Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities

The purpose of WIOA youth services is to assist low-income young people, (ages 14-21 if in-school youth; ages 16-24 if out-of-school youth), who face significant barriers to education and/or employment by providing resources and support to overcome those barriers and successfully transition to self-sufficient adulthood. This is accomplished by assessing a participant’s skills, interests, needs and goals, creating customized service plans in collaboration with the participant, and expanding the participant’s connection to the local economy, educational opportunities and community services. This process is coordinated around 14 Youth Program Elements, which must be made available to every participant. The 14 youth program elements are:

1. Tutoring, study skills training, and dropout prevention strategies:

• Indiana utilizes the Jobs for America’s Graduates program as its dropout prevention strategy for in-school youth.
• Local programs utilize their own strategies for individual tutoring or study skills training as appropriate and necessary.

2. Alternative secondary school services, or dropout recovery services as appropriate:

• Indiana also utilizes the Jobs for America’s Graduates out-of-school program model in some local areas for dropout recovery services.
• Additionally, all local areas partner with their adult education providers for dropout recovery/ high school equivalency classes for youth participants.
• Finally, the Indiana Department of Education oversees the alternative education programs in local school corporations. In-school youth participants have access to these programs when appropriate.

3. Paid and unpaid work experiences including summer employment and other opportunities throughout the year, pre-apprenticeship programs, internships and job shadowing, on-the-job training opportunities:

• Indiana’s local areas offer numerous and robust work experiences (including summer employment, job shadowing, internships and on-the-job training) at local employers. These work experiences range in length, but are typically short term and can last up to twelve weeks. Many work experiences include a “boot camp” or training prior to the start as well as milestone trainings regarding the jobsite, industry or individuals onsite performance. All work experiences include some form of academic and occupational education aligned with their placement and/or career pathway.
• During the past year, Indiana received USDOL grants focused on increasing and expanding apprenticeship programs across the state. Organizations selected to receive funding included targeting in-school and out-of-school youth in their plans to expand and grow the apprenticeship model in the state. These partnerships includes Indiana Plan and the State’s DOL Office of Apprenticeships.

4. Occupational skills training:

• Indiana offers multiple access points for participants to seek occupational skills training that will result in an industry recognized credential. These could include a specific training program selected by the youth based on their career interest and aptitude results and/or the state’s WorkINdiana short-term credential program.
• Additionally, the state also includes apprenticeship programs, JobCorps and YouthBuild in this program element.

5. Education offered concurrently with and in the same context as workforce preparation activities:

• Local areas offer this program element, as appropriate, for youth who are enrolled in a post-secondary education opportunity (including those in credential programs) and may need a short-term work experience or employability skills training, such as those found in the Jobs for America’s Graduates program models. This also includes “boot-camp” programs offered prior to short-term work experience, on-the job training, internships or Adult Educations Integrated Education and Training (IET) program.

6. Leadership development opportunities, including community service and peer-centered activities encouraging responsibility and other positive social and civic behaviors:

• Local areas offer this program element, as appropriate, through local partnerships with colleges and other leadership training programs or contractors.
• All Jobs for America’s Graduates participants participate in leadership development through the application of the Career Association. This includes teambuilding and service learning activities.

7. Supportive services:

• Local areas offer this program element, as appropriate, through the use of clothing assistance, transportation assistance, child and dependent care assistance, referrals to medical services, assistance with training materials such as books and equipment and incentives for completion of participant goals. The provider can vary in each local area but could include Speedway gas cards for transportation assistance or a gift card to Goodwill, Kohl’s or Wal-Mart for clothing assistance.

8. Adult mentoring:

• Local areas offer this program element, as appropriate, through the connections with partner organizations like the Boys and Girls Club, Starfish Initiative, local post-secondary college and university students or other organizations that specialize in mentoring teens and young adults.

9. Comprehensive guidance and counseling:

• Often, this program element is provided by the onsite youth case manager, especially for career and education counseling.
• However, if a youth has a specific need for specialized counseling, local areas refer participants to drug and alcohol, mental health and other organizations when appropriate.
• Resource mapping has been completed for all economic growth regions by an outside contractor that includes referral and partner agencies for such services.

