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More Community Corner City seeks partnership to boost youth employment
From The Beacon, Mass Innovations, October 2008
Boston is taking an active approach to reversing a sharp increase in the proportion of young male high school graduates who have not either entered the workforce or continued their education.
The number of Boston men age 24 or younger who fit this description has increased by more than 50 percent since the beginning of the decade, according to data compiled by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. In 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of men in this category was nearly twice the number of women.
“We have thousands of young men who have earned a high school diploma and still have been unable to become employed in a significant way,” said Conny Doty, director of the city’s Office for Jobs and Community.
In August, Doty’s office issued a request-for-proposal seeking an outside agency to work with companies on a program that provides classroom training and counseling as well as on-the-job experience likely to lead to permanent employment.
In creating the RFP for the program – for which Boston allocated $200,000 of federal grant money – city officials stipulated that companies providing on-the-job experience must be in one of four sectors: the building trades, the marine trades, food services, or logistics-related areas such as transportation, warehousing and shipping.
These fields, Doty said, were selected not only because they offer the promise of decent entry-level pay and opportunities for advancement, but also because they represent industries that young men are interested in. One reason why a greater number of the city’s young women are employed, according to Doty, is that they are more willing than men to work in health care, a major source of local jobs.
The RFP emphasizes that employers must work closely with the agency that administers the program. A participating business will be expected, for example, to help develop the training curriculum and take part in classroom instruction, as well as committing to hiring the people who complete the program successfully.
“We expect at least 70 percent of the participants to land a permanent job related to their training,” Doty said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.”
Doty also noted that it must be in the company’s own interests to develop their workforce.
“This can’t be charity,” she said. “This is something that has to work for [the employer’s] bottom line.”
Boston officials also are seeking to ensure that any program includes a strong case-management component and that employers are willing to consider applicants who have minor criminal records.
Behind Boston’s approach, Doty said, is the assumption that lower-income youths often lack the network of family and social connections that can lead to a person’s first job.
“People help you get a job,” Doty said. “Even in the professional world, people want someone who can vouch for you. That’s what we’re doing. We’re the vouchers.”
For more information, contact Conny Doty at (617) 918-5252.
More Community Corner City seeks partnership to boost youth employment
City seeks partnership to boost youth employment
From The Beacon, Mass Innovations, October 2008
Boston is taking an active approach to reversing a sharp increase in the proportion of young male high school graduates who have not either entered the workforce or continued their education.
The number of Boston men age 24 or younger who fit this description has increased by more than 50 percent since the beginning of the decade, according to data compiled by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. In 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of men in this category was nearly twice the number of women.
“We have thousands of young men who have earned a high school diploma and still have been unable to become employed in a significant way,” said Conny Doty, director of the city’s Office for Jobs and Community.
In August, Doty’s office issued a request-for-proposal seeking an outside agency to work with companies on a program that provides classroom training and counseling as well as on-the-job experience likely to lead to permanent employment.
In creating the RFP for the program – for which Boston allocated $200,000 of federal grant money – city officials stipulated that companies providing on-the-job experience must be in one of four sectors: the building trades, the marine trades, food services, or logistics-related areas such as transportation, warehousing and shipping.
These fields, Doty said, were selected not only because they offer the promise of decent entry-level pay and opportunities for advancement, but also because they represent industries that young men are interested in. One reason why a greater number of the city’s young women are employed, according to Doty, is that they are more willing than men to work in health care, a major source of local jobs.
The RFP emphasizes that employers must work closely with the agency that administers the program. A participating business will be expected, for example, to help develop the training curriculum and take part in classroom instruction, as well as committing to hiring the people who complete the program successfully.
“We expect at least 70 percent of the participants to land a permanent job related to their training,” Doty said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.”
Doty also noted that it must be in the company’s own interests to develop their workforce.
“This can’t be charity,” she said. “This is something that has to work for [the employer’s] bottom line.”
Boston officials also are seeking to ensure that any program includes a strong case-management component and that employers are willing to consider applicants who have minor criminal records.
Behind Boston’s approach, Doty said, is the assumption that lower-income youths often lack the network of family and social connections that can lead to a person’s first job.
“People help you get a job,” Doty said. “Even in the professional world, people want someone who can vouch for you. That’s what we’re doing. We’re the vouchers.”
For more information, contact Conny Doty at (617) 918-5252.
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
