Supporting Modern Learners: How the GHOYC is Meeting Youth Where They Are

Trellis Strategies and the Trellis Foundation present this webinar hosted by Jesus Perales, Program Officer for the Trellis Foundation. Our discussion features Billy Reddick, from the Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries, Inc. (ACAM) and Adriana Wilson with the Greater Houston Opportunity Youth Collaborative (GHOYC) and focuses on Opportunity Youth and reengaging young people who are disconnected from both school and work. Hear about the Greater Houston Opportunity Youth Collaborative (GHOYC) on their work reengaging youth seeking education and career opportunities in the Texas Gulf Coast region. We explore how they’ve built successful cross-sector collaboration to serve the 124,500 Opportunity Youth in Greater Houston’s 13-county region.

GHOYC provides guidance and connection to opportunity youth ages 16- 24 years old through wraparound supports including childcare, transportation, work clothes, and financial assistance. This discussion will provide insights on how GHOYC accomplishes its mission.

1
00:00:08,560 –> 00:00:09,000
All right.

2
00:00:09,000 –> 00:00:10,040
Well good afternoon everyone.

3
00:00:10,040 –> 00:00:12,280
Thank you so much
for joining our discussion today.

4
00:00:12,280 –> 00:00:15,560
I’m Jesus Perales, Program Officer
with the Trellis Foundation.

5
00:00:15,840 –> 00:00:19,400
And you have tuned in to Supporting Modern
Learners: How the Greater Houston

6
00:00:19,440 –> 00:00:22,440
Opportunity Youth Collaborative
is meeting youth where they are.

7
00:00:22,800 –> 00:00:24,400
So this is a special virtual event

8
00:00:24,400 –> 00:00:27,400
hosted by both Trellis
Foundation and Trellis Strategies.

9
00:00:27,520 –> 00:00:30,880
And together we’re continuing
the conversation sparked at last year’s

10
00:00:30,880 –> 00:00:34,200
Model Learner Summit, where we connected
with the higher education leaders,

11
00:00:34,200 –> 00:00:38,480
nonprofit partners and policy stakeholders
to explore a central question:

12
00:00:38,720 –> 00:00:40,960
How are today’s students
navigating college

13
00:00:40,960 –> 00:00:43,960
and how can institutions adapt to support
them?

14
00:00:44,560 –> 00:00:47,160
We’re excited
to continue the conversation today

15
00:00:47,160 –> 00:00:49,040
and to learn how the Greater Houston
Opportunity

16
00:00:49,040 –> 00:00:53,960
Youth Collaborative builds on on ramps
to opportunity with and for young adults

17
00:00:55,760 –> 00:00:57,640
who are not currently in school
or working.

18
00:00:57,640 –> 00:00:59,480
Before I introduce our speakers,

19
00:00:59,480 –> 00:01:02,480
I want to let you know
this webinar will be recorded

20
00:01:02,480 –> 00:01:05,480
and the recording and slides
would be emailed to all who registered.

21
00:01:05,840 –> 00:01:08,680
We welcome you to share questions
in the chat or in the Q&A,

22
00:01:08,680 –> 00:01:11,680
and we will address as many as we can
at the end of our discussion.

23
00:01:12,200 –> 00:01:13,680
All right.
Well, let’s go ahead and get started.

24
00:01:13,680 –> 00:01:16,840
We are fortunate to have with us
today, Adriana Wilson, Managing

25
00:01:16,840 –> 00:01:19,840
Director of the Greater Houston
Opportunity Youth Collaborative,

26
00:01:19,840 –> 00:01:20,880
and Billy Reddick,

27
00:01:20,880 –> 00:01:23,960
Workforce Optimization Network Director
with the Alliance of Community

28
00:01:23,960 –> 00:01:25,440
Assistance Ministries.

29
00:01:25,440 –> 00:01:27,480
Thank you all for joining us today.

30
00:01:27,480 –> 00:01:29,720
So Adriana let’s get started with you.

31
00:01:29,720 –> 00:01:32,960
I would love to give
you give us some perspective on

32
00:01:33,000 –> 00:01:36,000
who greater who our opportunity youth.

33
00:01:36,000 –> 00:01:38,920
And what are the numbers
that you are seeing in Texas,

34
00:01:38,920 –> 00:01:40,200
in the greater Houston area?

35
00:01:41,480 –> 00:01:42,760
Yes.

36
00:01:42,760 –> 00:01:46,080
Thank you so much, Jesus,
for that lovely introduction.

37
00:01:46,080 –> 00:01:50,120
And thank you to the Trellis Foundation
and Trellis Strategies

38
00:01:50,120 –> 00:01:54,360
for providing us with this opportunity
to share about our work today.

39
00:01:54,560 –> 00:01:58,640
We’re looking forward to a
great conversation after the presentation.

40
00:01:58,680 –> 00:02:01,800
So opportunity

41
00:02:01,840 –> 00:02:05,920
youth are young adults, age 16 to 24,

42
00:02:05,960 –> 00:02:10,760
who are neither in school or working
or they’re underemployed.

43
00:02:10,920 –> 00:02:16,720
And so these young adults are in the age
range where people develop

44
00:02:16,720 –> 00:02:21,600
many of the capabilities required
to freely chart their own course in life.

45
00:02:21,880 –> 00:02:25,360
The data tells us that disconnection
in teens and early

46
00:02:25,360 –> 00:02:29,320
20s correlates to difficulties
later in life, including factors

47
00:02:29,320 –> 00:02:32,720
like income, homeownership,
and health and well-being.

48
00:02:33,640 –> 00:02:37,440
The future of opportunity
youth or the future that opportunity

49
00:02:37,480 –> 00:02:42,400
you see for themselves is very similar
to those on a traditional path to success.

50
00:02:42,920 –> 00:02:46,320
The big difference here
is that opportunity youth often

51
00:02:46,320 –> 00:02:50,280
have a steep climb to overcome
in order to make their timeline,

52
00:02:50,320 –> 00:02:53,320
and that makes their timeline
to success much, much longer

53
00:02:53,400 –> 00:02:55,320
than your traditional learner.

54
00:02:55,320 –> 00:02:59,680
Each opportunity, youth has their own
unique goals and barriers,

55
00:02:59,680 –> 00:03:04,880
often requiring intense guidance
and coaching to identify and overcome

56
00:03:05,040 –> 00:03:09,080
before they’re truly ready
to make traction on their success journey.

57
00:03:09,440 –> 00:03:15,520
So employing client driven approaches
and programs tailored uniquely to fit

58
00:03:15,520 –> 00:03:19,400
their needs have been proven
more successful

59
00:03:19,400 –> 00:03:24,080
than lumping them into the general
programing available to adults

60
00:03:24,080 –> 00:03:27,320
who are maybe in the same
kinds of transitions in life.

61
00:03:29,720 –> 00:03:32,680
And we can go to the next slide.

62
00:03:32,680 –> 00:03:37,200
So, youth disconnection
is at a crisis level in Texas.

63
00:03:37,240 –> 00:03:41,560
There’s nearly 5 million youth
and young adults that are disconnected

64
00:03:41,720 –> 00:03:46,280
in the United States, and Texas accounts
for over 500,000 of them.

65
00:03:46,840 –> 00:03:48,920
Second only to California.

66
00:03:48,920 –> 00:03:52,640
Of the half million, 1 in 4, nearly

67
00:03:52,640 –> 00:03:56,320
125,000 are in the greater Houston area.

68
00:03:56,520 –> 00:04:00,240
And they need to be plugged into pathways
that lead to family success.

69
00:04:00,680 –> 00:04:04,320
Our disconnection
rate in our region of 13.3%

70
00:04:04,360 –> 00:04:08,960
is the highest disconnection rate
of the largest 25 metro areas in America.

71
00:04:09,640 –> 00:04:13,200
The Gulf Coast region is comprised of 13
counties.

72
00:04:13,280 –> 00:04:18,120
And these counties cover areas
that are both urban and rural.

73
00:04:18,280 –> 00:04:19,520
And we have a variety

74
00:04:19,520 –> 00:04:24,240
of educational institutions,
over 80 independent school districts,

75
00:04:24,360 –> 00:04:27,360
nine community colleges, 16

76
00:04:27,360 –> 00:04:31,160
4-year
universities and graduate institutions.

77
00:04:31,480 –> 00:04:34,240
Along with that,
there are also a number of job

78
00:04:34,240 –> 00:04:37,720
opportunities
and a plethora of expanding industries.

79
00:04:37,760 –> 00:04:41,480
So we have a very wide, diverse
ecosystem happening here.

80
00:04:41,760 –> 00:04:47,240
So you can imagine for a young person,
the challenge of navigating this journey

81
00:04:47,240 –> 00:04:51,640
from a low skilled job
or informal employment to suitable

82
00:04:51,680 –> 00:04:56,560
technical skills training, the right
degree program and then securing a role in

83
00:04:56,560 –> 00:05:02,720
an in-demand occupation is tenacious,
even for those who are on the right path.

84
00:05:02,760 –> 00:05:07,000
So if you’ve got these extra challenges
and barriers, this can be a really,

85
00:05:07,000 –> 00:05:10,640
really big detriment
to trying to get to that end goal.

86
00:05:12,440 –> 00:05:13,120
So our

87
00:05:13,120 –> 00:05:17,520
solution regionally,
if you want to change to the next slide

88
00:05:17,760 –> 00:05:23,440
or if you had another question,
our solution regionally was

89
00:05:23,440 –> 00:05:28,600
developed in concert with stakeholders
from across various sectors.

90
00:05:28,640 –> 00:05:32,480
And our solution is the Greater Houston
Opportunities Collaborative.

91
00:05:32,680 –> 00:05:34,920
We also call it the GHOYC.

92
00:05:34,920 –> 00:05:38,800
So GHOYC focuses on
reconnecting opportunity

93
00:05:38,840 –> 00:05:42,440
youth, especially those between
the ages of 18 and 24,

94
00:05:42,800 –> 00:05:45,800
to post-secondary learning and employment
opportunity.

95
00:05:47,040 –> 00:05:48,120
Sorry about that folks.

96
00:05:48,120 –> 00:05:48,920
Like we lost Adriana.

97
00:05:48,920 –> 00:05:51,920
We will give her a couple of minutes
to hop back on.

98
00:05:52,040 –> 00:05:52,440
Billy.

99
00:05:52,440 –> 00:05:56,960
I wonder while we wait if we can maybe
skip ahead and chat a little bit

100
00:05:56,960 –> 00:06:00,480
more about the work that you do
directly with Opportunity Youth.

101
00:06:00,480 –> 00:06:03,480
I know you have a opportunity
to work with them

102
00:06:04,000 –> 00:06:07,240
all the time, so I wonder if you can
maybe give us some perspective

103
00:06:07,240 –> 00:06:11,480
on what you find about unique about
supporting opportunity youth as learners,

104
00:06:11,800 –> 00:06:14,840
and how do service providers really tailor
programs to meet them where they are?

105
00:06:15,920 –> 00:06:17,760
So, so one

106
00:06:17,760 –> 00:06:20,760
of the things about opportunity
youth is that

107
00:06:20,960 –> 00:06:24,560
they have to feel the need to know
that someone is in their corner, right?

108
00:06:24,760 –> 00:06:30,320
Many have experienced disconnection
and, disconnection from school systems.

109
00:06:30,680 –> 00:06:31,760
Other support.

