DC Youth and Young Adult Update 11-27-2024

 

 

 

Due to the holiday, NYEC will be providing a truncated policy update this week, released on Wednesday. We are incredibly grateful for all of the policy work our members do to advocate for youth across the country, and it is our honor to work alongside you.

News at NYEC:

  • Join the National Youth Employment Coalition’s 2025 Annual Forum- Empowering Youth, Transforming Communities, in Minneapolis, MN, from May 12-14, 2025! This event will gather practitioners, youth advocates, and community leaders to explore key topics like youth leadership, holistic supports, living wage employment, and policy & advocacy. 
  • Join NYEC’s Policy Committee: If you are interested in joining NYEC’s Policy Committee, which helps shape NYEC’s federal policy agenda and provides a forum for policy advocates to share what is working and what isn’t in their communities, please contact nathan.hora@nyec.org.
  • Fill out a 6-month Federal Advocacy Calendar!: Interested in being more engaged in federal advocacy? The hyperlinked title will direct you to a JotForm that lists concrete steps that you can take in the first 6 months of the year to build a relationship with your Members of Congress! NYEC will make it easy to complete each goal of every month by sharing support, reminders, and more!
  • Senate HELP and House Education and Workforce Committee Staff Have Reached a WIOA Reauthorization Agreement:
    As we shared last week, Senate HELP and House Education and Workforce Committee staff have reached an agreement on a bipartisan, bicameral WIOA reauthorization bill. Below is a summary of key provisions related to opportunity youth. The bill text and bill summary can be found here and here. Staff expressed that if organizations/individuals are interested in supporting this bill, they should contact Congressional leadership and their Senators. If you need assistance getting contact information for these offices, feel free to email nathan.hora@nyec.org.
    • Mandates that local boards spend 50% of adult and dislocated worker funds on training (may use up to 8% of said funds on supportive services);
    • Creates the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grant competitive program and provides $65m in mandatory funding for it;
    • Defines “Opportunity Youth” to include youth experiencing homelessness or youth involved in the foster care system, regardless of school status;
    • Shift from 75% of local boards’ Youth Programs funds going to OY to 70% of state boards’ funds (floor of  45% of funds to OY for local boards);
    • Provides a mechanism to consolidate local workforce boards into a single statewide board or consolidate a consortium of local workforce boards into one board;
    • Requires state and local boards to conduct an analysis of the OY population in their respective areas;
    • Allows for the use of self attestation (40 days for programs to retrieve documents); and
    • 40% of Youth Programs funds must be used for youth work experiences and 12.5% within it must be used for youth pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships.