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Workforce service providers in Generation Work communities are implementing a range of strategies to help connect young people - particularly those of color - with the knowledge, experiences, and relationships necessary to succeed in today's job market. Work-based learning (WBL) is one of the strategies that practitioners are pursuing. Through WBL, young adults are connected to occupation-based learning opportunities in the workplace. Connecting young adults of color to WBL opportunities can catalyze the expansion of equitable economic opportunity in America. WBL opportunities can help young adults of color break out of the cycle of working in low-wage jobs and ensure that they attain the experience, education, credentials, and relationships necessary for stable and well-paying jobs.

In this research report, we describe the key features of WBL programs that predominantly serve young adults of color in Generation Work communities. We share practitioners' objectives for supporting WBL programming. We also describe how practitioners have tailored their programs to meet the needs of young adults of color, including their work with employers to develop, structure, and support WBL opportunities. Through WBL programming in Generation Work communities, young adults are positioned to obtain entry-level employment in sectors with growth opportunities. Young adult participants develop a broader understanding of the types of employment opportunities available within a sector as well as the education and work requirements for advancement.

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Years into the economic recovery, young adults still face difficulty connecting to the labor market. High unemployment is particularly a problem for young people of color. Many live in communities without a strong employment base, have attended low-performing schools, and lack connections to employed adults who can provide guidance and help them explore career interests, identify labor market opportunities, and navigate application processes. Even when jobs that can provide a good standard of living are available, getting the education and experience required for these can be a costly long-term pursuit.

This brief describes a strategy that helps connect young adults to 'now jobs' that address their immediate income needs while continuing to prepare them for long-term career opportunities. [The brief] explores the role of 'now jobs' in young adult workforce development. As the brief details, 'now jobs', along with continuing support from a workforce program mentor, serve multiple purposes, including: Addressing young adults' immediate need for income; Providing valuable work experience for young adults who have never had a job; Providing supported opportunities to learn about workplace behavioral norms and expectations and to try out communication and conflict resolution learned in training; and Helping young adults explore their strengths and interests, build relationships, and expand their social networks.

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America's youngest workers are facing the most dire employment prospects since the Great Depression. At the start of 2020, nearly five million young people ages 16-24 were neither enrolled in school nor working. Today, their unemployment crisis has been greatly exacerbated by the pandemic. This disconnection, both before and after the arrival of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19, has had an outsized impact on young workers of color. Across the country, workforce development and education providers are scrambling to meet the needs of these young people. Now more than ever, they need accurate information on available employment, including wages, health insurance, paid leave, scheduling, and safety, among other things. This report compiles insights from workforce professionals about the types of questions they ask employers. [Two hundred and ten] workforce professionals in Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia responded to a survey about the kinds of conversations they have with business representatives on topics related to workplace practices, environment, and equity and inclusion in the workplace. Although the survey that informed this publication was conducted before the pandemic, the questions are increasingly relevant and important today.

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Through its Human Capital Innovation Fund (HCIF), the Capital One Foundation invested in five workforce organizations testing new strategies that would enhance their ability to position low-income individuals for employment. Three HCIF grantees are workforce organizations that provide services directly to jobseekers; and two are intermediary organizations that provide a range of capacity-building supports for workforce training partnerships comprising different types of institutions, including workforce organizations, community-based organizations, employers, and community colleges. The Capital One Foundation engaged Aspen Institute Workforce Strategies Initiative (AspenWSI) in a three-year (2013-2016) formative evaluation of the HCIF initiative. The goals of the evaluation included: exploring the development, implementation, and outcomes of the HCIF focus projects; understanding the role of environmental factors, local community influence, and organizational capacity on the implementation of projects; and supporting peer learning for grantees as they interpreted and learned from their project implementation and outcomes data.

This evaluation report is organized around three areas of practice that workforce programs often see as critical to advancing their goals, but at the same time find challenging to implement consistently for a variety of reasons: (1) developing and maintaining strategic partnerships with other organizations; (2) engaging with employers; and (3) delivering support service strategies tailored to the needs of training participants.

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Many service providers in the US are providing young adults (ages 18-29) with the skills and connections needed to successfully enter the labor market. Examples are youth development organizations, public workforce organizations, community-based organizations, and education organizations. But little is known about what types of assistance help young adults access employment, what employment characteristics influence whether a job is a good fit for a young adult, and what opportunities service providers find and leverage in their work, both with employers and with young adult job seekers, to improve the odds that a young adult will succeed in work.

This report highlights the results of an AspenWSI [Workforce Strategies Initiative] survey of these organizations. The respondents offered insights on: (1) what is considered a positive employment outcome for young adult clients; and (2) expectations for, as well as challenges in, connecting young adults to positive employment opportunities. The report provides some key considerations for practitioners and policymakers seeking to assist the large and growing population of disadvantaged young adults seeking to make meaningful connections to work in the labor market.

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This report describes the educational programming, support services, and industry engagement strategies partnerships implement, the ways the two entities work together, the funding and resources that partnerships use, and the innovative strategies that support their work.

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[The] Accelerating Opportunity (AO) [initiative] combined integrated career pathways at two-year colleges with team teaching, acceleration strategies, supportive services, and policy changes. It aimed to help low-skilled adults earn occupational credentials, obtain well-paying jobs, and sustain rewarding careers. This final implementation report documents activities and outcomes for AO states and colleges in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Ingredients for successful implementation included receiving state leadership support, remedying policy barriers, considering college institutional factors, investing in team teaching, utilizing partnerships within and outside the colleges, and providing student supports.

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Accelerating Opportunity (AO) provides grants to help community colleges create career pathway programs to enroll students with low basic skills into for-credit career and technical education courses to improve educational and employment outcomes. The second annual implementation report for the AO initiative in four states (Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina) finds that: colleges aligned pathways and supports with local needs; students were satisfied with AO; AO instructors grew more adept at team teaching; colleges struggled to recruit adult education students; states and colleges sought new financial support and developed partnerships; colleges served more students with fewer resources; and states changed policies to support and sustain AO.

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