110
00:06:31,760 –> 00:06:34,560
So when they say
that they are ready for a change,

111
00:06:34,560 –> 00:06:36,400
that is something that is important.

112
00:06:36,400 –> 00:06:40,680
For anybody that’s working
with to engage them right then and there.

113
00:06:41,280 –> 00:06:44,800
For us,
we just ran the program called Health

114
00:06:44,840 –> 00:06:50,440
Care Career Initiative, where we help
opportunity youth gain certifications

115
00:06:50,440 –> 00:06:54,760
in as a CNA dental assistants
and medical assistants.

116
00:06:54,840 –> 00:06:57,840
Some of those participants,
they were in person.

117
00:06:57,840 –> 00:07:00,880
But a lot of them had online classes.

118
00:07:00,920 –> 00:07:01,240
Right.

119
00:07:01,240 –> 00:07:03,440
And we know that
with a lot of our opportunity

120
00:07:03,440 –> 00:07:05,480
youth, you know, some of them, they

121
00:07:05,480 –> 00:07:08,520
they was ready to get out of high school,
didn’t really want to go back to school.

122
00:07:08,520 –> 00:07:11,880
But then somewhere along the path,
they realized

123
00:07:11,880 –> 00:07:14,880
that, hey, I need a certification, right?

124
00:07:14,880 –> 00:07:16,840
To change my situation.

125
00:07:16,840 –> 00:07:20,200
So one of the things that we experienced
right from the beginning,

126
00:07:20,200 –> 00:07:21,800
once we started that program,

127
00:07:21,800 –> 00:07:24,400
was that they felt like
they were being disconnected.

128
00:07:24,400 –> 00:07:28,280
They were disconnected from everything,
especially the ones that were online.

129
00:07:28,280 –> 00:07:28,560
Right.

130
00:07:28,560 –> 00:07:32,800
Because when you’re online,
everything is by yourself, right?

131
00:07:33,080 –> 00:07:36,080
Unless
until you have to attend those classes.

132
00:07:36,080 –> 00:07:41,400
So one of the things that we did was
we started biweekly

133
00:07:41,480 –> 00:07:44,480
cohort meetings where we were put

134
00:07:44,720 –> 00:07:48,040
CNAs one cohort and one group
medical assistants in one group,

135
00:07:48,040 –> 00:07:50,280
and then we have our dental assistants
in one group.

136
00:07:50,280 –> 00:07:53,280
And in those meetings,
that’s where that’s when they,

137
00:07:53,680 –> 00:07:56,520
you know, we had the opportunity to ask
what’s going on.

138
00:07:56,520 –> 00:08:00,680
You know, you know, is there anything
that you all may need help with?

139
00:08:00,680 –> 00:08:04,240
And then from there,
they really started, like gelling together

140
00:08:04,440 –> 00:08:09,000
to a point where me and my staff,
we didn’t we didn’t even lead.

141
00:08:09,040 –> 00:08:11,280
We didn’t lead the those meetings.

142
00:08:11,280 –> 00:08:14,240
Those meetings were actually led
by the participants.

143
00:08:14,240 –> 00:08:18,080
They even took it a step further
to where they they asked us.

144
00:08:18,080 –> 00:08:21,720
It was like, hey, can you
is it possible for us to have a virtual,

145
00:08:22,040 –> 00:08:26,680
a virtual room so that we can do study
so that we can study together?

146
00:08:26,720 –> 00:08:29,800
And then we had some
that was even meeting up at McDonald’s

147
00:08:29,800 –> 00:08:33,400
and meeting up
at meeting up at Starbucks.

148
00:08:33,680 –> 00:08:35,760
Just so that they can study together.

149
00:08:35,760 –> 00:08:37,640
So what we saw was,

150
00:08:38,680 –> 00:08:41,760
what
we saw was engagement in our program.

151
00:08:41,760 –> 00:08:42,760
Went through the roof.

152
00:08:42,760 –> 00:08:43,240
Right.

153
00:08:43,240 –> 00:08:44,400
We went from,

154
00:08:44,400 –> 00:08:47,160
you know, having to call people like, hey,
why you’re not going to class,

155
00:08:47,160 –> 00:08:51,160
why you’re not logging in to where now
they are doing those things.

156
00:08:51,160 –> 00:08:54,920
So we seen like an 85
to 90% increase in engagement.

157
00:08:54,960 –> 00:08:56,680
But then we also seen

158
00:08:56,680 –> 00:09:00,400
our completion rates go through the
go through the roof as well.

159
00:09:00,520 –> 00:09:04,160
So I think we finished that around
about 87%

160
00:09:04,160 –> 00:09:07,840
of our participants
after we started these cohort meetings.

161
00:09:07,840 –> 00:09:11,480
87% of them
actually completed their training program.

162
00:09:11,480 –> 00:09:14,240
So what we took from this,

163
00:09:14,240 –> 00:09:17,480
what we took from this is that,
you know, for our opportunity youth,

164
00:09:17,600 –> 00:09:22,760
all they need is just a space, you know, a
space to to express who they are.

165
00:09:22,760 –> 00:09:26,680
To, to to bring like minded opportunity

166
00:09:26,720 –> 00:09:29,920
youth together so that they can see that
they’re not in this thing by themselves.

167
00:09:29,920 –> 00:09:31,720
And then from there, they’ll take,

168
00:09:31,720 –> 00:09:34,440
they’ll take the bull by the horns
and go with it.

169
00:09:34,440 –> 00:09:35,240
Yeah. Thank you so much.

170
00:09:35,240 –> 00:09:37,640
That’s that’s really insightful
to have a lot of follow up

171
00:09:37,640 –> 00:09:40,560
questions for you when we get to to
your section. Now we have Adriana back.

172
00:09:40,560 –> 00:09:42,640
So thank you again for joining back on.

173
00:09:42,640 –> 00:09:44,560
You want to pick up where you left off?

174
00:09:44,560 –> 00:09:46,520
I know I have a couple of questions
about your

175
00:09:46,520 –> 00:09:47,800
your work with Measure for America,

176
00:09:47,800 –> 00:09:49,440
but how about we do a

177
00:09:49,440 –> 00:09:52,200
a recap of this slide and then we’ll move
over to the additional data

178
00:09:52,200 –> 00:09:55,200
that we have on the opportunities
folks in the Houston area.

179
00:09:55,480 –> 00:09:58,240
Yeah. Great. Thanks. So,

180
00:09:59,360 –> 00:10:01,560
yeah, so as I was saying,

181
00:10:01,560 –> 00:10:06,480
we came together, we had a number of
stakeholders from across the various

182
00:10:06,480 –> 00:10:11,600
variety of sectors who felt that,
you know, this number was just too large.

183
00:10:11,600 –> 00:10:16,880
We needed to create a coordinated effort
to try to scale some career

184
00:10:16,920 –> 00:10:20,720
pathways to the point
that all of our youth would have access

185
00:10:20,720 –> 00:10:25,080
to the education, training and support
they needed to reach their goals

186
00:10:25,080 –> 00:10:27,280
and thrive.

187
00:10:27,280 –> 00:10:29,720
So some of the stakeholders
that we bring to

188
00:10:29,720 –> 00:10:34,240
the table are young adults,
nonprofits, private foundations,

189
00:10:34,240 –> 00:10:38,160
employers, education
institutions, local government.

190
00:10:38,320 –> 00:10:41,200
And then we also work with state
and national partners like

191
00:10:41,200 –> 00:10:44,200
the Aspen Institute, Opportunity
Youth Forum,

192
00:10:44,200 –> 00:10:47,800
the Texas Opportunity Youth
Network, and Children at Risk.

193
00:10:48,080 –> 00:10:51,200
Our network has over 80 organizations.

194
00:10:51,200 –> 00:10:54,480
And 19 of those organizations
are currently providing

195
00:10:54,480 –> 00:10:58,000
impact data to our Collective Impact
dashboard.

196
00:10:58,800 –> 00:11:03,200
We really act as a convener
and driver of the collective effort,

197
00:11:03,400 –> 00:11:06,600
so that we can better understand
and enhance

198
00:11:06,600 –> 00:11:09,840
the supports that are provided
in our region for opportunity youth.

199
00:11:10,200 –> 00:11:14,480
Our organization, Alliance of Community
Assistance Ministries,

200
00:11:14,880 –> 00:11:19,040
we both do direct service of Opportunity
Youth and the behind the scenes

201
00:11:19,040 –> 00:11:23,080
work that service providers
often don’t have the capacity to do alone

202
00:11:23,080 –> 00:11:27,320
so we can move those like larger,
coordinated efforts forward.

203
00:11:28,160 –> 00:11:32,640
We have since 2021, we’ve had a number of

204
00:11:32,640 –> 00:11:36,800
successful reconnection
strategies that we’ve tested and proven,

205
00:11:37,040 –> 00:11:41,320
including data driven,
targeted outreach and engagement,

206
00:11:41,440 –> 00:11:46,440
structured career pathways,
intensive support pathways, and peer

207
00:11:46,480 –> 00:11:51,000
supports for recruitment, resource
navigation and case management to support.

208
00:11:51,280 –> 00:11:55,120
To date, over 13 million in public
and private funds

209
00:11:55,120 –> 00:11:58,280
have been secured to further
the work of the collaborative.

210
00:11:58,520 –> 00:12:01,320
Over 11,000
young adults have been connected

211
00:12:01,320 –> 00:12:05,360
to organizations for support,
nearly 4,000 have enrolled

212
00:12:05,360 –> 00:12:09,280
in education and training, and over
2,700 have secured employment.

213
00:12:09,720 –> 00:12:10,760
Awesome. Thank you.

214
00:12:10,760 –> 00:12:11,200
And yeah,

215
00:12:11,200 –> 00:12:14,080
and so kind of going back to that data
question that we had,

216
00:12:14,080 –> 00:12:16,520
I know you all partnered
with Measure of America

217
00:12:16,520 –> 00:12:20,040
to really do a deep dive on
who opportunities are in your region.

218
00:12:20,040 –> 00:12:23,080
Can you tell us a little bit more
about that collaboration?

219
00:12:23,080 –> 00:12:26,160
And also kind of the key findings
in that report, what did you learn?

220
00:12:27,000 –> 00:12:27,480
Yeah.

221
00:12:27,480 –> 00:12:34,400
So, a number of years ago, in 2017,
the Candor Institute

222
00:12:34,400 –> 00:12:36,360
did a local report on opportunity

223
00:12:36,360 –> 00:12:40,040
youth and had identified that
there were over 100,000 in our region.

224
00:12:40,320 –> 00:12:45,240
As we that work kind of led
to the development of the GHOYC.

225
00:12:45,920 –> 00:12:49,800
And once we dove deeper into the work,
what we really wanted to do was better

226
00:12:49,800 –> 00:12:53,760
understand who these opportunity
youth were in our region.

227
00:12:53,760 –> 00:12:56,760
And so we partnered
with Measure of America.

228
00:12:57,120 –> 00:13:01,160
They are a national opportunity
youth research expert.

229
00:13:01,200 –> 00:13:06,080
So they provide national reports
every year on opportunity youth.

230
00:13:06,080 –> 00:13:10,560
And then they work with local
organizations to understand their region.

231
00:13:10,560 –> 00:13:16,000
And we really wanted to understand,
who they were, where they were located,

232
00:13:16,000 –> 00:13:21,360
and so that we could use this information
to help guide our work moving forward.

