Impacting Education & YouthExecutive Director’s Report | May 14, 2015

“We disagree about so much, but 95% say that every kid should get a fair shot.”

~ Dr. Robert Putnam, author, Bowling Alone & Our Kids

Outline

Research Data & Recommendations

The Economic Story

The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens & Young Adults

Erie County youth employment data

Summaries & recommendations

What We’ve Done

Summer Jobs & More

School District Foundation Endowment Challenge

Manchester Bidwell, WIN, Community Assets

What We’re Looking at

Vocational & Career Education

Social Innovation Fund & Access Success

Brookings Institute & the Advanced Industries

ResearchData & Recommendations on youth employment

The Economic Development implications of Education

Researchers agree on the following:

1. Education enhances productivity

2. Public schools can create economic regional competitiveness

3. Schools influence property values

4. Evidence suggest that the quality of schools & how they are used can play a major role in economic development

The Plummeting Labor Market….

Findings published by the Brookings Institute in March 2014

The unemployment rate for young people is the highest its been since the Great Depression

Brookings looks at employment trends for young people from 2000 to 2011

Teens age 16-19 saw the largest decline in employment from 45% to 26%

Young adults ages 20-24 were the second highest decline from 72-61%

Brookings Summary Info “Education is designed to be a young person’s primary activity until high school

graduation, with employment a complementary activity” (18).

“Teens & young adults with work experience in the previous year were more likely to be employed.”

Nationally, the unemployment rate for 16-19 years is the highest its been since the Great Depression; 20-24 is the next highest.

Teen unemployment is concentrated among less educated & low income individuals.

The more education you attain, the better your employment prospects. Drastically better once you attain an Associates Degree or better.

The highest employment rate in the country for 16-19 year olds is at 43% in Ogden, UT; the rate in Erie is 38% (2014 data).

Quick Comparison of 16-19 year olds

Harrisburg/Carlisle’s Employment Rate: 38.2% makes it the 6 highest in the country on the list of top 100 metros (pg. 10)

To lower it further, in 2015 they are implementing a summer jobs program

Erie’s Employment Rate: 38%

The Northern NJ/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area is in bottom 10 with 19.3%

Last summer, their newspaper wrote an editorial suggesting they needed Erie’s summer jobs approach

Erie County’s Labor Market – Age

27.2

19.1

25.4

17.8

22.1

10.3

8.6

16.6

19

13.6

6.45.4

7.9

9.8

7.5

4.2 3.9

7.4 7.6

2.6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013

Erie County Unemployment Rate by Age

16 to 19 20 to 24 25 to 44 45 to54

Erie County’s Labor Market – Educational Attainment

17.8

14.615.3

22

16.4

55.5

8.6

11.1

6.17.1

3.3

7.9

5.5 5.5

3 2.6

4.9 5.2

3.6

0

5

10

15

20

25

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013

Erie County Unemployment Rate by Educational Attainment

Less than high school graduate High school graduate Some college/Associates degree Bachelor's degree or higher

The Economics (multiple sources)

If youth unemployment returned to pre-recession levels, it would save state & local governments $1.1 billion in lost tax revenue, unemployment & social welfare spending.

One source finds that 30% of kids 16-19 that drop out of high school, do so in order to support their families.

Average high school dropout makes $21,447; average associates degree $43,462

Summer jobs may be a key strategy to address income inequality at the beginning of adulthood.

Erie’s socio/economic threshold

We’re targeted those living in households at 235% of poverty (TANF level).

$23,850 – the poverty level for a family of 4;

Brookings Recommendations1. Integrate work-based learning opportunities into high school & college

education & expand apprenticeships.

2. Link high school to post-secondary educational credentials.

3. Smooth young people’s transition into employment through increased emphases on career & technical education, career counseling, & job development/placement.

4. Provide opportunities for young people to earn a high school diploma or GED after dropping out, coupled with access to post-secondary credentials/occupational training & a focus on work readiness.

5. Orient career-focused education & training to the regional labor market.

6. Create transitional subsidized jobs programs for young people to help them support themselves, develop work experience, & gain a foothold in the labor market.

7. Increase financial incentives for employment through an expanded EITC, specifically targeting young workers without children.

What we’ve done…ECGRA’s track record in education & youth

“A job makes you feel important. You have a set schedule, a purpose and a bigger respect for life and for yourself.”

~ Nathan, age 19, Erie, PA

Summer Jobs & More

Launched in 2014 as a pilot project

Initially serving 123 youth ages 16-21

Soft skills training, career readiness counseling, job placement

Summer of 2015 Goals:

Increase private sector participation to 50%

Place 175 young people in jobs

Offer soft skills training to the City of Erie’s Summer Jobs participants

Obtain placement commitment from employers with STEM occupations

Person in family/household Poverty Guideline 235% of Poverty

1 $11,770 $27,660

2 $15,930 $37,436

3 $20,090 $47,212

4 $24,250 $56,988

5 $28,410 $66,764

6 $32,570 $76,540

7 $36,730 $86,316

8 $40,890 $96,092

For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,160 for each person.

