon Centers, after school programs, and the School District of Philadelphia 's Summer Development Institute.
Each student is assessed for knowledge and skills in each activity area. Together with corpsmembers, a learning plan is developed establishing specific personal goals, activities to strengthen areas which need improvement, and progress benchmarks. YWD participants are eligible to receive quarterly incentive payments for reaching their benchmarks and goals.
In addition, YWD students in the academic year and summer, and summer only modules complete a portfolio which serves as an assessment of their accomplishments and allows them to track their progress. The portfolio reflects the entire range of the students' activities, including journals, materials obtained from field trips, career research, lesson plans, and other materials created by the student related to his or her work or service projects. At the end of the summer program, portfolios are reviewed by District principals and teachers to award academic credit for exemplary work and to identify students who will exhibit their work at the annual city wide Student Exhibition sponsored by PYN.
Academic Year and Summer Module
YWD students meet after school twice weekly and participate in a number of monthly special events, workshops, field trips, and fun events. Throughout the year, students focus on:
College Preparation and Support: Students improve their reading and writing skills through selected readings and participation in Literature Circles to share their views of a book's content as well as prepare presentations to peers to practice public speaking. Students also visit several local colleges and universities and complete sample college applications, essays, and college financial aid packages to gain an understanding of the process.
Career Exploration: Each year a set of careers are selected, e.g., health, business. Through readings, discussion, and hands-on activities, students gain an understanding of the specific careers, industry and its systems, and participate in a number of career-related activities: visiting work sites, attending guest speaker workshops, developing career-specific projects, and job shadowing and interning at an industry-related site.
Developing Job Skills: A workshop series is offered to help students develop and improve basic job skills. All students create a resume and cover letter, participate in mock job interviews, and conduct an Internet job search.
In preparation for the summer session, students attend workshops on how to work with children, literacy instruction activities, and workplace expectations and behaviors. They work in EducationWorks' summer camps 20 hours a week as they continue with 20 hours of college preparation and career exploration activities.
Summer Only Module
Joining the academic year and summer module students, these students attend weekly sessions for 8 weeks to:
• explore careers, visit colleges and work sites, and learn about workplace behaviors to prepare them for the workplace.
• enhance their writing skills by participating in Writing for School classes.
• reinforce their literacy and workplace skills by serving as junior counselors in EducationWorks summer camps for younger children.
Highlights
In 2005, 60 students participated in the academic year and summer module, 249 students in the summer only module, and 14 in the out-of-school youth module.
Students in the academic year and summer, and summer only modules explored careers within law and justice. Students participated in mock trials, developed a town watch and safe corridors program, attended mediation training, visited courts, law offices and other legal work sites, and interned at law related workplaces.
As special career related projects, Grays Ferry Beacon students created and performed a skit about gun violence and hosted a memorial to family and friends who have been victims of gun violence. The Germantown and Grover Washington Beacon Center students were trained in conflict resolution and conducted a conflict resolution workshop with children enrolled in the Beacons' after-school programs.
YWD students' role as summer camp counselors focused on working with students on literacy skill development and safety. Using the Risk Watch curriculum, a child injury and accident prevention program, YWD students were trained in pedestrian, swimming, bike, and fire safety and gun violence reduction. They also learned about training and presentation techniques. Using what they learned, they conducted weekly workshops at 5 summer camps, training elementary students in all 5 Risk Watch units.
YWD students also created a podcast for their final presentation at the PYN city-wide Student Exhibition conference. Students gathered student, community resident and policy viewpoints about gun violence in Philadelphia. The recording was combined with photos of memorials and statistics. As in each of the four previous years, EW'S YWD students won one of the nine awards presented at the PYN Student Exhibition attended by more than 2,000 students city-wide.