233
00:13:21,640 –> 00:13:26,960
We also had them create a detailed map
that provides

234
00:13:27,000 –> 00:13:32,240
a map of the disconnection rates
across our region, and then that’s

235
00:13:32,240 –> 00:13:36,400
mapped over with our service providers
so that we can try to identify

236
00:13:37,080 –> 00:13:42,040
areas of need and direct services
and supports to those areas.

237
00:13:42,040 –> 00:13:45,040
And then also specific
different demographics.

238
00:13:45,480 –> 00:13:48,960
Some of the things
that we kind of learned out of this report

239
00:13:48,960 –> 00:13:52,000
is that our region has done
a pretty good job of creating pathways

240
00:13:52,000 –> 00:13:56,040
for young adults who keep connected
and take that traditional path to success.

241
00:13:56,400 –> 00:13:59,600
But where we’ve really been
falling behind is for those

242
00:13:59,840 –> 00:14:02,600
who the traditional path
is a bit more challenging.

243
00:14:02,600 –> 00:14:06,560
So as you can see, many of our opportunity
youth in our region

244
00:14:06,680 –> 00:14:10,720
have high school diplomas,
but they’re lacking work experience or

245
00:14:10,720 –> 00:14:14,760
further training, and this is dooming them
to continue the cycles of poverty.

246
00:14:15,040 –> 00:14:18,520
If we don’t come in
and create coordinated interventions

247
00:14:18,520 –> 00:14:20,560
to get them back on track.

248
00:14:20,560 –> 00:14:23,040
And yeah,

249
00:14:23,040 –> 00:14:28,840
so we’re really using this information
to help us work with partners,

250
00:14:28,880 –> 00:14:32,160
create new strategies
and those types of things.

251
00:14:32,640 –> 00:14:33,120
Perfect.

252
00:14:33,120 –> 00:14:36,120
I know, so you had existing programs
before you had this data?

253
00:14:36,200 –> 00:14:38,520
Can you give us
maybe a little bit of a deeper dive

254
00:14:38,520 –> 00:14:42,400
on how you tailored your programs and outreach for why after you receive this data?

255
00:14:43,840 –> 00:14:44,360
Yeah.

256
00:14:44,360 –> 00:14:48,880
So in our next slide, you can see,

257
00:14:49,880 –> 00:14:53,920
in this slide,
this gives us a little bit of a deeper

258
00:14:53,920 –> 00:14:59,280
dive into each population and of these
populations that are listed here, kind of

259
00:14:59,360 –> 00:15:03,560
what is the share of that group
that is out of school and out of work.

260
00:15:03,560 –> 00:15:08,680
So for example,
you can see that 41.7% of women

261
00:15:08,920 –> 00:15:13,760
who are young mothers are disconnected,
or 17,000 women.

262
00:15:14,200 –> 00:15:16,880
So taking that information,

263
00:15:16,880 –> 00:15:22,520
we partnered with a capstone project
out of Texas A&M in the Bush school,

264
00:15:22,600 –> 00:15:26,640
and they did additional research for us
on young mothers to understand, like,

265
00:15:26,680 –> 00:15:27,760
what were the challenges?

266
00:15:27,760 –> 00:15:29,960
Are they interested in careers?

267
00:15:29,960 –> 00:15:32,640
What career fields are the interested in?

268
00:15:32,640 –> 00:15:35,320
From that,
we learned that our young mothers

269
00:15:35,320 –> 00:15:39,640
oftentimes have an interest in health
care and early childhood development

270
00:15:39,640 –> 00:15:42,960
because it aligns
with their goals as a parent.

271
00:15:43,240 –> 00:15:47,000
And so we’ve started identifying
some partners that are doing work

272
00:15:47,000 –> 00:15:50,680
in early childhood and healthcare
and how we can connect those young mothers

273
00:15:50,720 –> 00:15:52,080
to those types of

274
00:15:53,920 –> 00:15:55,120
pathways.

275
00:15:55,120 –> 00:15:58,080
We also
learned that educational attainment

276
00:15:58,080 –> 00:16:00,720
has a direct relationship
to youth disconnection.

277
00:16:00,720 –> 00:16:04,400
So you can see on the right hand
side of the slide that for young adults

278
00:16:04,400 –> 00:16:09,640
who are older, like 21 to 24,
36% of these young adults

279
00:16:09,640 –> 00:16:12,440
without a high school
diploma are disconnected.

280
00:16:12,440 –> 00:16:16,160
And this compares to the 27%
who have a diploma,

281
00:16:16,160 –> 00:16:19,160
and then 10%
who have at least some college.

282
00:16:19,160 –> 00:16:21,720
But we’re really interested in
with this older group

283
00:16:21,720 –> 00:16:26,200
is those ones
who have no work experience.

284
00:16:26,400 –> 00:16:29,720
So a very large number of those

285
00:16:29,720 –> 00:16:32,720
with no work experience or disconnected.

286
00:16:33,080 –> 00:16:39,640
And we are seeing that, you know, over
50% of them need work experience.

287
00:16:39,640 –> 00:16:44,920
So this is an unusually large
share of young people in our region.

288
00:16:44,920 –> 00:16:48,000
30,000
who have no work experience at all.

289
00:16:48,000 –> 00:16:53,480
So, again, like really thinking about
how do we create some, pathways

290
00:16:53,480 –> 00:16:56,640
to entry through,

291
00:16:56,640 –> 00:16:59,640
creating very easy, low barrier

292
00:16:59,640 –> 00:17:05,040
access to internships,
to, careers and pass that, you know,

293
00:17:05,080 –> 00:17:09,200
can give them that experience and build
that positive exposure for them.

294
00:17:10,360 –> 00:17:11,120
Great.

295
00:17:11,120 –> 00:17:12,240
And I know also,

296
00:17:12,240 –> 00:17:16,040
I mean, you obviously use this work to
kind of form your internal work as well,

297
00:17:16,040 –> 00:17:19,640
but I think a one of the key things
that you all did as well

298
00:17:20,040 –> 00:17:23,800
will share this out with your partners
in the greater Houston area.

299
00:17:23,960 –> 00:17:25,440
So kind of going back to like the modern

300
00:17:25,440 –> 00:17:29,040
learner connection, particularly
when you’re having conversations

301
00:17:29,040 –> 00:17:30,280
with institutions of higher education.

302
00:17:30,280 –> 00:17:31,400
So I know you had conversations

303
00:17:31,400 –> 00:17:35,320
with University of Houston Downtown,
San Jacinto College, Presscore College,

304
00:17:35,360 –> 00:17:39,240
Lone Star College to really understand
opportunity youth and stop outs.

305
00:17:39,520 –> 00:17:43,680
How the institutions adapted to
to this information,

306
00:17:43,720 –> 00:17:46,560
how do they use this data
to really kind of target those students?

307
00:17:46,560 –> 00:17:48,000
And what resources

308
00:17:48,000 –> 00:17:51,000
have they really thought about
for engaging those students or reengaging

309
00:17:51,000 –> 00:17:51,680
those students?

310
00:17:52,760 –> 00:17:53,320
Yeah.

311
00:17:53,320 –> 00:17:57,960
So if you skip ahead two slides,
one of the other

312
00:17:57,960 –> 00:18:01,680
interesting findings that really came
out of this report was that,

313
00:18:01,920 –> 00:18:07,280
we have a low share of young adults
that are obtaining post-secondary degrees.

314
00:18:07,520 –> 00:18:11,520
So our share of young adults
with at least an associate degree

315
00:18:11,520 –> 00:18:16,080
or lower in Houston,
is, is is lower in Houston

316
00:18:16,080 –> 00:18:19,800
and in San Antonio relative
to other large metro areas.

317
00:18:20,080 –> 00:18:23,680
So we are looking at like a 13% degree
attainment

318
00:18:23,680 –> 00:18:28,040
rate in 2022,
where the US average is around 15%,

319
00:18:28,040 –> 00:18:31,360
and other large metros
like Dallas and Texas

320
00:18:31,400 –> 00:18:34,400
is closer to 17%.

321
00:18:34,760 –> 00:18:37,400
Or sorry, Dallas is 16%.

322
00:18:37,400 –> 00:18:40,520
So when we saw this,

323
00:18:40,600 –> 00:18:45,400
we also noted that, you know,
there’s a number of our young people

324
00:18:45,600 –> 00:18:48,800
who are opportunity
youth, who have started college, right?

325
00:18:48,840 –> 00:18:53,040
So 20% of them have actually started
college and haven’t finished.

326
00:18:53,200 –> 00:18:56,760
We’ve started conversations
with some of these colleges,

327
00:18:56,760 –> 00:18:59,280
and one of it is, is kind of just like,

328
00:18:59,280 –> 00:19:01,280
you know,
you’re pulling this data regularly.

329
00:19:01,280 –> 00:19:02,640
What are you doing with it?

330
00:19:02,640 –> 00:19:05,800
You know,
so some are getting really creative.

331
00:19:05,800 –> 00:19:08,000
So I know Lone Star has taken some.

332
00:19:08,000 –> 00:19:11,920
They were really interested
in the findings of this report

333
00:19:11,960 –> 00:19:14,960
and started
looking at how they could actually utilize

334
00:19:15,040 –> 00:19:19,600
some of that data within their institution
to try to make some targeted approaches

335
00:19:19,600 –> 00:19:21,000
to college stop outs.

336
00:19:21,960 –> 00:19:24,280
We’re partnering currently with UHD.

337
00:19:24,280 –> 00:19:27,920
They are really, really interested in

338
00:19:28,080 –> 00:19:33,400
how do we tap into the college
stop outs, not just giving outreach,

339
00:19:33,400 –> 00:19:35,200
but also what kinds of supports

340
00:19:35,200 –> 00:19:39,040
are going to help them actually reenroll
and finish those degrees.

341
00:19:39,160 –> 00:19:42,640
So a big piece of this work
is understanding,

342
00:19:42,680 –> 00:19:46,120
kind of looking through the list of
stop outs, because oftentimes it’s

343
00:19:46,120 –> 00:19:51,640
a very large number to identify
who are the best to target in outreach.

344
00:19:51,640 –> 00:19:56,600
So maybe who are closest
to degree attainment, who have, you know,

345
00:19:56,640 –> 00:19:59,920
low number of hold financial holds.

346
00:19:59,960 –> 00:20:01,000
Like, what are the barriers

347
00:20:01,000 –> 00:20:05,240
that they can see within their data
that are low entry point to reentry?

348
00:20:05,400 –> 00:20:09,640
And then they are partnering
that with case management.

349
00:20:09,640 –> 00:20:13,320
So they’re doing individualized outreach,
making phone calls

350
00:20:13,320 –> 00:20:16,920
and emails
to see where those young students are at.

351
00:20:17,080 –> 00:20:20,520
What are the barriers, how are they
connecting them to resources,

352
00:20:20,840 –> 00:20:24,120
either available through the campus
or without the campus?

353
00:20:24,120 –> 00:20:27,840
A lot of times what they’re seeing
is that that financial

354
00:20:27,880 –> 00:20:29,040
hold is the barrier,

355
00:20:29,040 –> 00:20:32,880
and so they’ve started setting aside
dollars to help with those young people

356
00:20:32,880 –> 00:20:36,760
who have holds or are trying to adjust
their systems to get back in,

357
00:20:37,320 –> 00:20:40,800
in this work of reconnecting young people
to college.

358
00:20:40,960 –> 00:20:44,120
One of the big barriers
is that the college systems

359
00:20:44,120 –> 00:20:47,560
are not really designed
for people to reenter.