10. Financial literacy education:

• Local areas have developed partnerships with individual organizations to provide some financial literacy training to participants. These include, but are not limited to, Primerica, Allison.com, FDIC Youth Guide to Financial Literacy, and Old National Bank.
• Indiana recently wrapped up technical assistance grant for its Jobs for America’s Graduates programs through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that assisted in exposure to additional resources, instruction on creating quality classroom and workshop based lessons, outreach to local financial institutions and marketing materials related to financial capability education..

11. Entrepreneurial skills training:

• Local areas are still developing curriculum and partnerships to provide this program element. However, some local areas have identified the Small Business Administration, the Chamber of Commerce, Young Entrepreneur’s Academy, Ivy Tech’s Cook Center for Entrepreneurship and Junior Achievement as potential sources of curriculum, guest speakers and mentors.
• Several local service providers have developed curriculum for this program element that focuses on the awareness and understanding of entrepreneurship and the steps to create a detailed business plan.
• Through the Jobs for America’s Graduates program, students have been asked to present a Business Plan utilizing skills learned through Entrepreneurial Skills Training at their annual Career Development Conference in a “shark tank-like” competition.

12. Services that provide labor market and employment information:

• Indiana operates a statewide career interest and aptitude website, Indiana Career Explorer, which provides youth participants access to labor market information related to many career pathways and in-demand occupations that align with their interests.
• Indiana recently launched Indiana Career Ready, which provides Indiana specific workforce data that can be broken down by regional and local area..
• Indiana operates INReality, an online tool that allows users to select a lifestyle that matches their career interests, or select a lifestyle and then find careers and salary information to help them afford that lifestyle. This website offers information for 35 major communities across the state.
• Local areas have the ability to provide additional information and resources for this program element as appropriate.

13. Activities that help youth prepare for and transition to post-secondary education and training:

• The Jobs for America’s Graduates program model integrates curriculum and activities such as scholarship, application and financial aid assistance, entrance exam preparation, and other independent living skills that would ensure success in the youth’s post-secondary experience.
• Local areas employ other tactics that are regionally specific. They include, but are not limited to, college fairs and visits, Financial Aid application nights, or college bridge programs.

14. Follow-up services for not less than 12 months after the completion of participation:

• Indiana requires follow-up services for all participants to occur at least once every 90 days after exit. In addition, Jobs for America’s Graduates participants are contacted once a month after exit.

The types and duration of services provided may vary based on the needs of the individual, but may include leadership development and supportive services; regular contact with a youth’s employer including assistance in addressing work-related problems; assistance in securing better paying jobs, career pathway development, and further education or training; work related peer support groups; adult mentoring; or services necessary to ensure success in post-secondary training.

The state’s major focus for recruiting out-of-school youth and assisting them in achieving their goals is a partnership with Title II Adult Education programs. Over 55% of the Adult Education students statewide are between the ages of 16-24, and nearly all are drop-out students working on achieving their high school equivalency diploma. This partnership increases participation (attendance) in both programs as well as assisting in educating the out-of-school youth for preparation in career pathway and bridge short-term training programs with direct linkages to post-training employment. Joint statewide Youth and Adult Education Director meetings have been ongoing since 2014, as well as a focus for WorkOne youth providers as members of regional Adult Education consortium meetings. Local WorkOne staff participate in Adult Education program participant onboarding or welcome meetings and vice a versa to ensure all participants are aware of the array of services available to them in both programs. Adult Education partners serve on local standing youth committees. Additionally, at each respective program’s annual professional development conference, the partnership organization is asked to present updates and ongoing initiatives to continue to increase collaboration.

In addition to partnership with Title II Adult Education programs, recruiting and referral to Vocational Rehabilitation has been a statewide focus since the implementation of WIOA. This partnership allows out-of-school youth with significant barriers to employment to access funding for both intensive and basic services to assist them in their pursuits. Joint statewide training, local staff meetings and specific referral forms/personal hand-offs are just some of the strategies VR and the statewide WorkOne system have implemented in order to ensure out-of-school youth participant access to programming. VR partners serve on local youth standing committees.

Additional partnerships with the statewide community college system, foster care system, Commission for Higher Education, Department of Education, and Department of Correction assist in helping local areas recruit potentially eligible out-of-school youth or provide them access to education or training funding and resources to assist them in completing goals related to education, training and employment.