Employer Engagement Resources

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NYEC Reports

Report

NYEC Report: Opportunity Youth and Employer Engagement: Evidence and Next Steps for an Emerging Field.
Report

NYEC Releases Core Practice Brief on Employer Engagement

Current Projects

Project

Youth Champion Employer Council

NYEC is committed to advancing employer engagement as a critical strategy for creating sustainable pathways to economic opportunity for young people. Building upon our foundational research, including Employer Engagement and Opportunity Youth: Evidence and Next Steps for an Emerging Field and our subsequent practice brief, Deeper Understanding of Employer Partnerships: Exploring Best Practices in the Field, NYEC has expanded this work into a national employer engagement framework that connects employers, communities, policymakers, and workforce organizations.

Today, employer engagement is embedded across NYEC's initiatives through the development of the Youth Champion Employer Coalition, a growing network of employers committed to strengthening talent pipelines, expanding work-based learning opportunities, advancing skills-first hiring practices, and improving outcomes for young adults ages 16-26.

Through this work, NYEC:

  • Convenes employers, workforce organizations, educators, and community leaders to identify and address workforce challenges and talent pipeline opportunities.

  • Supports the integration of employer voice and industry demand into local and national workforce strategies.

  • Provides training, technical assistance, and peer learning opportunities to help employers and practitioners build stronger partnerships and improve hiring, retention, and advancement outcomes.

  • Embeds employer engagement strategies across NYEC's Youth Champion Communities initiative, policy and advocacy efforts, research projects, and member network activities.

  • Elevates promising practices and scalable models that connect young people to quality career pathways while helping employers access and retain talent.

Through the Youth Champion Employer Coalition and related initiatives, NYEC is helping build a national movement that transforms employer engagement from transactional hiring into long-term, strategic partnerships that benefit young people, employers, and communities alike.

To learn more about our NYEC’s Employer Engagement Projects or the NYEC Youth Champion Employer Coalition, please contact Julia Frohlich at julia.frohlich@nyec.org.

Oppurtunity Youth and Workforce Development

Report

Measuring the Effectiveness of Services to Employers

This tool guide provides options to consider in adopting one or more Effectiveness in Serving Employers (ESE) measures across all Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act core programs.
Website

Employment and Job Training Reform: A Framework for Policy and Practice

This website provides federal workforce funding each state receives and how those funds are delivered through the state’s unique service delivery model. This example is for Connecticut, but viewers can click on their own state to see the funnel from Federal, State, down to Local levels.
Guide

Strategic Employer Engagement: Building Dynamic Relationships with Employers in Teen and Young Adult Employment Programs.

This guide supports workforce practitioners' capacity to build employer relations in order to prepare young adults entering the labor market. 
Report

Employer Engagement by Community-Based Organizations: Meeting the Needs of Job Seekers with Barriers to Success in the Labor Market.

This report identifies the challenges community-based organizations face in connecting youth to the labor market and how to overcome these challenges. 
Tool

Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan

The Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan (WBLP) is used to identify the skills to be focused on in the workplace; to open communication about learning opportunities; to provide a structured approach to skill assessment; and to encourage reflection about short-term and long-term goals. 
Report

"Getting Young People Back on Track" A Study of Connecticut’s at-risk and Disconnected Young People

The report examines the challenges faced by Connecticut's 615,000 young people aged 14 to 26, including poverty, racism, and trauma, which increase their risk of disconnection from education and employment. This disconnection often leads to financial insecurity, higher crime rates, and homelessness. It provides strategies for stakeholders to identify, reconnect, and support these at-risk youths.

Engaging Employers

Report

The Goals and Dimensions of Employer Engagement in Workforce Development Programs

This brief outlines the importance of why employers engage with workforce programs and vice-versa. It also offers effective practices for both sides to have more effective engagement. 
Professionals shaking hands during job interview
Report

Building And Strengthening Employer Partnerships For Work-Based Learning

Utilize this report to identify key recommendations to provide high-quality work-based learning experiences for young adults provided by Jobs-First NYC in partnership with the Mayor's Office of New York.
Guide

A Resource Guide to Engaging Employers

This guide by Jobs for the Future presents working models of successful employer engagement and lessons for securing and sustaining partnerships with employers.

