Category:  #2, Services to Job Seekers

Application Contact:  Mary-Alane Wiltse

Title:  Director, Workforce Investment Office

Organization/Address:
Columbia Greene Workforce New York
Columbia Greene Community College
4400 Route 23
Hudson, New York 12534

E-Mail Address: wiltse@sunycgcc.edu

Phone: (518) 828-4181

The YES project is a WIA Title I out-of-school youth project operated by the Workforce Investment Office at the Columbia-Greene Workforce New York Career Center. The initial project, that is the focus of this promising practice, was a coordinated effort between the Career Center and the Hudson Housing Authority.

The goal for the project was to create a staff supervised try-out employment program that would give “high-risk” youth a safe environment to develop some basic job-holding behaviors before they were placed in private sector jobs. This, we believed, would enable us to reach our overall desired outcome of meeting the WIA Title IB Youth Performance Measures.

The initial project consisted of having WIA Title I youth participants spend ten weeks refurbishing empty apartments in a building operated by the Housing Authority. The Housing Authority used a HUD Drug Diversion grant to fund a Supervisor’s salary, and all the necessary supplies, and the YES project paid for a Case Manager, the wages of the youth interns and the necessary tools the participants’ needed to perform their jobs.

The initial development and implementation of this project occurred over a six-month period, with the planning beginning in October 2001 and the first group of youth completing their internships in March 2002. Activities involved in setting up the project included: developing a training outline of the skills the participants would learn on the job; applying to the Youth Council and the WIB for the approval of a WIB credential for successful completers of the project; and hiring a supervisor to perform the work and train the youth participants.

Since the initial project was completed, four additional projects have been offered. Two of those projects were also with the Hudson Housing Authority, another was co-sponsored between the Career Center and the Catskill Housing Authority and another project was co-sponsored with Housing Resources of Columbia County. The last project finished in May 2003. An additional project will be offered during this program year.

Between the five projects, 31 youth have participated, many of them falling into a high-risk category:

• 19% were in receipt of TANF
• 32% were teen parents
• 42% were offenders
• 74% were high school drop-outs
• 87% had no pre-program wage.

This project has helped us meet our WIA Title I performance measures, with the results presented in the table below (Note: We are unable to determine locally the Six Months Earnings Change for Older Youth measure, however the average weekly wage for those who found a job was $246.25):

OLDER YOUTH	%	YOUNGER YOUTH	%
Entered Employment Rate	78%	Skill Attainment Rate	75%
Retention Rate	83%	Diploma/GED Rate	N/A
Credential Rate	94%	Retention Rate	75%

Other important results include:

• 67% of the TANF recipients met the six-month job retention mark. 5 TANF cases were closed, resulting in $19,500 in TANF savings during the first year.
• 75% of the food stamp recipients met the six-month job retention mark.
• 69% of the offenders found employment. 50% of the offenders have met the six-month job retention mark, and 77% have remained out of jail. (In general, the local Probation Department shows an 80% recidivism rate for the under 22 years of age population).

The total WIA Title I costs for all five projects was $109,749, or $3,450 per participant. This includes the Case Manager’s salary, participant wages and benefits, supportive services, advertising, staff travel and the Project Supervisor’s salary (when necessary). Contributions made by sponsoring agencies (supervisor salaries and project supplies) have amounted to $45,900, or 29% of the total project costs.

Process Steps