Maya Angelou Transition Center is hiring a Youth Development Counselor

Please consider signing on to the attached letter in support of the Youth Jobs Act of 2010 (S. 2923), introduced on December 22, 2009 by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA).  Enclosed is a letter to Senator Murray and a variation of the same letter that will be sent to key Senate Committees. A copy of the legislation is also enclosed.

The Youth Jobs Act of 2010 authorizes  $1.5 billion in new funds for summer and year-round employment and training for youth and young adults ages 14-24. The language in the legislation closely matches the language in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and would allow organizations to extend and expand youth employment and training programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  We expect a version of this legislation to be included in a Senate version of a jobs bill in upcoming months.  The deadline for signatures is COB Tuesday, January 19^th.   To sign-on please email Jonathan Larsen at jl@nyec.org or simply reply to this email.

We are actively working to include language in future versions of this bill which would expand eligibility requirements and allow any young person who has dropped out of high school to access these funds, regardless of income level, or allow a proxy, such as free and reduced lunch, to be used in those cases were verifying income is overly burdensome.  We are also working to include disconnected youth and young adults in potential investments in infrastructure, green jobs, and public service employment that may be included in a Jobs Bill.

We will collect signatures on an ongoing basis. However, with the expectation that the Senate will take up jobs legislation soon, to ensure that your organization is included in the letter of support, please sign-on as soon as possible.  Email Jonathan Larsen at jl@nyec.org or simply reply to this email if you would like to sign on.   

Many thanks for your consideration and support.

Call for the creation of jobs for youth and young adults through a national youth jobs initiative that would create jobs and provide paid work experiences in the public, not for profit and private sectors.  These jobs would provide youth with income and expose them to the occupational and work place skills, experiences, and training that would enhance their labor market competitiveness.  With the proper funding and support, programs that are already in place across the country would be able to ramp up to implement such a jobs program and provide the wrap-around education, work skills, and supports that this population needs. - December 4, 2009

The Center for Art, Media and Communication (CAMaC) seeks a dynamic, innovative educational leader to help launch a new credit-recovery school for high school dropouts.  The CAMaC School will be a small, year-round, accelerated high school that combines academics, media arts and project-based learning.  The School Director will provide inspiration, leadership and direction to a team of community partners, teachers, counselors and others in order to meet youth where they are and support them to meet high achievement standards.  S/he must be a true innovator, passionate about educational reform, and skilled in organizational development.   This is an opportunity to be involved in design and start-up of your school.  The CAMaC model is a new initiative, and the school director will have a major role in creating the instructional model, media programs and school environment.  CAMaC will be a School District of Philadelphia Alternative High School run by Youth Empowerment Services (YES) in partnership with the Allegheny West Foundation.   

The Postsecondary Success Initiative (PSI), supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, will support a national pilot that seeks to strengthen the ability of youth-serving organizations to connect youth onto a path leading to postsecondary attainment and employment.  Based on lessons learned from the pilot, NYEC seeks to inform national policy.

NYEC invites Letters of Interest (LOI) from member organizations seeking to expand existing youth programs that currently provide a range of academic and non-academic support into transformative, cutting edge models and approaches that will support and help connect youth to a path leading to postsecondary attainment and employment.  Six sites will receive awards that range from $150,000 to $200,000 per year for three years.

The LOI is the first part of a two step process. LOI submissions must follow the template provided below and be no more than five pages.  After review of LOI submissions, NYEC will then invite full proposals for further development and funding consideration. Deadline for Submission of LOI is June 24, 2009.