Justice Impacted Youth

Report

“Ban the Box” Gives Ex-Offenders a Fresh Start in Securing Employment

This report gives a critical analysis of the "fair chance hiring" schemes and how the "ban the box" movement has provided a less discriminatory hiring approach to individuals with a conviction history. 
Report

Bridges to Education and Employment for Justice-Involved Youth Evaluation of the NYC Justice Corps Program.

The report outlines findings from an evaluation of NC Justice Corps, which was a recidivism reduction program for justice-involved young adults that operated from 2008 to 2018.
Report

Police Contact and the Legal Socialization of Urban Teens.

This report provides an analytical analysis of the correlation between increased police interaction and teenagers and less deference to law and legal socialization.
Report

Ban the Box and Racial Discrimination A Review of the Evidence and Policy Recommendations.

This report provides recommendations to strengthen "ban the box" legislation to prevTent employers from making hiring decisions based on the perception of the likelihood that the applicant has a criminal history. 
Article

BAN THE BOX: U.S. CITIES, COUNTIES, AND STATES ADOPT FAIR HIRING POLICIES -National Employment Law Project

This article describes policies and updates across the country regarding the movement and provides a timeline for major events and adoptions of the "ban the box" movement on local and federal levels.

Connecting Employers and Opportunity Youth

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Are They Really Ready To Work?: Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce.

This study identifies knowledge, skills, and abilities that employers demand from those entering the workforce.
Report

Investing in entry-level talent - Investing in Entry-Level Talent Retention Strategies that Work

This report outlines the benefits of the return on investment in investing in entry-level talent as well as strategies for creating new retention strategies for young adults. 
Report

MAKING Youth Employment WORK: Essential Elements for a Successful Strategy

This report outlines ways in which investments in young adult workers benefit businesses and organizations by addressing their critical needs. 
Program

EmployIndy Modern Apprenticeship

Modern Apprenticeship (MAP) is a two- to three-year program designed to prepare Central Indiana high school students for the workforce with paid, hands-on experience that complements their traditional coursework. 

Racial Equity and Employer Engagement

Article

How to Promote Racial Equity in the Workplace

This article provides tangible steps organizations can make to promote racial equity in the workplace including addressing implicit bias, structural changes, and root-cause analysis. 
Report

Addressing Race in the Workplace: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

This report outlines the corporate roadmap and case for racial diversity. It also includes tangible steps Fortune 500 companies can make to embed racial equity in their businesses. 
Report

The Pew Research Center: Black unemployment rate is consistently twice that of whites

This article outlines statistics that prove the persistent gaps in black-and-white unemployment as well as the underlying reasons behind this trend. 

Youth Advancement

Guide

Youth Entrepreneurship Education in America: A Policymaker's Action Guide:

This guide explains the importance of developing young adult entrepreneurs as well as recommendations for local policymakers to cultivate success for young business leaders in their communities.
Tool

Soft Skills to Pay the Bills

"Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success," is a curriculum developed by ODEP focused on teaching "soft" or workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities.
Guide

Entrepreneurial Skills Training for Youth

This webcast and resource list are for practitioners who are seeking to cultivate entrepreneurial acumen and skills among the youth they serve. 
Website

Social Capital Builders: Helping organizations improve economic mobility and equity through social capital education and development.

This site guides the reader through the definition of social capital, how it is best used within workforce, and provides an oline course for connecting youth to jobs. 
Guide

Supporting Young Entrepreneurs: A Practical Guide to Quality Programming

This guide outlines the roadmap to successful youth entrepreneurship including support, financing, and how to get started.

Blog Posts

Blog Post

The Never-Ending Debate – Tackling the Disconnect Between Education and the Workforce

The path to success in the United States is often associated with one’s educational accomplishments. This standard provides a blueprint for young people: graduate high school, earn a bachelor's degree, and achieve high career outcomes.   
Blog Post

Top 5 Skills Most Desired by Employers When Entering the Workforce

As NYEC dives into a grant-funded project on sustainable employer engagement, it has uncovered important learning questions along the way.