jenny bogoni, vice president, strategic partnerships leveraging resources to support the educational...
TRANSCRIPT
Jenny Bogoni, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships
Leveraging Resources to Support the Educational Needs of Disconnected Youth
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
American Youth Policy ForumDecember 14, 2009
AgendaAgenda
1. About the Philadelphia Youth Network
2. Case Study of Project U-Turn
3. Conditions for Success
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
Vision:
Philadelphia’s young people take their rightful places as full and contributing members of a world-class workforce for the region .
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
Mission:
As a catalyst for collective action, the Philadelphia Youth Network makes connections among individuals, organizations and systems. We increase capacity and resources in order to provide world-class preparation so our City’s youth can thrive in a regional and global economy.
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
History: • Started in 1999 to sustain the city’s School-to-
Work system and manage provisions of the Workforce Investment Act
• Staffed the Youth Council from inception
• Serves as administrator of WIA and related investments
• Began with the vision to use WIA funds to leverage additional investments and broad systems change
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
A Decade Later:
• Substantially increased its portfolio of investments to approximately $35 million in FY ‘10
• Manages a large-scale youth workforce development system serving nearly 10,000 youth annually
• Convenes a city-wide collaborative that has managed to dramatically increase the number of high-quality educational options for disconnected youth
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
Two citywide initiatives:
• Convenes Project U-Turn, a cross-sector collaborative, addressing city-wide capacity to support struggling students and OSY
• Leads WorkReady Philadelphia, the City’s youth workforce development system
Project U-Turn: a citywide campaign to focus public attention on Philadelphia’s dropout crisis and to design strategies and leverage investments to resolve it.
Project U-Turn Major SuccessesProject U-Turn Major Successes
Tangible Results:• Nearly 5,000 multiple pathways slots representing a true
portfolio of options for out-of-school and disconnected youth • Re-Engagement Center at the Central School District
headquarters to assist students in re-enrolling in school• Education Support Center created inside Department of Human
Services• More than $73 Million leveraged to support work plan
Political Accomplishments:• Dropout challenge is embraced by the Mayor, Schools
Superindendent, and other key leaders• Assembled and maintained a high-level, cross-sector
partnership
Setting the StageSetting the Stage
Strategic Decisions:
• Created a formal out-of-school youth committee
• Increased the Council’s investment in OSY from 30% to 50% of the WIA funds
In RetrospectIn Retrospect
Key Steps:
• Selected to receive funding from the Youth Transitions Funders Group – 1 of 5 cities
• Made major investments in data collection and analysis on the outcomes and characteristics of struggling students in Philadelphia
• Created and articulated an agenda – a Call to Action – based on the data
• Strategically positioned the work to be adopted by the Mayor’s Office and the School District
Creating the Right EnvironmentCreating the Right Environment
Recommendations:
• Develop local and regional capacity to support dropout re-engagement
• Promote collection and analysis of data on dropouts and near dropouts
• Support local and regional efforts to innovate
Philadelphia Youth NetworkPhiladelphia Youth Network
For more information, contact:[email protected]
www.pyninc.org267-502-3737
Leveraging Resources to Support the Educational Needs of Disconnected Youth