L&I Secretary Walker Encourages Pennsylvanians to Discover Career Opportunities at PA CareerLink® Northwest Philadelphia

Philadelphia Works was joined today by Mayor Jim Kenney, School District Superintendent Dr. William Hite, and other public officials, to announce the release of $6 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Youth Development (TANF YD) contracts to nine youth service providers.  The new contracts will fund targeted year-round employment and education opportunities to four distinct populations of young adults (age 17-21):

• Youth identified as having autism or an intellectual/developmental disability;
• Youth who have been adjudicated (court-involved within the past five years);
• Youth who are aging or have aged out of foster care;
• Youth who have graduated from a School District of Philadelphia Career & Technical Education healthcare program.

“These newly funded youth programs will allow us to deliver highly targeted services to some of our most vulnerable young people,” said H. Patrick Clancy, President and CEO of Philadelphia Works.  “As the city’s workforce development board, it is our role to create innovative solutions to the workforce challenges faced by all Philadelphians.  These investments will directly serve youth who are at critical junctures, giving them the tools and training to successfully transition from young adulthood into the workforce.  I’d like to thank Youth Standing Committee co-chairs, Dan Fitzpatrick and Pat Eiding, and the entire board of directors for their guidance and diligence to launch this exciting initiative.”

The organizations receiving funding will be responsible for connecting young people to work experiences, customized/supported employment, and unsubsidized employment opportunities.  They will also provide peripheral services including on-the-job training, career guidance, legal services, financial literacy, high-school equivalency completion, and a range of other supports.  The goal of the targeted efforts is to complement and leverage existing funding sources (TANF, Medicare/Medicaid) for identified youth populations, and provide a critical piece of employment-focused support that will lead each young person into a career pathway.

“In a city where deep poverty has kept generations of young people from achieving a better life, this important first step will have an immediate impact in a critical area of need,” added Mayor Jim Kenney. “This funding will help to connect the various programs that serve these targeted populations of young people, bringing together diverse stakeholders to meet both the needs of employers and young career-seekers alike.  I congratulate Philadelphia Works and the funding recipients as we unite around the shared goal of expanding opportunities for all Philadelphia residents.”

The contract recipients and amounts are as follows:

“In terms of opportunity youth, dedicated employment funding is often a ‘missing piece’ that prevents the individual from reaching self-sustainability,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, President of Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Works Board Youth Standing Committee. “These new contracts will provide that critical link.  We are not proposing duplicative services for our target populations, many of which already receive some other form of government assistance, but a holistic approach to youth development that integrates education, training and unsubsidized employment as key elements of an individualized success plan.”

The target population to be served by the new contracts are youth age 17-21 who are Philadelphia residents, out-of-school or current high-school seniors, and identified as one of the target populations above.  Providers are required to serve at least one of the target populations, but several have submitted multi-faceted proposals to serve one or more.

Providers will deliver year-round direct services to youth and young adults, including recruiting the target populations, identifying specific needs, and partnering with employers to develop work experiences that align with high priority occupations.  Providers will then enroll participants into paid work experiences, ensure payment of all youth wages, and provide quarterly programmatic evaluations to Philadelphia Works to ensure goals are being met. 

The contracts are being awarded for an 18-month period, with initial operations expected to begin immediately, and full-scale operations to begin in March, 2018.