Opportunity Youth – Chronic Poverty Prevention Project

Our meeting to discuss the upcoming disconnected youth (youth ages 16-24 who are either not in school or employed) project is scheduled for Friday September 16, 2016 at 10 am.

Who are our disconnected youth?

Disconnected youth are often defined as young people ages 16-24 who are homeless, in foster care, involved in the justice system, or are neither employed nor enrolled in an educational institution.  Across the U.S., there are approximately 6.7 million youth that exhibit one or more of the above risk factors and touch multiple systems.

The economic burden of disconnected youth is significant, as these young people not only fail to meet their personal potential, but also cost the U.S. billions of dollars every year in lost earnings, incarceration costs, and expenditures on social services.

Jobs First Program

Jobs First is a supported employment program modeled after the Housing First principle and was the first of its kind nationally. Instead of working with job candidates by training them before they apply for jobs, Jobs First helps them find jobs right away and continues to assist them while they are employed.

Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) Out of School Program

The Out-of-School (OOS) program operated by the JAG National Network is designed to serve youth (ages 16-24) who have left the traditional school system and is interested in completing requirements for a high school diploma or attain a GED. The primary mission of this JAG Model program is to recover dropouts and to provide an array of counseling, employability and technical skills development, professional association, job development, and job placement services that will result in either a quality job leading to a career after graduation and/or enrollment in a postsecondary education and training program.

Creating a Community Survey

We know that there is a lot that we DO NOT know about the current services available to disconnected youth in Cabell County.

  1. What questions need to be asked? – Unified Survey Question
  2. Who will ask them? – Survey Team formation

Please, feel free to invite anyone else who may be interested in helping this population.

 

Thank you,

Rachel Houston

Assistant Director, Financial Stability Partnership™ of the River Cities

United Way of the River Cities

820 Madison Ave.

Huntington, WV 25704

phone 304.523.8929 ext.111

mobile 304.412.0640

fax 304.523.9811

www.fsprivercities.org

Facebook: FSPRC

Opportunity Youth – Chronic Poverty Prevention Project – Sept 16