Familiar Sources
Young people in Baltimore often look to family and friends to learn about jobs.
In Baltimore, organizations were hitting hurdles in their efforts to connect young people to training and job opportunities. Enter the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which invested in a participatory research pilot to help engage authentic community voices and also capture the employment experiences of local youth.
This report shares what the Casey Foundation learned from Baltimore residents — both interviewees and consultants — and demonstrates that young adults and other community voices can be incorporated into the institutional decision-making process. It delivers a road map for implementing similar research models while helping leaders sharpen their strategies for engaging youth in educational, workforce development and employment opportunities.
Baltimore’s workforce development stakeholders — including leaders, funders and policymakers — must look beyond their own assumptions and respond to the genuine needs and desires of local youth. This process starts by seeking out the city’s young residents and listening to their voices and experiences.