360
00:20:47,560 –> 00:20:52,440
And so navigating that system of
what is it like look like to reenroll,

361
00:20:52,720 –> 00:20:55,480
a young person either doesn’t know

362
00:20:55,480 –> 00:20:59,520
the right questions or the right person
to go to, and same from the systems

363
00:20:59,520 –> 00:21:03,040
at level side, oftentimes,
because this is a different case.

364
00:21:03,400 –> 00:21:04,080
They don’t

365
00:21:04,080 –> 00:21:08,240
even know where’s the right steps or which
the right way to get back into school.

366
00:21:08,240 –> 00:21:11,720
And so really trying to identify
what are some of those points.

367
00:21:12,040 –> 00:21:16,520
We’re also looking at some other partners
that are providing

368
00:21:16,600 –> 00:21:20,280
kind of college access and success
supports and looking at their called

369
00:21:20,440 –> 00:21:23,560
their stop outs
and their alumni to see how,

370
00:21:24,680 –> 00:21:25,160
outside

371
00:21:25,160 –> 00:21:28,800
organizations can provide that bridge
to help them get back either

372
00:21:28,800 –> 00:21:31,240
into the original institution
that they enrolled in

373
00:21:31,240 –> 00:21:33,600
or the other supports
that they need to complete.

374
00:21:33,600 –> 00:21:38,360
And so really kind of looking,
trying to foster,

375
00:21:39,520 –> 00:21:42,240
some interest
from the colleges of this piece of data

376
00:21:42,240 –> 00:21:45,480
that they have regularly,
but not necessarily pay

377
00:21:46,040 –> 00:21:49,920
attention
or create targeted strategies around.

378
00:21:50,720 –> 00:21:51,800
Good. Well thank you.

379
00:21:51,800 –> 00:21:56,320
I think it’s really helpful for, for you
to kind of name these as barriers

380
00:21:56,320 –> 00:21:57,800
that maybe are being overlooked

381
00:21:57,800 –> 00:22:00,200
and really highlighting opportunity
youth as a whole.

382
00:22:00,200 –> 00:22:03,120
I know part of like the work
that’s happening around

383
00:22:03,120 –> 00:22:05,920
the state is also just elevating
the opportunity

384
00:22:05,920 –> 00:22:08,320
youth folks all over the state,
not just in the greater Houston area.

385
00:22:08,320 –> 00:22:11,400
I’m curious about how this conversation

386
00:22:11,400 –> 00:22:14,400
has gone with your stakeholders
locally in Houston.

387
00:22:14,600 –> 00:22:16,800
You know, outside of institutions
of higher education

388
00:22:16,800 –> 00:22:20,720
and thinking like elected
officials, county chairs, just folks

389
00:22:20,840 –> 00:22:24,360
who may not know about opportunities
in general and having this great data.

390
00:22:24,400 –> 00:22:26,240
How how has that
conversation gone with them?

391
00:22:27,200 –> 00:22:27,600
Yeah.

392
00:22:27,600 –> 00:22:33,320
So, this report has
been incredibly helpful in, making a case

393
00:22:33,320 –> 00:22:37,480
for regional efforts
to include this population.

394
00:22:37,520 –> 00:22:41,600
So we have a number of city
and regional efforts

395
00:22:41,640 –> 00:22:45,000
around increasing economic mobility,

396
00:22:45,760 –> 00:22:50,920
creating access points for people
who are looking to upskill, reconnect.

397
00:22:51,000 –> 00:22:55,160
And so we’re able to come in
and bring the voice that there’s

398
00:22:55,200 –> 00:23:00,080
this untapped population of young people
who need dedicated support.

399
00:23:00,080 –> 00:23:03,840
And as we’re building
these larger strategies, we need to create

400
00:23:03,840 –> 00:23:08,840
specific strategies within that
for reconnection, because oftentimes

401
00:23:08,840 –> 00:23:12,120
those strategies are looking
at your traditional pipelines, right.

402
00:23:12,160 –> 00:23:15,760
They’re looking at the data of
who is going through.

403
00:23:15,800 –> 00:23:20,360
How do we make sure that we’re, you know,
doing bridge programs, which is great.

404
00:23:20,360 –> 00:23:21,960
That’s very important work.

405
00:23:21,960 –> 00:23:25,200
But there’s also a large number
of our population here

406
00:23:25,200 –> 00:23:28,360
in our region
that are not making it past that point.

407
00:23:28,400 –> 00:23:32,400
And they’re not built into those
traditional like systems of support.

408
00:23:32,400 –> 00:23:36,080
So how do we really make sure
that we’re thinking about creating

409
00:23:36,400 –> 00:23:39,240
accessible entry points,
and how do we identify them

410
00:23:39,240 –> 00:23:42,240
and reconnect them
to those accessible entry points?

411
00:23:42,400 –> 00:23:47,520
If you want to go back, one slide,
one of the areas in our region

412
00:23:47,520 –> 00:23:49,400
that really took this information

413
00:23:49,400 –> 00:23:53,640
and ran with it was our partners
down in Brazoria County. So,

414
00:23:54,760 –> 00:23:55,760
Brazoria County

415
00:23:55,760 –> 00:24:00,160
has a higher disconnection rate
than our region and also the state.

416
00:24:00,280 –> 00:24:04,520
And when their local leaders saw this,
they were shocked

417
00:24:04,520 –> 00:24:07,760
that so many of their young people
were falling through the cracks.

418
00:24:07,760 –> 00:24:12,200
They have approximately 5500 opportunity
youth in their area,

419
00:24:12,320 –> 00:24:16,160
and they have a plethora
of support services across their county.

420
00:24:16,280 –> 00:24:18,280
And so they were just in disbelief.

421
00:24:18,280 –> 00:24:24,360
Quite honestly, it took us a little bit
to actually get them on board and and see

422
00:24:24,360 –> 00:24:28,120
that this was actually true information,
because they just really couldn’t

423
00:24:28,440 –> 00:24:31,760
fathom that so many of their young people
were falling behind.

424
00:24:32,120 –> 00:24:35,520
Once they did,
they took it and ran with it.

425
00:24:35,520 –> 00:24:41,080
So we worked with local leaders
to, do some listening

426
00:24:41,080 –> 00:24:45,000
sessions around this data, share
this data with community leaders.

427
00:24:45,240 –> 00:24:49,160
And they were so hyped up
that they came together.

428
00:24:49,440 –> 00:24:53,280
We’ve got, I think, over,
you know, 60 different partners

429
00:24:53,280 –> 00:24:57,200
in the county
that are invested in looking at this work.

430
00:24:57,360 –> 00:25:01,040
And they actually developed a five year
strategic plan

431
00:25:01,040 –> 00:25:04,720
for reengaging their opportunity
youth across the county.

432
00:25:04,760 –> 00:25:08,200
It’s really unique
because they’ve created a county wide plan

433
00:25:08,200 –> 00:25:12,400
as opposed to just
one school district or one area,

434
00:25:12,760 –> 00:25:18,160
and they’re really interested
in developing these, reconnection centers

435
00:25:18,160 –> 00:25:22,560
that are a national kind of success way
of reconnecting young people.

436
00:25:23,280 –> 00:25:27,440
And so things like that is really what
we’re looking to, like,

437
00:25:27,840 –> 00:25:31,520
bringing voice to this population
and getting people the right people

438
00:25:31,520 –> 00:25:35,480
at the table that are excited
to make movement and create scalable

439
00:25:35,480 –> 00:25:39,600
strategies for getting these young people
back into education and employment.

440
00:25:40,640 –> 00:25:41,000
Great.

441
00:25:41,000 –> 00:25:41,960
And I know our

442
00:25:41,960 –> 00:25:44,720
chat is being really active right now,
so I do want to take some time to

443
00:25:44,720 –> 00:25:47,640
to ask a couple of those questions
that we have on here.

444
00:25:47,640 –> 00:25:48,840
I’ll start with the first one.

445
00:25:48,840 –> 00:25:52,720
What does the support look like around
the young adults versus the partners in

446
00:25:53,080 –> 00:25:56,080
in your network?

447
00:25:57,880 –> 00:25:58,760
Well, I can speak to

448
00:25:58,760 –> 00:26:02,520
the partner piece and then Billy can speak
to the young adult piece.

449
00:26:02,600 –> 00:26:08,560
A lot of what we do is one
just building connections among partners.

450
00:26:08,560 –> 00:26:11,760
So we hold quarterly stakeholder meetings

451
00:26:11,760 –> 00:26:15,880
where we have over 60 people that attend
and just give them

452
00:26:15,880 –> 00:26:19,720
the opportunity to understand
who else is doing work in the area.

453
00:26:20,360 –> 00:26:23,560
That with our map
gives them a good way to see,

454
00:26:23,600 –> 00:26:25,360
like what are the support services?

455
00:26:25,360 –> 00:26:28,440
We also provide a lot of technical
support to our partners.

456
00:26:28,440 –> 00:26:31,480
So we are bringing back best practices

457
00:26:31,720 –> 00:26:34,840
from that national and state network
that we’re a part of.

458
00:26:35,160 –> 00:26:38,840
To help our partner
organizations understand

459
00:26:39,000 –> 00:26:41,640
what’s
what are the top kind of approaches,

460
00:26:41,640 –> 00:26:44,600
how do we tailor our programs
to supporting young adults?

461
00:26:44,600 –> 00:26:47,600
What is different about supporting
a young adult than, you know,

462
00:26:47,640 –> 00:26:51,800
just the other adults
that are in our workforce programs?

463
00:26:52,200 –> 00:26:56,520
And then we also, you know, we
we partner organizations

464
00:26:56,520 –> 00:26:58,480
on collaborative efforts.

465
00:26:58,480 –> 00:27:00,840
We are developing workgroups.

466
00:27:00,840 –> 00:27:04,640
We are bringing in funding to the region,
which we also,

467
00:27:05,000 –> 00:27:08,560
you know, distribute out to these partners
in different efforts.

468
00:27:08,720 –> 00:27:12,120
And so there’s a lot of behind the scenes
work of

469
00:27:12,120 –> 00:27:16,000
just understanding what is happening,
bringing people together.

470
00:27:16,360 –> 00:27:21,200
We’re also training our partners
to understand how to make their data

471
00:27:21,240 –> 00:27:24,680
fit into kind of this national effort
of reconnection.

472
00:27:25,000 –> 00:27:28,920
And so that we can actually show
a lot of the partners that we work

473
00:27:28,920 –> 00:27:31,920
with are kind of more in the workforce
development field

474
00:27:32,000 –> 00:27:34,880
and maybe not necessarily
tapping into federal dollars.

475
00:27:34,880 –> 00:27:40,520
And so their program data
is not necessarily captured anywhere.

476
00:27:40,520 –> 00:27:44,920
And so we’re looking to also help them
give voice to the work that they’re doing

477
00:27:44,960 –> 00:27:47,920
on this effort and the impact that
we’re having in real time.

478
00:27:49,280 –> 00:27:49,640
Great.

479
00:27:49,640 –> 00:27:51,440
Billy, I wonder if you can expand on that.

480
00:27:51,440 –> 00:27:53,520
I know you mentioned some of the support

481
00:27:53,520 –> 00:27:57,240
that you currently do with the cohort
that you have mentioned previously.

482
00:27:57,280 –> 00:27:59,040
Do you want to expand on on the support,

483
00:27:59,040 –> 00:28:02,040
what other support looks like
for young adults in your program?

