[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH AND YOUNG
ADULTS TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 17, 2017
__________
Serial No. 115-HR03
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
33-391 WASHINGTON : 2019
COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
KEVIN BRADY, Texas, Chairman
SAM JOHNSON, Texas RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts
DEVIN NUNES, California SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan
PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio JOHN LEWIS, Georgia
DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas
PETER J. ROSKAM, Illinois MIKE THOMPSON, California
VERN BUCHANAN, Florida JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut
ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
LYNN JENKINS, Kansas RON KIND, Wisconsin
ERIK PAULSEN, Minnesota BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey
KENNY MARCHANT, Texas JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
DIANE BLACK, Tennessee DANNY DAVIS, Illinois
TOM REED, New York LINDA SANCHEZ, California
MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JIM RENACCI, Ohio TERRI SEWELL, Alabama
PAT MEEHAN, Pennsylvania SUZAN DELBENE, Washington
KRISTI NOEM, South Dakota JUDY CHU, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina
JASON SMITH, Missouri
TOM RICE, South Carolina
DAVID SCHWEIKERT, Arizona
JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana
CARLOS CURBELO, Florida
MIKE BISHOP, Michigan
David Stewart, Staff Director
Brandon Casey, Minority Chief Counsel
______
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska, Chairman
JASON SMITH, Missouri DANNY DAVIS, Illinois
JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas
CARLOS CURBELO, Florida TERRI SEWELL, Alabama
MIKE BISHOP, Michigan JUDY CHU, California
DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington
TOM REED, New York
C O N T E N T S
__________
Page
Advisory of May 17, 2017, announcing the hearing................. 2
WITNESSES
Gerald Chertavian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Year Up.. 6
Jameela Roland, Graduate, Year Up................................ 18
Martrice Manuel, Senior Program Director, Youth Scholars, Skills,
and Services................................................... 24
Cheryl A. Oldham, Vice President of Education Policy, U.S.
Chamber of Commerce............................................ 34
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Fostering Success Michigan (FSM) Policy Action Network........... 60
Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Coalition..................... 63
Michael G. Bindner............................................... 72
Jennifer M. Geiger, Ph.D., MSW................................... 76
John Paul Horn, LMSW............................................. 78
Nebraska Children and Families Foundation Connected Youth
Initiative (CYI)............................................... 82
School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago... 92
Starbucks........................................................ 94
Sylvia Sensiper, MA, Ph.D........................................ 97
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH AND YOUNG
ADULTS TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
----------
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Ways and Means,
Subcommittee on Human Resources,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m., in
Room 2020, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Adrian Smith
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
[The advisory announcing the hearing follows:]
ADVISORY
FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
CONTACT: (202) 225-1721
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
HR-03
Chairman Smith Announces Human Resources
Subcommittee Hearing on Opportunities for
Youth and Young Adults to Break the
Cycle of Poverty
House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Adrian
Smith (R-NE), announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing
entitled ``Opportunities for Youth and Young Adults to Break the Cycle
of Poverty'' on Wednesday, May 17, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2020 of the
Rayburn House Office Building. This hearing will highlight innovative
approaches to helping vulnerable youth transition into adulthood and
move up the economic ladder.
In view of the limited time to hear witnesses, oral testimony at
this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any
individual or organization may submit a written statement for
consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record
of the hearing.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit
written comments for the hearing record must follow the appropriate
link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the
informational forms. From the Committee homepage, http://
waysandmeans.house.gov, select ``Hearings.'' Select the hearing for
which you would like to make a submission, and click on the link
entitled, ``Click here to provide a submission for the record.'' Once
you have followed the online instructions, submit all requested
information. ATTACH your submission as a Word document, in compliance
with the formatting requirements listed below, by the close of business
on Wednesday, May 31, 2017. For questions, or if you encounter
technical problems, please call (202) 225-3625.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the
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All submissions and supplementary materials must be submitted in a
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a total of 10 pages. Witnesses and submitters are advised that the
Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official
hearing record.
All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons and/or
organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. The name, company,
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the body of the email. Please exclude any personal identifiable
information in the attached submission.
Failure to follow the formatting requirements may result in the
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The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons
with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please
call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TDD/TTY in advance of the event (four
business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special
accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee
materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as
noted above.
Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available at
http://www.waysandmeans.house.gov/
Chairman SMITH. The Subcommittee will come to order.
