If Not Now, Then When?

As America's youth face an unprecedented unemployment crisis, only further exacerbated by the recession, what can lawmakers do to help this vulnerable population? Youth experts and advocates focused on the urgent need for Congress to intervene and aid disconnected youth at the "Working for Change" public policy forum on Capitol Hill last week.  The forum is a monthly meeting of the Community Service Society of New York and the Coalition for Human Needs.

Young people, ages 16 to 24, account for about one-third of the unemployed in the United States, said Kisha Bird, Project Director for the Campaign for Youth, and black and Latino teens have been especially hard-hit. The number of undereducated and unskilled young people has continued to rise as workforce investment has decreased. "We need purposeful legislative efforts," Bird said. "We need immediate short and long term investments."

"To date, about 75 members of Congress have signed on to some piece of youth-related legislation," National Youth Employment Coalition Executive Director Mala Thakur said. "However, multiple stand-alone bills are not likely to gain support... We think we should harness the best provisions to create a comprehensive bill for young people and focus on disconnected youth and young adults." Legislation should include needs-directed funding, employment opportunities, dropout recovery and re-engagement, employer incentives and investment in research, capacity building, professional development and training of the field.

Promising pieces of legislation have been introduced in Congress.  Two of them, the Reengaging Americans in Serious Education by Uniting Programs Act (RAISE UP) (S. 1608; H.R. 3982) and the Employing Youth for the American Dream Act (H.R. 4920) are currently pending.

"There's really no system in place now to reconnect youth," said Ilana Levinson, Legislative Assistant for Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).  Senator Stabenow introduced the RAISE UP Act last August, which would create a grant program, that communities could compete for, to support their efforts to reconnect youth. The bill would give grants to community organizations that provide education support, workforce and career preparation and support services to disconnected youth. "The comprehensive, warp-around services are especially important," Levinson said. "We're trying to address the reasons they dropped out in the first place... the worst thing that can happen is that they drop out again."

Similarly, the Employing Youth for the American Dream Act would provide tax incentives for businesses that create youth jobs. Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) introduced the bill, which would expand existing Workforce Investment Act programs that train and hire youth, said Christopher Brown, Legislative Director for Congressman Rush.

While both pieces of legislation aren't perfect or nearly enough to address the enormous needs facing our young people, we are encouraged by the support these bills have received. Our work is not finished until more support is garnered for comprehensive youth legislation.  To find out how you can show your support for these bills and other calls for increased youth funding, click here. Add your voice to the Campaign for Youth's mission here.