484
00:28:02,440 –> 00:28:05,120
So when we look at support
for our young adults,

485
00:28:05,120 –> 00:28:08,800
the first thing is
we have to know who all is in it, right?

486
00:28:08,840 –> 00:28:12,400
Who’s who all is in this game
of supporting our opportunity youth.

487
00:28:12,600 –> 00:28:15,600
And from there,
one of the things I could say.

488
00:28:15,600 –> 00:28:17,600
So I come from.

489
00:28:17,600 –> 00:28:20,760
I come from,
I did I ran programs in Oklahoma.

490
00:28:20,800 –> 00:28:22,520
I ran programs in Florida.

491
00:28:22,520 –> 00:28:25,280
And then I’ve been running programs here
in Texas.

492
00:28:25,280 –> 00:28:28,080
Started out in deep East,
and now I’m in the Houston area.

493
00:28:28,080 –> 00:28:29,720
And one of the things that I can say

494
00:28:29,720 –> 00:28:33,360
is that here in the Houston area,
you have more of a,

495
00:28:33,720 –> 00:28:37,400
a collaboration going on other than the,
you know, other than the,

496
00:28:37,400 –> 00:28:41,200
the silos that’s happening in other areas
that I’ve been into.

497
00:28:41,560 –> 00:28:44,360
So, you know, for us, it’s easy
for us to find out

498
00:28:44,360 –> 00:28:46,160
because of the collaborations,

499
00:28:46,160 –> 00:28:49,640
who’s doing what, so that we’re not
duplicating a lot of these services.

500
00:28:49,640 –> 00:28:52,800
So if we have participants
that’s coming through our program

501
00:28:52,800 –> 00:28:56,560
that we’re putting through training
who may need housing assistance,

502
00:28:56,600 –> 00:29:00,080
you know, we know who those partners are
so that they can get that support.

503
00:29:00,200 –> 00:29:03,880
Same thing if, you know,
if we run out of funds for providing

504
00:29:03,920 –> 00:29:06,920
transportation assistance
so that they can get the classes.

505
00:29:06,960 –> 00:29:10,920
We know who those partners are so
that they can continue to get that support

506
00:29:10,920 –> 00:29:15,200
so that they can complete whatever goal
they set when they came into the program.

507
00:29:15,240 –> 00:29:17,920
And it’s it’s and it’s been vice
versa. Right?

508
00:29:17,920 –> 00:29:20,400
It’s it’s
not just us referring people out,

509
00:29:20,400 –> 00:29:24,520
but a lot of our partners knew that, hey,
we’re running these health care programs.

510
00:29:24,560 –> 00:29:28,680
So we received a lot of referrals
from our partners where our partners

511
00:29:28,680 –> 00:29:32,680
help them with housing,
help them with transportation.

512
00:29:32,760 –> 00:29:37,520
We even had one one participant
who got help with getting a laptop

513
00:29:37,520 –> 00:29:39,400
because she was doing an online class,

514
00:29:39,400 –> 00:29:42,640
and we were the ones that came in
and helped them out with paying

515
00:29:42,640 –> 00:29:44,440
for their their certification program

516
00:29:44,440 –> 00:29:46,600
and paying for them
to get their certification

517
00:29:46,600 –> 00:29:49,320
and helping them with job
search afterwards.

518
00:29:49,320 –> 00:29:49,640
Thank you.

519
00:29:49,640 –> 00:29:50,400
That’s really helpful.

520
00:29:50,400 –> 00:29:52,120
And I think part of the conversations

521
00:29:52,120 –> 00:29:55,120
that was happening on
the chat as well is kind of speaking about

522
00:29:55,360 –> 00:29:58,680
having a homeless liaison
in the post-secondary schools.

523
00:29:59,040 –> 00:30:01,400
Had there been any discussions
about that?

524
00:30:01,400 –> 00:30:04,760
And also, how can they help reconnect
or keep youth in college?

525
00:30:05,000 –> 00:30:08,000
Is that a discussion that you all have
had with your IT leaders?

526
00:30:10,680 –> 00:30:14,160
We have been hearing a little bit
about this.

527
00:30:14,160 –> 00:30:18,440
It’s housing amongst our opportunity
youth and

528
00:30:18,440 –> 00:30:22,360
and generally our young population
is just a real challenge right now.

529
00:30:23,240 –> 00:30:27,080
And so this can potentially
be an entry point for young people.

530
00:30:27,080 –> 00:30:30,160
Some of the campuses do have this

531
00:30:30,160 –> 00:30:34,000
just as part of their general
like wraparound support services.

532
00:30:34,400 –> 00:30:37,080
I’m seeing another question

533
00:30:37,080 –> 00:30:40,920
from Andy, about some of

534
00:30:40,920 –> 00:30:45,280
how the the colleges are supporting
this persistence and completion.

535
00:30:45,400 –> 00:30:48,680
So what I will say with UHD,
what they’ve done is

536
00:30:48,720 –> 00:30:50,920
they’ve kind of wrapped that.

537
00:30:50,920 –> 00:30:55,360
So that initial re-engagement,
they bring those young people back

538
00:30:55,360 –> 00:31:00,240
and enroll them into like a specific,
like a Gator pathway that provides like,

539
00:31:00,320 –> 00:31:05,400
a counselor and support that helps them
access all of the resources,

540
00:31:05,400 –> 00:31:08,400
such as the food pantry,
you know, sobriety.

541
00:31:08,840 –> 00:31:11,560
You know, health care,
all of those things that are available

542
00:31:11,560 –> 00:31:15,240
and actually, like,
does check in points with them regularly.

543
00:31:15,720 –> 00:31:20,120
What that is part of, like a larger system
that they have for specific students

544
00:31:20,120 –> 00:31:24,000
who have been identified as,
potentially at risk.

545
00:31:24,120 –> 00:31:27,040
But they’re looking at bringing on
somebody

546
00:31:27,040 –> 00:31:30,520
who is specifically focused
on those who are reentering.

547
00:31:30,520 –> 00:31:35,240
And so really what we’re looking at here
is, you know, how do they again,

548
00:31:35,280 –> 00:31:39,000
take that next level
step of like focusing on reentering.

549
00:31:39,160 –> 00:31:41,880
At Brazos Port College
what they’re doing.

550
00:31:41,880 –> 00:31:46,000
We have five peer navigators
that are located there.

551
00:31:46,240 –> 00:31:49,640
And they are focused
because in Brazoria County,

552
00:31:49,680 –> 00:31:53,360
they have a higher number of youth
who don’t have high school degrees.

553
00:31:53,480 –> 00:31:56,680
So they’re working on reengaging
those young adults

554
00:31:56,680 –> 00:32:00,200
into their adult education program
to complete their GED

555
00:32:00,560 –> 00:32:03,800
and then connect them to those entry point
level trainings.

556
00:32:03,840 –> 00:32:07,000
And so those young people are on
campus as a bridge.

557
00:32:07,160 –> 00:32:10,840
But what those young people are
also finding is that they’re just

558
00:32:10,840 –> 00:32:13,880
connecting with young people,
and people are seeing their tag

559
00:32:13,880 –> 00:32:15,840
and asking them and they’re like,
oh, well, you know,

560
00:32:15,840 –> 00:32:17,680
I think I’m having challenges.

561
00:32:17,680 –> 00:32:21,960
What do I do to like,
stay on and be successful in my classes?

562
00:32:22,000 –> 00:32:23,640
I’m worried that I’m going to fail.

563
00:32:23,640 –> 00:32:27,480
And so these young people just being on
campus, talking to others

564
00:32:27,600 –> 00:32:31,480
is giving them this new connection point
where they wouldn’t have necessarily gone

565
00:32:31,480 –> 00:32:33,000
to an adult and done that.

566
00:32:33,000 –> 00:32:33,920
So we’re starting to

567
00:32:33,920 –> 00:32:37,680
see some really exciting things happen
with our our higher ed partners.

568
00:32:39,320 –> 00:32:40,120
Billy, I want

569
00:32:40,120 –> 00:32:45,560
to ask you a question about,
elevating youth voice in this work.

570
00:32:45,560 –> 00:32:48,560
At the end, I kind of mentioned some
some of the work of them, you know,

571
00:32:48,600 –> 00:32:52,080
really addressing
some of the concerns among peers.

572
00:32:52,120 –> 00:32:52,600
Right.

573
00:32:52,600 –> 00:32:56,320
So just curious about those strategies
that you all employ

574
00:32:56,440 –> 00:32:59,680
to really make sure that student voice
is being taken into consideration

575
00:32:59,680 –> 00:33:02,160
as you develop your programs and also work

576
00:33:02,160 –> 00:33:05,680
with additional partners
outside of around Greater Houston.

577
00:33:06,160 –> 00:33:06,480
Yeah.

578
00:33:06,480 –> 00:33:08,000
So so most of the times, you know,

579
00:33:08,000 –> 00:33:11,160
when we build programs, it’s us
that’s building the programs.

580
00:33:11,160 –> 00:33:14,840
And, you know, we are the professionals
and we are the experts.

581
00:33:14,840 –> 00:33:19,800
But to be honest, the the best experts are
the ones that are out there living,

582
00:33:20,120 –> 00:33:21,640
you know, as opportunity

583
00:33:21,640 –> 00:33:25,520
youth, as the people that are trying
to get connected to the program.

584
00:33:25,640 –> 00:33:26,520
So, you know,

585
00:33:26,520 –> 00:33:30,520
when you bring them in, listening to them
alone, it’s just not enough.

586
00:33:30,800 –> 00:33:31,640
You know,

587
00:33:31,640 –> 00:33:36,280
if you if you don’t, adults keep living,
keep giving input, but never see action.

588
00:33:36,400 –> 00:33:38,440
They can check out of the process.

589
00:33:38,440 –> 00:33:41,160
And we have had that happen before.

590
00:33:41,160 –> 00:33:46,880
So, one of the things that we did,
with our health care training program was

591
00:33:46,920 –> 00:33:51,840
and we did it with our yet program
is that we are we’re currently building.

592
00:33:52,960 –> 00:33:56,200
We’re currently building a career.

593
00:33:56,880 –> 00:33:57,920
How can I say this?

594
00:33:57,920 –> 00:34:00,320
A career guidance program.

595
00:34:00,320 –> 00:34:05,040
And with this, career guidance program,
we are going beyond the basic

596
00:34:05,040 –> 00:34:06,680
interest assessments, right.

597
00:34:06,680 –> 00:34:09,200
We’re looking at,
you know, their current interest.

598
00:34:09,200 –> 00:34:10,440
We’re looking at their values.

599
00:34:10,440 –> 00:34:12,480
We’re looking at their transferable
skills.

600
00:34:12,480 –> 00:34:14,960
We’re looking at the work settings
that they prefer to work in.

601
00:34:14,960 –> 00:34:19,000
We’re looking at it from a whole
from a whole scope so that when those

602
00:34:19,040 –> 00:34:22,480
when at the end of it,
when those careers do come out,

603
00:34:22,520 –> 00:34:26,200
you know, it’s more focused on what it,
what it is that they want to do.

604
00:34:26,240 –> 00:34:29,200
I don’t know how many people have taken
the O*NET interest exam, but

605
00:34:29,200 –> 00:34:33,120
after you take that exam,
you get a long list of different,

606
00:34:33,120 –> 00:34:36,760
different occupations, right,
that you may be interested in.

607
00:34:36,800 –> 00:34:39,520
And, and most of the young adults,
they don’t know what to do with that.