Good morning, and welcome to today's hearing on
opportunities for youth and young adults in seeking to break
the cycle of poverty.
There is an alarming trend happening in this country--one
in seven 16- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. are not in school and
are not working. This totals more than 5.5 million youth
Nationwide. Most concerning, these young people are not
entering the workforce at a time when the national unemployment
rate is now 4.4 percent, and the economy is making some
progress.
By failing to get started in the workforce when we know
jobs are available, these young people are putting themselves
at a disadvantage from the get-go. Workers who do not graduate
from high school face higher rates of unemployment, regardless
of economic conditions, dwindling job prospects, and lower
lifetime earnings.
We also know unemployment disproportionately affects
minorities who account for some of our country's fastest-
growing population. Without gainful employment and the ability
to build a career, the consequences are dire for these young
people and their families. Many will have significant
difficulties gaining the skills and knowledge to attain self-
sufficiency, putting them and their children at risk of falling
into a life of poverty and the need for long-term government
support.
The risks of not addressing this trend are also critical
for American businesses, which have millions of job openings
but are unable to find skilled and talented employees to hire.
Our economy cannot grow if it cannot rely on American workers
to produce.
While this Subcommittee works day in and day out to help
people move from welfare to work, we often focus on the adults
already within the system receiving benefits from programs like
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or Unemployment
Insurance. But what if we focused on what works in helping
young people before they ever have to set foot into an
unemployment or welfare office?
While there are dozens of major Federal programs dedicated
to helping these youth, from job training and education to
social services and juvenile justice, we have not seen major
improvements in desired outcomes such as program completion,
improved wages, or increased self-sufficiency.
Sometimes it is because the government-directed solution
does not address the strengths of the participants. For youth
who struggled in high school, dropping them on the doorstep of
a 4-year university may not be the best solution.
The Government Accountability Office has written multiple
reports on these programs, identifying duplication, poor
employment outcomes and educational attainment, and lack of
coordination for youth seeking these services. Today the GAO is
releasing yet another report detailing very low participation
in the numerous work incentive programs offered to young adults
transitioning off the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI,
program.
Less than 1\1/2\ percent of SSI youth participate in the
largest of SSA's work incentive programs, the student earned
income exclusion, which permits children receiving SSI to
attempt work without being concerned about their eligibility
status or benefit amount.
In addition, few, if any, youth on SSI receive vocational
training and education services offered by the Department of
Education, despite recent changes to the law requiring them to
focus on this population.
This is why we are here today--to discuss innovative
programs and partnerships which are addressing this trend and
providing young people transitioning into adulthood with the
necessary skills and support to find work and climb the
economic ladder.
One such example is The HUB located in Lincoln, Nebraska,
which provides a central access point for young adults. The HUB
assists 16- to 24-year-olds, often without a high school
diploma, transitioning into adulthood who are disconnected from
their family and their community. It provides a 16-week hands-
on program known as Project HIRE, which addresses potential
barriers to employment and gives youth the problem-solving
skills needed to address situations as they arise. The HUB then
helps these young people attain employment and provides support
along the way to ensure success.
We know the best way to reduce poverty is through work and
work-related experiences, such as on-the-job training and
employer-sponsored internships and apprenticeships. These
experiences not only provide occupation skills training for
available jobs, but they also help in growing an individual's
network, improve soft skills, and build resumes.
Instead of counting 5.5 million young people out, our focus
needs to be on innovative approaches, which help these
opportunity youth find private sector employment and career
development.
Today I am excited to learn from our witnesses about how
their evidence-based practices, which focus on results,
highlight how the private sector can help in leading these
efforts and provide a roadmap to improving young people's
outlook on the future.
I now yield to the distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Davis,
for the purposes of an opening statement.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I, too,
want to thank all of our witnesses for coming to share with us
this morning.
Across America, nearly 5 million young people are
disconnected, not working, and not in school. In my
congressional district in Chicago, almost 17,000 young people,
17 percent of youth between ages 16 and 24, are not working or
going to school. The rate is even higher for young African
American men.
In 2014, nearly half of African American men between the
ages of 20 and 24 in Chicago were disconnected from both school
and work. Just as in a rural district like Chairman Smith's,
some of these young people are dealing with serious issues like
disabilities, substance abuse, mental and physical health
challenges, and caregiving responsibilities.
