The agency of Labor funds a number of youth-oriented programs age range 12- to 25- year-old. The purpose of these programs involves the improvement of youth and employability and occupational skills training in a number of dissimilar forums. However, it is my suggestion that the U.S. Federal government do a better job with auditing their programs and analyzing the needs of the community. Programs that are needed and those that prove to be prosperous are not being funded or refunded because of budget cuts and allocations to other federal programs. I suggest that the federal government furnish more preserve to youth programs and schools that are in an economically disadvantage areas.
Secretary Chao announced a million grant to the National Urban League to continue and improve its Urban Youth Empowerment Program. "The revenue and self-respect that come with succeeding in a job is essential for young citizen trying to turn their lives around," said Chao. "With this million grant, we are tripling the commitment to the President's Urban Youth Empowerment program to help at-risk youth get ready for full-time employment. A essential measure of this grant will help young citizen in New Orleans and other areas that were affected by last year's hurricanes."
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In 2004, the U.S. agency of Labor's Employment and Training management awarded .2 million to the National Urban League to fabricate and implement a national model program for at-risk, out-of-school, and adjudicated youth in the middle of the ages of 16-24. In partnership with faith-and community-based organizations, Urban League affiliate sites are providing youth career-focused employability skills, paid internships, and on-the-job training to help participants enter full-time, secret sector employment. I applaud Secretary Chao and the First Lady Laura Bush to make this initiative a priority any way there is still a greater need.
Although it may appear that the federal government is disbursing money to programs, they could do more. In spring of 2000 the agency of Labor awarded its first 36 Youth opportunity Grants to youth living in empowerment zones, company areas and other impoverished urban and rural areas. This five-year initiative seeks to target high-poverty areas in order to improve job opportunities for youth. Over this five-year tenure agency of Labor was committed to distribute 250 million dollars to these 36 cities in need. The majority of those 36 cities had programs that had proven to be successful, so the query is how come the agency of Labor did not repayment those programs?
A model that I suggest is the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (Gear Up) funded by the federal government. Gear Up's primary initiative is to lead youth to post secondary education. Gear Up is a discretionary grant program designed to growth the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and ensue in post secondary education. Gear Up provides 6-year grants to states and partnerships to furnish services at high-poverty middle and high schools. Gear Up grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and ensue the cohort through high school. Gear Up funds are also used to furnish college scholarships to low-income students. Programs such as Gear Up are a true reflection of serving the needs of the community.
To heighten Gear Up, I suggest that this program work with the out-of-school citizen as well with the in school population. There are many youth who procure their Ged and could use their services. This program could also be improved by educating youth about the options of going to technical schools and entrepreneurship as well colleges and universities. company involvement is crucial to the long-term success of teens. At-risk students often need more than their school advice counselors or teachers can give them. What they need is the real-world perspective of adults, especially those in company (Laabs, 2004). This program could be an ideal program if they incorporated more company involvement and alternative schooling in their program.
The National Network for Youth advocates has an compulsion to educate and encourage policy makers to be active in acknowledging, protecting, and enhancing the value of youth to the nation. I agree with them; however, programs can survive with secret sector funding. With collaborations of community organizations and secret grants youth programs could exist without the aid of the federal government. It appears that policy makers hold too much power in development decisions with regard to youth and their development. Thus, secret organizations could conduce and build programs without restrictions of the federal government and address the needs of youth in their communities.
The ideal model for a youth program would be to have funding advent from any dissimilar sources. It would be convenient to have federal, state, and secret sector money being utilized for the ideal model. When one source becomes low or depleted, the other will pick up the variation to continue funding. However, three dissimilar sources of revenue do not mean three dissimilar sets of rules and outcomes. The program will cleave to one set of outcomes that will suffice all three stakeholders. The secret sector funding will be comprised of a collaboration with dissimilar entities contributing to the funds. The ideal model will have an internal and external auditor to assert program compliance. The ideal model will also have a grant writing team; this team will be responsible for researching and obtaining new grants for program sustainability.
The ideal model will consolidate leadership skills to all participants; it is vitally leading the participants possess these skills to ensue throughout their life. The ideal model will consolidate such skills as trust, communication, and being a visionary leader.