608
00:34:39,520 –> 00:34:43,760
So this program that we’re building
is built being built to address that.

609
00:34:43,880 –> 00:34:48,640
So for us, like we’re building it
on our side, but before we put it out

610
00:34:48,640 –> 00:34:53,480
to the, to the, the masses, we’re going
to use our young adult advisory council,

611
00:34:53,480 –> 00:34:57,760
our yet council members,
to actually go through that program

612
00:34:57,760 –> 00:35:01,760
and provide feedback like,
you know, is it is it too technical?

613
00:35:02,360 –> 00:35:04,760
Is it anything that goes over
you all head?

614
00:35:04,760 –> 00:35:06,520
Is it is it too much? Right.

615
00:35:06,520 –> 00:35:08,120
It’s the intake form too much.

616
00:35:08,120 –> 00:35:09,440
It’s the assessments too much.

617
00:35:09,440 –> 00:35:14,000
So we’re going to really listen to them
to make sure that when we release this out

618
00:35:14,000 –> 00:35:18,840
that, you know, someone
who, who’s taking the O*NET assessment

619
00:35:18,840 –> 00:35:22,960
or taking different assessments using,
you know, through other organizations

620
00:35:22,960 –> 00:35:27,920
that they know that once they get into
the system, they find it to be helpful.

621
00:35:28,600 –> 00:35:32,800
And then also, you know,
the value is lived experience, right?

622
00:35:32,800 –> 00:35:36,960
A lot of our participants, those are
the ones that have lived experience.

623
00:35:36,960 –> 00:35:41,280
So they’re not going to,
you know, it coming from me, a 40 year old

624
00:35:41,280 –> 00:35:42,000
professional.

625
00:35:42,000 –> 00:35:45,640
That’s that’s
that’s not really who should be deciding

626
00:35:45,640 –> 00:35:49,200
what’s best for them when we build
these systems for our participants.

627
00:35:49,960 –> 00:35:53,360
And I’m curious as, as you build
that partnership with employers,

628
00:35:53,360 –> 00:35:56,800
how are they open to that feedback,
to that youth feedback.

629
00:35:56,800 –> 00:35:58,640
And then also like, how does that

630
00:35:58,640 –> 00:36:00,640
how does that,
first of all, your strategies to connect

631
00:36:00,640 –> 00:36:04,880
with those employers and then also,
their willingness to, to work with you

632
00:36:04,880 –> 00:36:08,400
to, to make those programs more accessible
for opportunity as a whole?

633
00:36:08,760 –> 00:36:09,000
Yeah.

634
00:36:09,000 –> 00:36:12,120
So we, you know,
we have had our, our learning, our

635
00:36:12,120 –> 00:36:15,200
learning pains
with connecting with employers.

636
00:36:15,200 –> 00:36:15,600
Right.

637
00:36:15,600 –> 00:36:20,400
When previously when we went
to employers, we telling employers

638
00:36:20,400 –> 00:36:23,480
who we were working with,
we tell them about their barriers.

639
00:36:23,520 –> 00:36:26,360
We’re telling them about what
we’re doing with them. Employers.

640
00:36:26,360 –> 00:36:27,920
They don’t want to hear that. Right.

641
00:36:27,920 –> 00:36:29,320
What they want to know is,

642
00:36:29,320 –> 00:36:32,320
do you have people that can come in
and fill my positions?

643
00:36:32,360 –> 00:36:35,360
So, you know, one of the strategies
that we started doing is

644
00:36:35,360 –> 00:36:38,720
when we reach out to them,
we don’t talk about,

645
00:36:38,800 –> 00:36:42,320
you know, the the barriers
or the backstory of our participants.

646
00:36:42,480 –> 00:36:44,120
We leave with what the employee need,

647
00:36:44,120 –> 00:36:47,160
which is a trained,
prepared person who can do the job.

648
00:36:47,360 –> 00:36:52,480
So what we do is we,
we we scan through LinkedIn.

649
00:36:52,520 –> 00:36:57,080
We scan through Indeed,
and we reach out to those employees

650
00:36:57,080 –> 00:37:00,400
that are actually that are actually hiring
and letting them know

651
00:37:00,400 –> 00:37:03,960
that, hey, look, we have a participant
that’s eager to work.

652
00:37:03,960 –> 00:37:06,000
They have a certification.

653
00:37:06,000 –> 00:37:08,800
We wanted to know if we can send them
over to you for interview.

654
00:37:08,800 –> 00:37:12,240
Or can we send your resume over
to to you to to

655
00:37:12,320 –> 00:37:15,520
can we send that resume over to you
so that you can review

656
00:37:15,520 –> 00:37:18,600
and see if there’s someone that
you will be interested in interviewing.

657
00:37:18,640 –> 00:37:20,680
And most of the time they’ll say yes.

658
00:37:20,680 –> 00:37:21,480
One of the other things

659
00:37:21,480 –> 00:37:25,480
that we’re using here at ACAM
is that we have an internship program.

660
00:37:25,600 –> 00:37:28,840
So when we reach out to them
and they say, yeah, I really don’t know.

661
00:37:29,000 –> 00:37:32,640
We tell them about our internship program
where they can bring that person on

662
00:37:32,640 –> 00:37:33,600
for eight weeks.

663
00:37:33,600 –> 00:37:36,040
They can train them at no cost to them.

664
00:37:36,040 –> 00:37:39,960
The only thing that they have to do
is supervise them, mentor them,

665
00:37:39,960 –> 00:37:43,400
so that at the end of those eight weeks,
if they feel like, hey,

666
00:37:43,560 –> 00:37:47,520
this is really not a good fit,
that participant can take that experience

667
00:37:47,520 –> 00:37:49,080
and go to the next employer.

668
00:37:49,080 –> 00:37:51,240
Or if they say that, you know what?

669
00:37:51,240 –> 00:37:53,520
Hey, this program right here is great.

670
00:37:53,520 –> 00:37:54,720
We want to hire them.

671
00:37:54,720 –> 00:37:55,520
Then, you know,

672
00:37:55,520 –> 00:37:59,600
we tell them, we encourage them to do
so so far through our internship program.

673
00:38:00,680 –> 00:38:01,680
What we

674
00:38:01,680 –> 00:38:05,560
I think we have placed
a total of nine participants so far.

675
00:38:05,560 –> 00:38:08,240
We have six that is still in the program.

676
00:38:08,240 –> 00:38:09,720
We have three

677
00:38:09,720 –> 00:38:13,800
that have been hired by their
their work site, by the internship site.

678
00:38:13,840 –> 00:38:18,440
So that is something that is working
for us by using that that paid internship.

679
00:38:19,040 –> 00:38:19,840
That’s great.

680
00:38:19,840 –> 00:38:21,640
And kind of speaking on growing
pains, we have

681
00:38:21,640 –> 00:38:23,640
we have some questions in the chat about,

682
00:38:23,640 –> 00:38:27,840
just any key learnings that you all may
want to kind of highlight.

683
00:38:27,880 –> 00:38:30,880
So I think the current one is

684
00:38:31,040 –> 00:38:34,440
do you have any advice, things you wish
you hadn’t known before getting started?

685
00:38:34,480 –> 00:38:37,200
What did those early conversations
with organizations look like?

686
00:38:37,200 –> 00:38:39,360
How did you get partners to buy into this?

687
00:38:39,360 –> 00:38:42,560
I will say coming from

688
00:38:42,560 –> 00:38:47,560
what helps is that I’ve been kind of
in this work for a while, and,

689
00:38:47,600 –> 00:38:50,560
it takes time to build relationships.

690
00:38:50,560 –> 00:38:57,120
And so coming to the table
with 1 or 2, like trusted partners

691
00:38:57,120 –> 00:39:00,760
in the community that can help
you build those relationships.

692
00:39:00,960 –> 00:39:06,240
When we went into, you know,
the new counties, it was really like

693
00:39:06,560 –> 00:39:10,160
one of the biggest things to success
is finding your your key leaders.

694
00:39:10,200 –> 00:39:13,680
Like,
they’ve got to be able to motivate, to

695
00:39:13,920 –> 00:39:17,240
understand who to bring to the table,
to have those relationships.

696
00:39:17,240 –> 00:39:17,560
Right.

697
00:39:17,560 –> 00:39:21,120
You got to find your strong gatekeepers,
because without them,

698
00:39:21,440 –> 00:39:24,480
you can oftentimes be seen as an outsider.

699
00:39:24,680 –> 00:39:30,400
I think that, you know,
having some credible research,

700
00:39:30,400 –> 00:39:32,560
I know that’s
a little bit harder to obtain,

701
00:39:32,560 –> 00:39:37,240
but you can always partner
with a higher end institution to do.

702
00:39:37,400 –> 00:39:40,400
You know, graduate students
love doing this kind of work,

703
00:39:40,400 –> 00:39:44,280
getting creative around
building some credibility to your work.

704
00:39:44,560 –> 00:39:49,720
And really kind of understanding
the landscape of

705
00:39:49,760 –> 00:39:53,440
who is out there
and people are interested and excited

706
00:39:53,440 –> 00:39:57,280
in, in understanding
how to improve their work.

707
00:39:57,280 –> 00:40:00,400
And so just, doing that landscape

708
00:40:00,400 –> 00:40:04,880
scan was a really big help for us
to understand, like, who’s in this work?

709
00:40:04,880 –> 00:40:06,080
Who should we be targeting?

710
00:40:06,080 –> 00:40:08,280
Thinking about
who’s not at the table. Right.

711
00:40:08,280 –> 00:40:10,640
Who is at the table
and how do we get them there?

712
00:40:12,200 –> 00:40:12,920
Thank you for that.

713
00:40:12,920 –> 00:40:16,560
There’s also a question
I know you mentioned strategic plan.

714
00:40:16,600 –> 00:40:20,600
Can you mention again who developed it
and is a plan

715
00:40:20,640 –> 00:40:23,640
name specifically designated
or committed partners?

716
00:40:24,520 –> 00:40:27,200
So we worked with

717
00:40:27,200 –> 00:40:30,400
the Pearland
Economic Development Corporation

718
00:40:30,400 –> 00:40:34,320
to develop
this county wide strategic plan.

719
00:40:34,880 –> 00:40:38,800
What it did was it mapped out
all of the organizations.

720
00:40:38,800 –> 00:40:42,040
So I think there’s over 200 organizations
across the county

721
00:40:42,040 –> 00:40:43,960
that are providing services.

722
00:40:43,960 –> 00:40:46,280
There is a five year plan.

723
00:40:46,280 –> 00:40:50,080
So there’s a year of kind of like
developing leadership

724
00:40:50,080 –> 00:40:53,120
and tangible outcomes

725
00:40:53,160 –> 00:40:56,120
that
that would be implemented in year two.

726
00:40:56,120 –> 00:41:01,760
And there are some specific so it’s
broken down into categories of need.

727
00:41:01,800 –> 00:41:06,440
So we’ve kind of said like here
are your like low barrier to reentry.

728
00:41:06,440 –> 00:41:09,920
They’re kind of at this place
where they’re just graduated high school.

729
00:41:09,920 –> 00:41:14,160
Or maybe they’ve just left
and we can get them back quickly.

730
00:41:14,600 –> 00:41:18,000
We have a group that are kind of like
they’ve been in the workforce,

731
00:41:18,000 –> 00:41:19,680
but maybe they’ve fallen out

732
00:41:19,680 –> 00:41:21,400
and we have a group
that’s like high needs.