But many others are struggling with less visible
challenges--communities with fewer role models and fewer jobs,
a lack of skills and a lack of confidence that they can acquire
skills to get good jobs. Those youth that drift in the wind, if
we don't catch them and anchor them to our communities and our
economy, many of them will go from struggling youth into
struggling adults, with higher unemployment rates, lower wages,
and more physical and mental health problems.
The problem is complicated, but some successful
organizations, including some represented at our witness table
today, are finding that the solution is difficult but simple.
Reach out a hand to these youth, believe in them, and help them
to believe in themselves. And, most importantly, stay with them
and help them tackle all the challenges they are facing.
The question for us today is, how can our Subcommittee
support this good work? How can we empower our communities to
do more of it?
At least 17 States use a portion of their social services
block grant funds for programs to serve at-risk youth. In my
State of Illinois, the SSBG funds a significant investment in
support for pregnant and parenting teens, as well as an at-risk
youth program intended to keep young people out of the juvenile
justice system.
The social services block grant can be part of the
solution. Our Committee has worked hard on a bipartisan basis
to help children avoid foster care when possible, and to do
better by those who do need to be in care. Older foster youth
become disconnected at high rates, especially a year or two
after their foster care ends.
Our child welfare programs can be part of the solution,
helping these young people build social capital they need to
become successful adults. More than \1/4\ of parents served by
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF,
are under age 25, and most of them are not engaged in school or
work. Youth over age 20, who are considered adults by TANF, are
especially struggling. Improvements to TANF can be a part of
the solution.
And, of course, at our most recent hearing, we heard about
the impressive work evidence-based home visiting programs are
doing to support teen parents. MIECHV is part of the solution.
We have an opportunity to make a real difference for
today's youth and tomorrow's adults. I look forward, Mr.
Chairman, to working with you and our colleagues to find and
explore opportunities to take action and support solutions that
work.
Again, I thank you very much for holding this hearing, and
yield back the balance of my time.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you. Without objection, other
Members' opening statements will be made a part of the record.
I certainly want to thank our witnesses, welcome our
witnesses, and all those participating and observing here
today. I'm grateful for your input and your offering of
solutions.
As we know, in Washington, too often it is real easy to
cite what the problem is, and yet finding the right solutions
and moving forward on those I think are certainly what we want
to focus on, and I certainly appreciate your bringing your
expertise here into the room today.
I would like to welcome, again, our witnesses. We have Mr.
Gerald Chertavian. Am I saying that right?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. You are.
Chairman SMITH. You know, my last name being Smith, I am a
little challenged by maybe sometimes even Jones.
But we also have Ms.--Mr. Chertavian is founder and CEO of
a program called Year Up, and we also have, as evidence perhaps
of a successful program, a graduate of Year Up, Ms. Jameela
Roland. Welcome. Thank you for being here.
We also have Mr. Martrice Manuel, senior program director
with Youth Scholars, Skills, and Services. And also Ms. Cheryl
Oldham, vice president of education policy at the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce.
Witnesses are reminded to limit their oral statements to 5
minutes. You will see the light there on the table there. Once
it turns yellow, you want to bring that plane in for a landing,
a safe landing of course, but we certainly appreciate your
being here.
We will begin with Mr. Chertavian. You may begin.
STATEMENT OF GERALD CHERTAVIAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, YEAR UP
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Thank you, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member
Davis, and all Members of this Committee, for your kind
invitation to testify today. My name is Gerald Chertavian. I am
the founder and CEO of Year Up, which is now the Nation's
largest and fastest-growing youth-serving program started in
this century.
I would like to begin today by describing the talent crisis
that is currently facing our country. Across America, as we
have just heard, more than 5 million young adults called
``opportunity youth'' are out of school and out of work, unable
to find a path to self-sufficiency or a family-sustaining wage.
This represents 1 out of 7 of all young adults and 1 out of
5 young adults of color, and it costs our Nation $97 billion in
lost revenues and increased social services. And, at the same
time, we are projecting 12 million American jobs will go
unfilled over the next decade, simply because employers can't
find the skilled talent they need for the 21st century economy.
This paradox is the result of a market failure. Our
education and training systems are increasingly out of touch
with employers' needs and out of reach for young people.
Correcting this failure is both a moral imperative and an
economic necessity.
To give you a sense of what this opportunity looks like,
this opportunity divide looks like, I would like to share with
you a story of one of our graduates named Greg Walton. Ten
years ago, Greg was sitting in the South Bay Correctional
Facility in Boston. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time
and was sentenced to a year in prison.