Why Summer Jobs?

A new study shows they lower violent crime arrests

Participants are less likely to engage in risky behavior such as “use of drugs & alcohol, physical fighting, damaging property, and threatening someone with a weapon.”

A third study demonstrates that they slightly improve high school attendance rates

The Hamilton Project has identified the summer job as an important intervention to help low-income youth

They address poverty & employability

Brookings Recommendations #3 and #6 endorse the approach

Erie County School District Endowment Challenge

10 School District Foundations are currently fundraising

The Challenge is two full calendar years 2015 & 2016

Why strengthen Public Education Foundation?

It’s a new trend in funding: 215 of PA’s 500 school districts now have a foundation

School Districts realize they need to function more like higher education

Foundation augment & complement with scholarships, teacher training, innovative curriculum, interactions with industry, STEM programs & technology equipment

Other Education-Related Projects We’ve Supported

Manchester Bidwell & the National Center for Arts & Technology - An implementation study for a National Center to be located in Erie is underway

WIN Learning Software – a software/courseware providing career exploration & career readiness through interactive media.

Community Asset Funding – many community assets grants have gone to youth-oriented and character building programs, parks, recreation, and arts that have an education component.

What we’re looking at…Partnerships to move an education & youth agenda forward

Vocational & Career Readiness

Erie County has 3 vocational education (VET) programs

Central Tech Career & Technical School

Erie County Technical School

Corry Career & Technical Education

Complimentary to summer jobs, VET programs are engaging young people in skill building & career explorations

Fact: 48% of Corry School District students participate in VET

Fact: over 500 kids are on a waiting list to attend Central Tech

Social Innovation Fund (SIF)

In partnership with the Erie Community Foundation, ECGRA has applied for federal funding from the Corporation for National & Community Service

FY 2015 Social Innovation Fund Cooperative Agreements

Purpose of the Grant: target high quality nonprofits that are applying innovative programs to address low-income communities that are underserved by philanthropy

Philanthropic institutions must take the lead, supported by partnering institutions in local government like ECGRA

Area of focus: Youth Development, Economic Opportunity, Healthy Futures

Access Success – Erie’s SIF Proposal

Grant-maker Model – ECF & ECGRA will select sub recipients to deliver innovative services to low income populations

Access Success Goals:

1. Regional demand-based career training for low income populations ages 16-24

2. Offer high quality health care through the community-based health centers model

Access Success Addresses:

1. Erie County’s poor educational attainment rate

2. Erie County’s low health rankings

Matching funds from ECGRA:$500,000/year for 3 years, possibly 5 years.

How do we take Advanced Industries to the next level?

A team approach that includes Universities, Superintendents, Eco Dev, & Industry

There’s a disconnect between:

What Superintendent’s view as their role in academic excellence vs. economic development

How the business community views the role of schools

How community leaders view the importance of workforce development in attracting & supporting business

We need a regional discussion that brings together the ideas of education, entrepreneurship, neighborhoods & growing inequality

Brookings Institute & Advanced Industries

Research, Best Practices, Networks of Likeminded People, & Coaching

Why invest in Advanced Industries? They are Erie’s most important sector:

Adv Mfg consists of 473 enterprise paying wages of $1,242,588,865

Adv Mfg pays wages higher than the national average

Erie’s Adv Mfg STEM workforce earns on average $69,000 compared to $39,000 nationally

Adv Mfg employs about 12,000 people (9.3% of all jobs)

The multiplier affect supports another 9,800 jobs

That translates to supporting appx 16% of Erie’s workforce

Competitiveness: Adv Mfg ranks our STEM workforce in the top 25 metros in the US

Next Steps

Continue to financially support the Summer Jobs Program & evolve its mission toward an Advanced Manufacturing focus

Look at a strategy under the Ignite Erie Initiative to implement a career-based education program that includes GED training & an apprenticeship model if SIF doesn’t materialize

Engage the Brookings Institute in the formulation, benchmarking, & coaching for this initiative

Sources

American Community Survey – U.S. Census Bureau

“Dropping out & clocking in” by Molley Scott, Urban Institute

“Help teens land jobs for summer” Editoiral Board, The Times Leader

“If a Teenage Lands a Summer Job, the Value is Lasting” by Alina Tugend New York Times

“In Jobless Youth, Nation Is Said to Pay High Price” by Shaila Dewan New York Times

ERIE: Guide to the Erie Economy, Dr. Jim Kurre, Penn State Behrend

“Erie Regional Career Planning Project” by Joseph Kent, WIN

Sources cont’d

“Expanding Summer Employment Opportunities for Low-income Youth” The Hamilton Project by Schwartz & Urbel

Superintendents as a Catalyst for Economic Development by Charles Prijatelj

The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens & Young Adults by Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings

Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth by Martin & Halperin

When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor by William Julius Wilson