733
00:41:21,400 –> 00:41:24,560
And so within those categories
we’ve identified, like

734
00:41:24,600 –> 00:41:26,520
who are the best partners.

735
00:41:26,520 –> 00:41:30,440
Both from a sector perspective
and then also kind of named out,

736
00:41:30,480 –> 00:41:33,000
like who will be targeted to engage.

737
00:41:33,000 –> 00:41:37,040
Like I said,
we’ve had a number of or organizations

738
00:41:37,040 –> 00:41:40,560
that have been involved in this planning
and strategic plan development.

739
00:41:40,560 –> 00:41:43,560
So we also did a community wide survey.

740
00:41:43,800 –> 00:41:48,120
We have a youth council that’s been
involved in the development of that plan.

741
00:41:48,320 –> 00:41:52,720
And so it really is
one of the interesting things,

742
00:41:52,720 –> 00:41:56,680
because it’s a county wide approach,
which is a very different way to approach

743
00:41:56,680 –> 00:41:57,840
this kind of work.

744
00:41:57,840 –> 00:42:01,080
They were able to develop
a new understanding

745
00:42:01,080 –> 00:42:04,840
of how to break up their county
into four sectors and talk about it

746
00:42:04,840 –> 00:42:06,320
and break up the work that way.

747
00:42:07,760 –> 00:42:10,840
And so it also
helped them just like to think about this

748
00:42:10,880 –> 00:42:15,040
like new county approach bringing,
you know, different kinds of leaders

749
00:42:15,040 –> 00:42:18,800
that maybe would be more city or,

750
00:42:18,800 –> 00:42:22,280
community
based to think about this regional plan

751
00:42:22,280 –> 00:42:25,480
and how they can cross those borders
to support each other.

752
00:42:26,680 –> 00:42:27,360
Great. Thank you for that.

753
00:42:27,360 –> 00:42:28,600
And I do want to point.

754
00:42:28,600 –> 00:42:33,320
Hannah did point on the chat
that they are working on OY landscape

755
00:42:33,320 –> 00:42:36,360
analysis of the state and regional level
as well with the Marshall Center.

756
00:42:36,560 –> 00:42:38,880
And there is a link to that research data.

757
00:42:38,880 –> 00:42:41,880
Information for those folks
who might be interested as well.

758
00:42:42,200 –> 00:42:45,480
We also received a question,
kind of going back to the conversation

759
00:42:45,480 –> 00:42:48,480
that we were having
with institutions of higher education.

760
00:42:49,080 –> 00:42:53,360
Let me pull it up
here, actually one second.

761
00:42:53,440 –> 00:42:56,400
So we named several barriers,
financial holes re

762
00:42:56,400 –> 00:42:59,440
enrollment process,
navigation, recent stop-out data.

763
00:42:59,440 –> 00:43:00,960
But if you had to pull that down,

764
00:43:00,960 –> 00:43:03,960
what are the 2
or 3 institutional conditions

765
00:43:03,960 –> 00:43:06,720
that need to be in place
for reentry to really work?

766
00:43:06,720 –> 00:43:10,960
Somebody actually focusing
and looking at the work, right.

767
00:43:11,000 –> 00:43:15,880
So again, like if you have a list
and you’re just sending an email

768
00:43:15,880 –> 00:43:19,000
and then that’s it and you’re hoping
that something is going to happen.

769
00:43:19,160 –> 00:43:20,680
Yeah, you’re going to get some.

770
00:43:20,680 –> 00:43:25,720
But what we find is that oftentimes
that personal connection

771
00:43:25,800 –> 00:43:29,320
on what we hear from young people is like,
oh, I’ve been wanting to come back.

772
00:43:29,320 –> 00:43:30,360
And now, you know,

773
00:43:30,360 –> 00:43:34,240
you showed me you care or this is like
a sign that it’s time for me to come back.

774
00:43:34,520 –> 00:43:37,520
And then really kind of

775
00:43:38,200 –> 00:43:41,160
the challenge with higher ed institutions

776
00:43:41,160 –> 00:43:45,280
is there’s all these great resources
that are available once you are a student.

777
00:43:45,520 –> 00:43:48,480
But you these young people need

778
00:43:48,480 –> 00:43:52,040
intervention and support
before they can actually get re-enrolled.

779
00:43:52,160 –> 00:43:56,560
And so partnering with organizations
that can provide some of that wrap around

780
00:43:56,560 –> 00:43:59,320
support is oftentimes key,

781
00:43:59,320 –> 00:44:03,440
because if food or housing is a barrier,
but they can’t

782
00:44:03,440 –> 00:44:06,640
access the campus food pantry
until they’re technically a student.

783
00:44:06,640 –> 00:44:09,920
Again,
we run into this evolving kind of cycle.

784
00:44:09,960 –> 00:44:14,200
So really thinking about
how are they going to either access those

785
00:44:14,200 –> 00:44:18,200
campus supports before they’re a student
or who can you partner with

786
00:44:18,200 –> 00:44:22,360
to get them access to those supports
so that they can successfully reenroll?

787
00:44:23,080 –> 00:44:27,760
And then following them once they are back
doing regular check ins,

788
00:44:27,760 –> 00:44:33,280
providing some kind of, you know,
just note that these are at higher risk.

789
00:44:33,320 –> 00:44:36,320
You know,
they’ve once they fall to a barrier,

790
00:44:36,440 –> 00:44:39,600
they are more likely to kind of
go back to that.

791
00:44:39,600 –> 00:44:43,080
Pull back. Get disconnected again.

792
00:44:43,080 –> 00:44:45,000
And so keeping that constant

793
00:44:45,000 –> 00:44:48,440
support in place
to make sure they cross the finish line.

794
00:44:49,000 –> 00:44:49,280
Thank you.

795
00:44:49,280 –> 00:44:51,480
That’s really helpful. Billy
I know you got off mute.

796
00:44:51,480 –> 00:44:52,880
Is there anything you want to add to that?

797
00:44:54,040 –> 00:44:55,160
No I think she covered.

798
00:44:55,160 –> 00:44:57,160
I think she covered everything
on that one.

799
00:44:57,160 –> 00:44:58,200
Great.

800
00:44:58,200 –> 00:44:59,840
So I do welcome folks in the audience.

801
00:44:59,840 –> 00:45:01,080
If you have any additional questions,

802
00:45:01,080 –> 00:45:02,960
please feel free to drop in the Q&A
or in the chat.

803
00:45:02,960 –> 00:45:05,240
We’ll be happy to to address
some of those questions.

804
00:45:05,240 –> 00:45:09,880
I know we we touched on some of this
already with the peer navigators.

805
00:45:10,200 –> 00:45:11,120
But can you maybe

806
00:45:11,120 –> 00:45:15,120
do like a little bit of a deeper dive on
kind of how you formulated that program?

807
00:45:15,160 –> 00:45:19,400
Any key successes or any kind of,
you know, any any key

808
00:45:19,440 –> 00:45:22,440
highlights that you want to address for
from the peer navigator side as well?

809
00:45:25,160 –> 00:45:26,240
Hey, Adriana,

810
00:45:26,240 –> 00:45:29,440
do you want to go over, like,
how that program was performing?

811
00:45:29,440 –> 00:45:32,040
I’ll talk about the success story from it.

812
00:45:32,040 –> 00:45:32,520
Sure.

813
00:45:32,520 –> 00:45:37,240
So we developed this program.

814
00:45:37,240 –> 00:45:42,160
This was something that our youth
and our partner network kind of put

815
00:45:42,160 –> 00:45:47,880
forth as an idea that would help increase
the supports that were provided.

816
00:45:48,040 –> 00:45:51,440
Oftentimes, the young people
who are the people who are supporting

817
00:45:51,440 –> 00:45:55,200
our young adults, the case managers,
they have large caseloads.

818
00:45:55,280 –> 00:45:58,080
It’s very hard
to give that tailored support.

819
00:45:58,080 –> 00:46:02,320
And so young people were seen
as being able

820
00:46:02,320 –> 00:46:05,280
to provide one insights of like,
who are young people?

821
00:46:05,280 –> 00:46:07,480
How do we reconnect them? Where do we go?

822
00:46:07,480 –> 00:46:08,320
Where do we find them?

823
00:46:08,320 –> 00:46:11,560
What kinds of strategies
do we use for bringing them back in?

824
00:46:11,680 –> 00:46:16,240
But two, as a friendly face
that can help with

825
00:46:16,360 –> 00:46:20,200
either
following up on that case management,

826
00:46:20,200 –> 00:46:23,920
providing a little bit of extra,
just like, hey, like, how are you doing?

827
00:46:23,920 –> 00:46:26,440
How are things going?
I’ve been there, I understand.

828
00:46:26,440 –> 00:46:30,160
A more friendly face to engage
with, one of the ways.

829
00:46:30,160 –> 00:46:33,680
And so what we did
is we utilized some funds.

830
00:46:33,680 –> 00:46:39,640
We hired them on as interns through here,
and then we placed them at partner

831
00:46:39,640 –> 00:46:42,720
organizations much,
much like a regular internship

832
00:46:42,840 –> 00:46:47,160
that are serving young,
young people in those roles.

833
00:46:47,160 –> 00:46:51,680
They often were doing navigation
resources, helping with intake.

834
00:46:51,840 –> 00:46:55,640
Understanding kind of those challenges,
but from a perspective of somebody

835
00:46:55,640 –> 00:46:57,720
who had actually lived that.

836
00:46:57,720 –> 00:47:00,720
And then we were also providing

837
00:47:00,760 –> 00:47:04,400
technical support to the partners
who were hosting these young people.

838
00:47:04,400 –> 00:47:09,480
So helping them understand how to be
strong mentors, helping them understand,

839
00:47:09,800 –> 00:47:13,360
you know, what are some of the ways
that they could be utilizing the skill

840
00:47:13,400 –> 00:47:16,360
set of this young person
and developing that skill set?

841
00:47:16,360 –> 00:47:17,600
And then we got feedback

842
00:47:17,600 –> 00:47:20,600
from both the young people
and from the partners to see, like,

843
00:47:20,600 –> 00:47:23,760
what were some of the successes
and challenges?

844
00:47:24,080 –> 00:47:27,680
The, the youth serving

845
00:47:27,680 –> 00:47:32,480
organizations really loved being able
to do that close mentorship with the

846
00:47:32,520 –> 00:47:35,600
young people, with a young person,
because oftentimes they’re serving

847
00:47:35,600 –> 00:47:40,120
so many that they don’t get to do
like really intense, like deep mentorship.

848
00:47:40,120 –> 00:47:45,160
And so they really found that valuable,
for themselves as a provider,

849
00:47:45,160 –> 00:47:49,360
but also in like developing their programs
to be able to do that better,

850
00:47:49,480 –> 00:47:55,040
and also in thinking about how they’re
going to employ create their staffing.

851
00:47:55,120 –> 00:47:55,360
Right.

852
00:47:55,360 –> 00:47:59,760
So thinking about how to incorporate
young people into their staffing. But

853
00:47:59,760 –> 00:48:03,760
one of the challenges was that they said
that the internship was too short.

854
00:48:04,440 –> 00:48:07,600
And so in our next iteration,
we’ve been exploring

855
00:48:07,600 –> 00:48:12,440
how we can, triple the amount of time
that this internship is.

856
00:48:12,480 –> 00:48:15,480
So we started with, like,
I think, a three month internship.

