All Featured Highlights: Building the Capacity of Communities
- Apr 03, 2013 | Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt Bryant Taking Aim at Gun Violence: Rebuilding Community Education and Employment Pathways In a single generation, our nation is faced with the prospect of losing over 132,000 black men and boys to gun violence. Moreover, for every black male who dies from gun violence, there are another 24 others who suffer non-fatal injuries - making the impacts of such violence even greater. In black communities, gun violence is about far more than reforming gun control laws and empowering law enforcement. Gun violence for young black males predominates in communities where residents live in concentrated disadvantage with high rates of unemployment, school dropout, and poverty. The absence of opportunities in these communities gives rise to criminal activity and the loss of too many young lives. Solving the crisis of gun violence in communities requires that America address the issue of concentrated poverty and geography. The rebuilding and strengthening of these communities through creating infrastructure to provide improved education and employment opportunities for black youth will significantly reduce issues of gun violence. Download PDF
- Mar 09, 2010 | Sara Hastings, Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt, and Linda Harris Building a Comprehensive Youth Employment Delivery System: Elements of Effective Practice Many communities have shown tremendous commitment to youth employment. The return on investment and effort, however, can be greatly multiplied if federal youth funds, discretionary funding, resources from other youth serving systems, and community resources are brought together to build comprehensive youth employment system. Key elements of such a system include: a strong convening entity, an effective administrative agent, a well-trained case management arm, strong partnerships across systems that serve youth, and high quality work experience and career exposure. Download PDF
- Feb 14, 2013 | Linda Harris and Kisha Bird Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Disconnected Youth: Comments to the U. S. Department of Education Request for Information This document provides background on national policy, legislative initiatives, and research related to disconnected youth as well as citing lessons and examples of effective practice. Download PDF
- Feb 14, 2013 | Linda Harris Building Pathways to Postsecondary Labor Market Success for Low Income Young Men of Color: A community intervention strategy Adapted from article included in the publication Changing Places: How Communities Will Improve the Health of Boys of Color, Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity, University of California at Berkeley. Download PDF
- Feb 14, 2013 | CLASP Youth Team Reconnecting the Disconnected: Leveraging Public Policy & Local Practice to Expand Education and Labor Market Opportunities for Youth Download PDF
- Feb 14, 2013 Webinar on Connecting to Jobs: Local Strategies and Policy Approaches to Employ Black Men Black male youth and young adults are up against a major struggle to launch themselves into self sufficiency, as unemployment in these age brackets is at an all-time high. On May 24,2012, CLASP, the Association for Black Funding Executives, and the 2025 Network for Black Men and Boys hosted a webinar highlighting approaches to increase employment opportunities for black male youth and young adults. Read Online
- Mar 09, 2010 | Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt, Linda Harris, and Kisha Bird Follow the Money: Funding and Legislative Opportunities on the Horizon for Communities to Serve Disconnected Youth Several pieces of legislation have been proposed or passed that present opportunities to fund programs in communities to keep young people connected to school and recapture those who have fallen by the wayside. Most of these resources, however, are from competitive funding streams which will require communities to demonstrate innovative practice in planning and implementation. Communities need to be aware of these potential opportunities very early in the process in order to plan strategically and create partnerships to program at-scale and meet the needs of their disconnected youth. Download PDF
- Jan 30, 2009 | Sara Hastings CCRY Network 2009 Winter Meeting Summary: Looking Forward—Moving the Youth Agenda with a New Federal Administration The agenda for the day-and-a-half meeting consisted of: group discussions on the potential opportunities that exist with an Obama Administration and Congress, including the recovery bill and investments in green jobs, energy and infrastructure; a facilitated workshop on crafting the Network message; and community presentations from Oakland, Los Angeles, and San Diego on connecting out‐of‐school youth to postsecondary pathways. Download PDF
- Nov 13, 2006 | Linda Harris with Charles Modiano consultant Making the Juvenile Justice - Workforce System Connection for Re-entering Young Offenders: A Guide for Local Practice This guidebook is designed to provide advice from the field to communities who are interested in pursuing more formal connections--or strengthening existing connections--between the workforce and justice systems. It draws on experiences in eight communities and focuses on on-the-ground challenges and solutions related to blending the cultures, adapting programming, engaging employers, and meeting performance. Download PDF
- Feb 27, 2006 | Linda Harris Learning from the Youth Opportunity Experience: Executive Summary This brief summary accompanies the 50-page full report detailing the experiences of 22 communities that received U.S. Department of Labor Youth Opportunity Grants to support education, work exposure, and youth development for under-served young people. Download PDF
- Sep 03, 2009 | Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt & Linda Harris Community-Wide Systems that Promote High School Completion Read Online
- Mar 25, 2009 | Linda Harris Making the Connection: Opportunities in ARRA to Serve Older Youth Even before the economic downturn, youth in our economically distressed urban and rural communities were hurting. This audio conference will identify opportunities in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to serve older youth and will outline approaches states and local communities should consider to improve youth outcomes. Read Online