Participants will learn that trust is an leading leadership characteristic. They must earn the trust of their co-workers, supervisors, and time to come employees. When trust is established, employees will continue to work hard one day at a time. Without trust, the process will more than likely linger beyond the incredible time line. citizen trust others they know actually who have their best interests at heart (Pearce, 2003). Participants will understand that by establishing this trust; they will have employees who will work hard for them.
Communication is a essential leadership trait that every good leader must have and be able to use effectively. Participants will be encouraged to fabricate their own leadership style and learn the best way to tell with others. Pearce (2003) stated that, if leaders recognized their own automatic emotional responses, they could actually adjust their communication to be more appropriate, less demanding, and more inspiring. Participants will be encouraged to do some self-reflecting about how they tell with other people. They will have to be diligent in recognizing their weaknesses and willing to work to overcome them to be an effective communicator. Heifetz (2003) believed that citizen must begin to confront the choices and challenges that face them. By participants overcoming their challenges and weaknesses, they are developing strong leadership skills.
The ideal model will teach participants to look towards the time to come and visualize what they may come to be and what they will achieve. Being a visionary leader is worth the risk because the goals expand beyond material gain or personal enhancement. By development the lives of citizen colse to you better, leadership provides meaning in life (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002). Participants will learn what it means to be a visionary leader and that vision starts from within. It grows from their past and the history of citizen colse to them. In addition, their vision goes beyond themselves and how they might serve others to make an impact on the lives of others.
The process in developing the ideal model will start with putting together a collaboration of experts in the field of youth development. The collaboration will lay out a 5-year plan for the program. The plan will consist of program funding and sustainability; program projected outcomes, policy, and procedures; community involvement; and target population. The ideal model will have consistent ensue up with participants at 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month intervals to ensure success. Some programs emphasize a disciplinary orientation and others focus on developing an innovative program that seeks to meet students' unique educational needs (Lehr & Lange, 2003). The ideal program will be unique because it will address the specific issues of the target citizen and their needs.
The process will also contain providing wraparound services for participants. By providing such a service, it will enable the program to service the true needs of the participants. Previous study (Carney & Buttell, 2003) has recommend wraparound services furnish the essential preserve for youth to allow them to fabricate suitable skills. Teenage delinquents who received wraparound services when compared to those receiving accepted services (e.g., counseling, substance abuse treatment, tutoring) were absent from school less often, were suspended from school less often, less apt to run away from home as frequently, less combative, less likely to be picked up by the police, and more likely to have a job (Carney & Buttell, 2003). The ideal program will be able to improve their aide to participants with providing wraparound services.
Finally, it is essential to involve all stakeholders in the process of developing the ideal model. Over time, the stakeholders generate an upward spiral of reliance and courage, which results in distinct and prosperous student achievement (Covey, Merrill, & Merrill, 2003). One of the key stakeholders is parents and the influence they have in their children lives. The ideal model will interact and engage the participants' parents at every level. Previous study has recommend parental involvement is one of the key factors in alternative schooling students persisting in school and achieving either their high school diploma or general schooling Diploma certificate (May & Copeland, 1998).
Educators, policy makers, and researchers are ordinarily confronted with claims about the effectiveness of various educational programs and policies meant to help heighten children's achievements (Slavin, Fshola, & Normore, 2000). However, they fail to take all youth into catalogue from dissimilar geographic, economic, and group backgrounds. The main goal of the ideal program is to generate opportunities for participants that would not be afforded to them otherwise.
References
Carney, M. M., & Buttell, F. (2003). Reducing Teenage recidivism: Evaluating the wraparound services model. study on group Work Practice, 13, 551-568.
Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R., & Merrill, R. R. (2003). First things first. New York: The Free Press.
Heifetz, R. (2003). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, Ma: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Heifetz, R., & Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston: Harvard company School.
Laabs, J. J. (2004. Disadvantaged teens work toward a better future. Personnel Journal, 73(12), 34-40.
Lehr, C. A., & Lange, G. M. (2003). Alternative schools serving students with and without disabilities: What are the current issues and challenges? Preventing School Failure, 47(2), 59-65.
May, H. E., & Copeland, E. P. (1998). Schoraly persistence and alternative high schools: student and site characteristics. High School Journal, 81, 199-209.
Pearce, T. (2003). leading out loud: sharp change through authentic communication. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Slavin, R., Fashola, O., & Normore, A. H (2000). Show me the evidence! Proven and promising programs for America's schools. Canadian Journal of Education, 25(2), 21-24.
A Lost Generation of Youth