857
00:48:15,680 –> 00:48:18,720
Our next iteration will be a nine month
internship.

858
00:48:19,000 –> 00:48:23,320
So and then those young people are also
going to serve as our youth council.

859
00:48:23,320 –> 00:48:25,040
So we will have them as peer

860
00:48:25,040 –> 00:48:26,280
navigators in the field,

861
00:48:26,280 –> 00:48:29,200
working with partners,
understanding the challenges

862
00:48:29,200 –> 00:48:30,960
that young people
are going through day to day

863
00:48:30,960 –> 00:48:35,040
and bringing that back to inform the work
of the wider collaborative.

864
00:48:36,080 –> 00:48:36,960
Thank you for that.

865
00:48:36,960 –> 00:48:37,640
Billy.

866
00:48:37,640 –> 00:48:40,080
And then this assist from that right is.

867
00:48:40,080 –> 00:48:40,600
Yessi.

868
00:48:40,600 –> 00:48:43,400
Yessi came into our young adult program.

869
00:48:43,400 –> 00:48:44,520
She was pregnant.

870
00:48:44,520 –> 00:48:46,920
She had just dropped out of college.

871
00:48:46,920 –> 00:48:50,160
She was experiencing
some homeless instability.

872
00:48:50,160 –> 00:48:53,520
But she had a long term goal
of becoming a social worker,

873
00:48:53,560 –> 00:48:58,000
and it was, like, perfect timing,
because as soon as we developed the peer

874
00:48:58,040 –> 00:48:59,960
navigator program, here comes.

875
00:48:59,960 –> 00:49:02,320
Yessie. And I think she was like
one of our first ones

876
00:49:02,320 –> 00:49:04,240
that we placed into that program.

877
00:49:04,240 –> 00:49:07,680
And through there, what we did was
we placed her with a local provider.

878
00:49:07,680 –> 00:49:11,080
She was that voice for other young
adults, right?

879
00:49:11,080 –> 00:49:13,360
She did participant outreach.

880
00:49:13,360 –> 00:49:14,840
She did recruitment for them.

881
00:49:14,840 –> 00:49:19,320
She did such a good job that we ended up
hiring her here at ACAM.

882
00:49:19,360 –> 00:49:22,360
And the reason behind that was that
we’re struggling with follow up.

883
00:49:22,360 –> 00:49:26,600
So we had WI way grant,
where we had to do 12 months

884
00:49:26,600 –> 00:49:29,840
to follow up with our participants
that we enrolled into the program.

885
00:49:29,920 –> 00:49:33,560
So we hired her as a follow up
the first month that she came on.

886
00:49:33,600 –> 00:49:36,720
She completed 100%
of the 100% of the follow up.

887
00:49:36,760 –> 00:49:40,400
So I don’t know if it was that, you know,
they heard her voice

888
00:49:40,400 –> 00:49:43,640
and it was like, this right here
sound like a young person

889
00:49:43,760 –> 00:49:47,880
or that our case manager
just had to much going on at the time.

890
00:49:47,960 –> 00:49:51,240
But from that right there, from her
being that she had

891
00:49:51,240 –> 00:49:54,240
that experience as a peer navigator,
she was able to come in

892
00:49:54,240 –> 00:49:58,440
and and by the end of that program year,
we went from completing

893
00:49:58,440 –> 00:50:03,800
probably about 30 to 40% of our follow up
to where she was doing 100% of follow up.

894
00:50:03,880 –> 00:50:07,000
She was
she was gathering employment information.

895
00:50:07,080 –> 00:50:10,480
It was credential information that we was
trying to track down from participants.

896
00:50:10,520 –> 00:50:13,360
She was able to get all of that
information from them.

897
00:50:13,360 –> 00:50:15,920
So she was the she was our success story.

898
00:50:15,920 –> 00:50:17,640
And as a program that we thought that,

899
00:50:17,640 –> 00:50:20,840
you know,
this is something that we need to expand.

900
00:50:21,520 –> 00:50:22,200
That’s amazing.

901
00:50:22,200 –> 00:50:24,160
It’s always great to hear the success
stories.

902
00:50:24,160 –> 00:50:26,400
So we’re getting close to to our time.

903
00:50:26,400 –> 00:50:28,280
And we do have one question on the chat.

904
00:50:28,280 –> 00:50:31,640
And I will actually share our, our,

905
00:50:32,520 –> 00:50:35,320
our screen again to highlight your contact

906
00:50:35,320 –> 00:50:38,320
information down here and kind of address
this question at the same time.

907
00:50:38,840 –> 00:50:42,960
So I know you all have done amazing work
and have really expanded

908
00:50:42,960 –> 00:50:45,960
this work to other parts of the region,
including Brazoria County.

909
00:50:46,160 –> 00:50:48,440
One of the questions that we had
on the chat is, you know what?

910
00:50:48,440 –> 00:50:51,600
If they want to do some of this work
in Bexar County, for example.

911
00:50:51,960 –> 00:50:54,840
Are there any maybe like 2 or 3 things
that they should do from day

912
00:50:54,840 –> 00:50:56,800
one to kind of get this work going?

913
00:50:56,800 –> 00:51:00,880
And then also, I know you all have some,
some great additional resources

914
00:51:00,880 –> 00:51:03,600
for folks who might be interested
in doing a deeper dive on this.

915
00:51:03,600 –> 00:51:06,120
Do you want to talk through
that as well as we as we close out?

916
00:51:08,440 –> 00:51:09,400
I would say,

917
00:51:09,400 –> 00:51:13,200
this can be very big
and overwhelming work.

918
00:51:13,200 –> 00:51:16,120
So pick a lane and start small.

919
00:51:16,120 –> 00:51:21,480
So, you know,
if you want to focus on, you know,

920
00:51:21,520 –> 00:51:23,200
high school dropouts

921
00:51:23,200 –> 00:51:27,240
getting them reengaged or maybe students
at an alternative campus,

922
00:51:27,360 –> 00:51:30,840
if you have a feeder pattern
that really has low college

923
00:51:30,840 –> 00:51:34,640
enrollment rates and you want to focus on
a bridge program, start small,

924
00:51:34,880 –> 00:51:39,640
bring in a few partners that you can
really sell on this one dedicated program.

925
00:51:39,920 –> 00:51:41,680
Build some success stories.

926
00:51:41,680 –> 00:51:47,320
And then from there think about how
you can grow and expand into other areas.

927
00:51:47,440 –> 00:51:51,680
We have a great statewide
network in Texas doing a lot of work,

928
00:51:51,680 –> 00:51:57,880
and we are happy to connect people
to other partners in the areas

929
00:51:57,880 –> 00:52:02,960
that are doing similar work or,
you know, even other organizations across

930
00:52:02,960 –> 00:52:06,400
the nation that are doing similar work
and how they’ve approached this.

931
00:52:06,960 –> 00:52:10,880
That is one of the things
that we really love about being in

932
00:52:10,880 –> 00:52:14,680
part of this network is having
that great connection and understanding.

933
00:52:15,000 –> 00:52:18,440
Sometimes, you know,
we come across organizations that we just

934
00:52:18,440 –> 00:52:24,080
don’t have any like, experience with,
but we usually have a partner somewhere

935
00:52:24,080 –> 00:52:28,600
that we can connect them with that
can provide insights and support.

936
00:52:28,600 –> 00:52:31,880
So happy to to be that bridge
as much as we can

937
00:52:31,880 –> 00:52:35,120
for anyone looking to expand
the way that they do their work.

938
00:52:35,960 –> 00:52:38,000
Great. Thanks so much. Go ahead, Billy.

939
00:52:38,000 –> 00:52:41,640
And then I see that Katrina Martinez,
she asked a question about, I’m

940
00:52:41,680 –> 00:52:45,360
guessing she was talking about,
the programs that I was talking about,

941
00:52:45,400 –> 00:52:48,320
of course, was
are these predetermined industry programs

942
00:52:48,320 –> 00:52:51,320
that they can select from
or are these in response to interest

943
00:52:51,320 –> 00:52:52,920
generated by the participants?

944
00:52:52,920 –> 00:52:56,000
So how we came about, using

945
00:52:56,040 –> 00:53:00,200
CNA medical systems and dental assistants
is that we we found the gap.

946
00:53:00,240 –> 00:53:03,840
Our local workforce board
wasn’t paying for those programs anymore.

947
00:53:04,200 –> 00:53:08,120
And we knew that those were popular
occupations

948
00:53:08,120 –> 00:53:12,120
in easy entry into a career

949
00:53:12,160 –> 00:53:16,480
pathway that can, you know, lead to them
getting out of their situation.

950
00:53:16,520 –> 00:53:20,000
So we we pulled that report
and we saw that for CNAS,

951
00:53:20,000 –> 00:53:23,680
there was like 13,000 jobs available
during that year.

952
00:53:24,280 –> 00:53:28,160
Dental assistants,
it was more like 8,000 or 9,000 jobs.

953
00:53:28,160 –> 00:53:31,520
And then for medical assistants,
it was around about 6,000 jobs.

954
00:53:31,520 –> 00:53:33,640
So from there it was like, you know what?

955
00:53:33,640 –> 00:53:36,600
From what we know from the work
that we’ve been doing, that

956
00:53:36,600 –> 00:53:40,120
we have a lot of young people
that wants to go into the medical field.

957
00:53:40,120 –> 00:53:43,680
A lot of them are interested
in becoming a medical assistant. CNA.

958
00:53:43,720 –> 00:53:47,360
So let’s let’s build a program
around that.

959
00:53:47,400 –> 00:53:50,400
And we the response
we got was through the roof.

960
00:53:50,400 –> 00:53:56,440
We only had enough funding for 80 people,
but we was able to squeeze out 94.

961
00:53:56,440 –> 00:53:57,520
So it was able to,

962
00:53:57,520 –> 00:54:02,880
you know, was able to serve 97,
97 participants out of that money.

963
00:54:02,880 –> 00:54:05,920
But when we look at our referrals,
we had almost

964
00:54:05,920 –> 00:54:09,040
a thousand referrals
come in trying to get into that program.

965
00:54:10,400 –> 00:54:11,560
That’s amazing.

966
00:54:11,560 –> 00:54:14,320
Well, we’re getting close to the end.

967
00:54:14,320 –> 00:54:18,160
So I just wanted to take some time to to
thank you both for, for hoping on

968
00:54:18,160 –> 00:54:19,520
and providing this amazing information.

969
00:54:19,520 –> 00:54:22,600
I know it’s a lot to cover
for those folks who have registered.

970
00:54:22,600 –> 00:54:25,560
We will be sharing the PowerPoint
presentation in the recording,

971
00:54:25,560 –> 00:54:27,200
so you will feel free
to have this as well.

972
00:54:27,200 –> 00:54:30,200
And then we also, of course
have the QR code and Billy and Adriana’s

973
00:54:30,640 –> 00:54:33,640
email here as well,
and we’ll keep it up for the remainder.

974
00:54:33,640 –> 00:54:36,640
But thank you all again
so much for taking the time

975
00:54:36,640 –> 00:54:39,640
to meet with us and for for joining us
and for sharing this amazing work

976
00:54:39,640 –> 00:54:42,560
that you are doing.
We are really appreciative of it.

977
00:54:42,560 –> 00:54:44,640
And thank you, everyone
for for joining online

978
00:54:44,640 –> 00:54:47,600
and for sharing some amazing questions.
We really appreciate it.

979
00:54:47,600 –> 00:54:48,360
Thank you so much.