By Shannon Holmes
March 28, 2005

In an effort to inform Congress of the continued need to focus on issues facing the youth of this country, The United States Conference of Mayors and the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) hosted a youth development briefing March 11 for House of Representative staffers. The event, sponsored by Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness Howard "Buck" McKeon (CA), presented staffers with testimonials from the perspective of youth, business and the national level.

Armand Campbell, a participant at the Cleveland Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U) program in Cleveland (OH), provided a compelling testimony that without this program he would not be graduating from high school or even thinking about going to college. Because of the support, guidance, work experience and many other opportunities from the program, Campbell will be entering college next year to study forensic science and have the career of his dreams. Through programs like Y.O.U., funded through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), youth 16-24 are able to have access to experience and opportunities that they otherwise would not have, and have a positive outlook for their future.

Dana Capers, Vice President and Community Development Specialist at the Huntington National Bank in Cleveland, testified about her business's commitment to investing in youth development. Capers who is very active on Cleveland's Workforce Investment Board and Youth Council, said that her companies involvement with youth programs is helping to meet their bottom line and is showing good returns. Capers stressed the importance of business involvement as not only a good business practice, but as a responsibility to ensure that youth are prepared for the future workforce.

Joan Crigger, a Conference of Mayors Assistant Executive Director, told staffers that the teen and young adult population is growing fast, particularly among minorities and immigrant youth. By 2010, Crigger said that today's teens and young adults will make up the largest segment of America's labor force, but many of today's youth are not prepared with the necessary education and skills to be successful in life and meet the needs of an increasingly competitive labor market. While an estimated 3.8 million youth — roughly 15 percent of all young adults — are neither employed nor in school, and the national graduation rate is 68 percent, over 75 percent of new jobs will require post'secondary education or training, she added.

David Brown, Executive Director of NYEC, said that national awareness of the youth crisis is growing, noting the President's proposed high school reform initiative and the First Lady's "Helping America's Youth" initiative. Brown reported that 236 organizations worked together to advance a set of policy recommendations to better serve youth, particularly those most at risk, which was forwarded to President Bush. Brown also reviewed several pieces of legislation and federal programs that support the effort of preparing youth for the 21st Century including the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, Higher Education Act, No Child Left Behind and the Youth Reentry Initiative.