Youth & Education
Partners for Community and Affiliates Help Youth Prepare for Success
Partners for Community affiliates have made youth and education services a priority, often working with young people who everyone else has given up on. At-risk youth, young parents, juvenile offenders – young people with the greatest needs and challenges have support from Partners for Community.
NEFWC offers a WIOA Youth Program, under the direction of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, providing young inner-city people with opportunities for personal and professional growth. Skill-building and one-on-one counseling help young people find and keep jobs, and a summer job program familiarizes teenagers with the adult world of work and offers them valuable on-the-job experience.
The Corporation for Public Management (CPM) also supports at-risk youth in completing their secondary education and providing opportunities for further education and employment.
Since education breaks down many barriers to success, Partners for Community offers HiSet support to youth and adults looking to obtain their HiSet through its affiliates. The Young Parents Program (see below) helps young adults obtain a HiSet and then move on to college. The CIES program, also run by the Corporation for Public Management (CPM), is a job training and employment program for adults that often has HiSet education as part of a participant’s individualized program to reach full-time, long-term employment.
The Corporation for Public Management runs a Young Parents Program (YPP) as part of the MA Department of Transitional Assistance Employment Services Program. The program looks to reduce welfare dependency among young parents, ages 14 to 24, who have not achieved a high school diploma or HiSet or are exploring next steps after high school/HiSet completion. The YPP program helps young parents obtain HiSet, training, parenting skills, employment and higher education. YPP offers access to education with “real world” implications, teaching participants how to apply math, science, communication and other skills to raising a family and other day-to-day activities. The YPP program is based upon support, mutual respect and trust and has a proven track record of success.
CIES, part of DTA’s Employment Services Program, provides a comprehensive array of training, education and job search services to low-income families receiving Transitional Aid for Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) from DTA. Through receipt of these services, CIES participants are provided with the skills needed to seek and secure employment on a career pathway in a field with high labor market demand, as well as the supports necessary to retain employment and achieve career growth. Although traditional indicators of job readiness, such as education and work history, may be predictive of professional success, other issues (e.g., health, housing stability, or family life) can indirectly but substantially impact a participant’s ability to secure or maintain employment. Developing a holistic understanding of a participant’s socioeconomic circumstances is vital to delivering customized and therefore effective services.