Title:
Title
CARES Act Funded Program: #SacYouthWorks Impact Brief [Oral Report]
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FileID
File ID: 2020-01525
Location
Location: Citywide
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Recommendation:
Recommendation
Receive and comment.
FileName
Contact: Lindee Lane, Youth Development Policy Manager, (916) 808-1171, Office of the City Manager
Body
Presenter: Lindee Lane, Youth Development Policy Manager, (916) 808-1171, Office of the City Manager; Rachel Minnick, Director of Strategic Programs & Development, PRO Youth & Families; Jazlyn Hall, Youth Participant; Keadrian Belcher, CEO, CLASSY Inc., (916) 529-2870; Dr. Eric Gravenberg, President/CEO, The HAWK Institute, (916) 217-8071.
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: On May 26, 2020 City Council approved specific CARES Act funding recommendations for programs identified and initiated with emergency authority, including an investment of $240,000 for a Citywide Youth Work‐Based Learning Paid Summer Experience. Additionally, on June 9, 2020 during a joint meeting, the City Council and the Sacramento Youth Commission endorsed specific CARES Act funding recommendations for youth programs including an investment of $1.3 million for Youth Mental Health and $500,000 for Youth Job Training and Development. From these categories, staff directed the full $500,000 from Youth Job Training and Development and $800,000 from Youth Mental Health for the development of a public Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).
On August 17, 2020, the City released the Citywide Youth Work-Based Learning Fall Program NOFA on PlanetBids. The NOFA selection committee awarded the grant to PRO Youth & Families, who in partnership with the City had already successfully designed and executed the summer pilot work-based learning experience which exceeded baseline service metrics and objectives and exhibited promising quantitative and qualitative results. The program has since been formally branded as #SacYouthWorks (#SYW). The purpose of this presentation is to provide an update to Council on the implementation and outcomes of the #SYW program.
#SYW provides critical learning and addresses social and emotional needs by intentionally connecting youth to trusted adults, their peers, community service, and work-readiness and mental health training and support. From August through December 2020, the #SacYouthWorks network of over 50 citywide neighborhood-based youth providers connected over 1,300 vulnerable youth and young adults ages 12-24 to more than 52,000 hours of work-based learning and mentorship. Each youth participant earned a stipend of up to $500 for completing a minimum of 40 program hours, while supporting the City’s COVID-19 relief efforts, including helping their peers and other vulnerable city residents cope with isolation and access vital resources such as, food, protective equipment, and school supplies.
To help support and mitigate the growing number of young people experiencing increased social and emotional challenges due to social isolation, the Fall #SYW cycle added a focused mental health track. This track included projects such as youth-led mental health awareness campaigns, and training for youth participants on peer mental health awareness, stigma reduction, and local mental health services to reduce access barriers and enable peer-to-peer support.
The #SYW infrastructure was intentionally designed to strengthen the unified network and individual capacity of #SYW neighborhood-based youth provider partners, especially given new virtual service delivery requirements. This was accomplished through providing technical assistance, core operating support, shared data collection, and free capacity building trainings to the citywide #SYW partner network.
#SacYouthWorks Measures of Success:
Direct Financial Support
Provided more than $850,000 in direct economic relief to vulnerable youth and neighborhood-based youth provider partners
Youth Served/Participation
• 1,305 youth ages 12 - 24 served
• 52,200 service, work and training hours completed
Youth Participant Demographics
• Average age of youth participant - 15 ½
• 57% female; 40% male; 3% non-binary
• 91% identified as a person of color, including 58% African American and 28% Latinx
• 75% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch
Youth Participant Experiences
• 63% never had a paid job, internship, or work experience before #SYW
• 84% said they were confident they could get a job after participating in #SYW - a 47% increase in confidence compared to pre-program survey results
• 96% believe that #SYW helped them discover ways to make their community better
• 95% said that the leaders in their #SYW organization challenged them to do their best
• 40% increase in number of youth reporting familiarity with the mental health system
• 35% increase in the number of youth reporting being aware of resources they can go to for help with mental health
“The #SacYouthWorks program was a really great opportunity for me because I was able to experience real-world scenarios such as creating a resume, budgeting, and preparing for job interviews.” - #SYW Youth Participant from Breakthrough Sacramento
“This experience has definitely given me more insight about myself and my capabilities. I've come to realize my impact on helping the community…”- #SYW Youth Participant from Hmong Youth and Parents United
“I was struggling as a 17 year old to get a job during the pandemic and then after…doing the [#SacYouthWorks] program I got offered a job because of my hard work during the program. It most definitely helped me financially and with responsibility…” - #SYW Youth Participant from Daughters of Zion Enterpryz
Policy Considerations: This report is consistent with implementation of the Council-adopted Citywide Youth Development Plan & Framework for Children and Youth Programs, the Framework for Inclusive Economic & Community Development, and the Resolution to Redefine Public Safety.
Economic Impacts: There is vast research demonstrating that high-quality programs produce positive youth development outcomes. Likewise, research shows that investing in the healthy development of young people can have long-term impacts both on an individual’s future outcomes and on the public in the form of upstream benefits and a broader tax base.
The indicated economic impacts are estimates calculated using a calculation tool developed by the Center for Strategic Economic Research (CSER). CSER utilized the IMPLAN input-output model (2009 coefficients) to quantify the economic impacts of a hypothetical $1 million of spending in various construction categories within the City of Sacramento in an average one-year period. Actual impacts could differ significantly from the estimates and neither the City of Sacramento nor CSER shall be held responsible for consequences resulting from such differences.
Environmental Considerations: None.
Sustainability: None.
Commission/Committee Action: At the June 9, 2020 joint City Council meeting with the Sacramento Youth Commission the Citywide Youth Work-Based Learning Program was identified as a priority and endorsed to receive CARES Relief Funding for Children and Youth.
Rationale for Recommendation: A recent study reveals severe, long-term loss of learning consequences due to COVID-19 impacts, especially for low-income and/or students of color. Models reflecting distance learning through the end of 2020, indicate average loss of learning of 6.8 months, with rates increasing to 9.2 for Latinx, 10.3 for Black, and 12.4 for low-income students. These studies also outline how this learning loss can lead to increased drop-out rates and limit students’ long-term earning potential. Similar studies show that prolonged periods of disconnection from traditional school supports negatively impacts children’s social emotional outcomes. The long-term disruption of typical community-family support nets has reduced protective factors that young people require for healthy development and increased overall stress and anxiety levels to unrivaled highs.
Traditionally, out-of-school time (OST) programs, such as #SacYouthWorks are designed to reinforce learning levels and teach youth critical youth development and 21st century skills beyond the classroom such as workforce readiness. Not surprisingly, youth development experts are emphasizing the role of remediation and OST enrichment programs in mitigating learning loss and neutralizing ongoing negative social emotional COVID-19 impacts on youth.
While #SacYouthWorks was designed to support direct COVID‐19 relief efforts and simultaneously restore a level of critical out-of-school time youth development programming in Sacramento that was interrupted due to COVID‐19, the need for quality work-based learning OST programs like #SYW existed before COVID-19 and will persist during recovery and beyond.
Financial Considerations: None.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.