Workforce Development and Juvenile Justice Publications

Posted September 2, 2022
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Young people of color sitting in a row, as camera captures sides of faces

This resource roundup high­lights mate­ri­als devel­oped with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s fund­ing. Each resource shares new knowl­edge and find­ings for those seek­ing to improve employ­ment-relat­ed well-being for youth with expe­ri­ences in the jus­tice system.

All young peo­ple who have had con­tact with the juve­nile or crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tems need paid work expe­ri­ences, sup­port and guid­ance as they begin to pre­pare for employ­ment and careers,” says David E. Brown, senior asso­ciate with the Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group. Three new resources pro­vide data, guid­ance and lessons for ser­vice providers, employ­ers, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and advo­cates who want youth with jus­tice involve­ment to suc­ceed in the workforce.”

Com­mu­ni­ty-Based Work­force Engage­ment Sup­ports for Youth and Young Adults Involved in the Legal System

By the Urban Insti­tute

This report sum­ma­rizes find­ings from an explorato­ry study of com­mu­ni­ty-based work­force devel­op­ment pro­grams, inside and out­side of the work­place, to deter­mine what sup­port is avail­able to young peo­ple with jus­tice sys­tem expe­ri­ences, who face sig­nif­i­cant bar­ri­ers to employment.

The report sug­gests young peo­ple can bet­ter avoid employ­ment obsta­cles through com­mu­ni­ty-based sup­port ser­vices. These enable them to gain paid work expe­ri­ence, con­nect to men­tors, meet basic needs and heal from trau­ma while set­ting and achiev­ing pro­fes­sion­al goals.

Reduc­ing Struc­tur­al Bar­ri­ers to School and Work for Peo­ple With Juve­nile Records

By the Coun­cil of State Gov­ern­ments Jus­tice Center

This report explores how bar­ri­ers to edu­ca­tion and employ­ment affect young peo­ple who have had juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem expe­ri­ences in Cal­i­for­nia, Flori­da, Illi­nois, Iowa, New York, Ohio, Ore­gon, Penn­syl­va­nia, South Car­oli­na, Texas, Ver­mont and Washington.

The research exam­ines how involve­ment in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem cre­ates last­ing con­se­quences for edu­ca­tion and employ­ment for youth and young adults. It pro­vides rec­om­men­da­tions for pol­i­cy­mak­ers and oth­er state lead­ers to encour­age these youths to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion or secure and retain employment.

An accom­pa­ny­ing tool kit iden­ti­fies five key areas where improve­ments to states’ poli­cies can expand edu­ca­tion and employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple with juve­nile records.

Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion can be found in a record­ing of a com­pan­ion webi­nar held on May 222021.

Job Train­ing for Youth With Jus­tice Involvement

By the Nation­al Youth Employ­ment Coalition

This tool kit fos­ters mean­ing­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion between pro­fes­sion­als in the work­force devel­op­ment sys­tem and the juve­nile jus­tice system.

It offers read­ers the following:

  • Evi­dence-based prac­tices in youth work­force development.
  • An overview of the work­force sys­tem fund­ed under the fed­er­al Work­force Inno­va­tion and Oppor­tu­ni­ty Act (WIOA), leg­is­la­tion designed to help both job seek­ers and employ­ers suc­ceed in the labor mar­ket and com­pete in the glob­al economy.
  • Advice on improv­ing WIOA-fund­ed ser­vices and access for youth with jus­tice sys­tem involve­ment at the local level.
  • Guid­ance on form­ing effec­tive inter­a­gency partnerships.

The tool kit allows prac­ti­tion­ers in both sec­tors to gain the infor­ma­tion and guid­ance they need for effec­tive, effi­cient part­ner­ships with and for young peo­ple as they pur­sue careers and a brighter future.

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