Youth Service Practitioners

The purpose of this area is to provide information for youth service Practitioners providing programs and services for youth (ages 14-25).

Working with all youth in the workforce development setting requires a specific set of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). These KSAs will make your job easier and ensure the youth you work with have the best experience possible. NCWD/Youth explains KSAs in its new hot topic on KSAs.

Read the new KSAs Jump Start.

Materials developed by NCWD/Youth are organized around what young people need to be successful in the workplace. Evidence-based research shows that all young people need to be exposed to activities in the following four areas:

• Preparatory Experiences are those core activities that help youth become prepared for a successful future in careers or postsecondary education institutions. They include the career interest and vocational assessments, information about careers, income potential, and work-readiness skills.
  
• Work-based Learning are supervised programs sponsored by an education or training organization that link knowledge gained at the worksite with a planned program of study. Experiences range in intensity, structure and scope and include activities as diverse as site visits, job shadowing, paid and unpaid internships, structured on-the-job training, and the more formal work status as apprentice or employee.
  
• Connecting Activities provide necessary support services for youth and enrich program content. They include academic tutoring, adult and peer mentoring, and helping youth explore self-sufficiency issues like assistive technology, transportation, benefits planning, and health maintenance.
  
• Youth Development & Leadership are processes that prepare young people to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated, progressive series of activities and experiences. These include providing structured relationships with adults and exposing every youth to personal leadership skills such as self-advocacy and self-determination.

The Basics: Disability Do's and Don'ts

We all need help navigating new territory. You or your staff may have not worked with individuals with disabilities before. These articles provide some simple guidelines to help you interact respectfully with ease and professionalism.

Know The Law:
Policy, Legislation, & Regulations relating to Employment & Youth with Disabilities

As someone who works first-hand with youth, you need to know the pertinent disability policy, legislation, and regulations for your work. Many of the youth you work with may have disabilities (documented or unknown) – it is your job to make sure that they are aware of and have access to all the opportunities and supports for which they are eligible and/or entitled. In addition, you want to be sure that all of your activities, programs, and facilities are in compliance with current regulations and guidelines. This may include being sure all your computer workstations are accessible – both physically and programmatically, as well as knowing how to connect a youth to accomodations and/or assistive technology. You will also need to know how to find out if a youth working in a paid internship will affect the other benefits they receive. Youth may age out of entitlement for certain services but still be eligible for others. All of these policies, legislation and regulations (accessibility, benefits entitlement, program eligibility, etc) affect your ability to serve all youth effectively

NCWD/Youth has created a brief description of the laws relevant to preparing youth with disabilities for the workforce.

NCWD/Youth | c/o Institute for Educational Leadership
4455 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 310 | Washington, DC 20008
Telephone: 1-877-871-0744 (Toll Free)
TTY: 877-871-0665 (Toll Free)