Having grown up in foster care, without a stable home, you
can imagine how limited Greg's opportunities were upon release
from prison. But his story didn't end there. Today Greg is a
technology executive at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He has worked there for the past 9 years and
recently received the 2017 MIT excellence award, one of the
highest honors awarded to staff at MIT.
Greg is also a homeowner, a taxpayer, a loving husband, an
extremely doting father of 2 beautiful children. I saw him
recently and he told me--and this really stuck with me--he
said, ``Gerald, I don't think you will ever understand how it
feels to carry our children over the threshold of the home that
we bought with our hard-earned money, and to tuck those
children into a bed that they will never be without.''
Now, Greg's story shouldn't be viewed as exceptional. It
actually should be viewed as what is possible when we provide
deserving young adults with a hand up, not a handout.
Seventeen years ago, I sold my technology business to a
public company and founded Year Up. The mission was simple: in
1 year to move low-income young adults from poverty to a
professional career. We serve that mission through the market.
First, we work with leading employers like State Street,
Microsoft, Bank of America. We understand what their needs are
for entry-level skills.
Second, we provide students with an intensive 6 months of
training in both professional skills and technical skills,
followed by a 6-month internship with those companies, at the
end of which they are now prepared to work full-time. The
results: 91 percent of our graduates are employed--are working
or in school full-time within 4 months, making an average of
$38,000 a year.
Now, this is a demand-driven approach, and our partners now
use our program as a source of reliable, relevant, and valuable
talent across this country. State Street Corporation has hired
500 of our young adults already and committed to hire another
500; 1,000 low-income folks from the most isolated pockets of
poverty in Boston in working and livable wage jobs. One
company.
Our program model has been proven through gold standard
evaluation. In fact, the CEO of the firm that conducted our
first randomized control trial said these were the most
exciting evaluation results he has seen in youth employment in
20 or 30 years, and the first to show a really substantial
earning gain. We are committed at Year Up to rigorous
evaluation because if we are not putting our young adults on a
path to a W-2 that grows over time, we are not serving them
well.
Our program is successful because of several factors. We
focus on outcomes, not efforts. So through our market
mechanisms, we ensure employers' needs are met and young
people's needs are met.
Second, we use rigorous evaluation and are committed to
constantly learning and pushing forward that learning.
And, third, we believe that talent is distributed evenly in
America while opportunity, unfortunately, is not. And we value
those young adults as economic assets and not social
liabilities.
Ranking Member Davis, thank you for your continued support,
for funding programs that train workers to meet local employer
demand. We appreciate the Committee's work to update and align
public assistance provisions in programs such as TANF, social
service block grant, and foster care.
I would like to commend the Committee's success last year
in reporting out, passing in the House, the bipartisan SIPPRA
Act. On behalf of Year Up, thanks for this opportunity. We
greatly appreciate it.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Chertavian follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chertavian.
Ms. Roland, you may begin.
STATEMENT OF JAMEELA ROLAND, GRADUATE, YEAR UP
Ms. ROLAND. Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Davis----
Chairman SMITH. Did that----
Ms. ROLAND. It is green.
Chairman SMITH [continuing]. Turn on? Okay.
Ms. ROLAND. There you go. And Members of the Subcommittee
on Human Resources, thank you for the opportunity to testify
before your hearing on opportunities for youth and young adults
to break the cycle of poverty.
My name is Jameela Roland. In August of 2015, at age 24, I
was homeless. For 2 months, my mother, my dog, and I bounced
between relatives and motels. I was working full-time to
support the three of us, and I had only one goal--survive--
because I knew that this trial will come to an end if held it
together and stayed strong in my faith for a better future.
Surviving, however, is vastly different from thriving.
While both require a pulse, the difference is in the quality of
life you experience. And while I have always known that
survival is essential, after getting a taste of how bitter it
can be, I wanted more than that. What I wanted was to thrive.
I wanted survival to be a distant memory, no longer my goal
for everyday life. I wanted the richness of life that comes
when you have the security of employment in a career that
encourages growth. I wanted my voice and my experiences to be a
positive contribution to the world. This experience with
homelessness was my wakeup call.
I began looking for opportunities. I had heard of Year Up
several years before, not long after I graduated high school
and was filled with optimism and lofty aspirations. Back then,
I immediately wrote it off, convinced that the only way I could
succeed in life was by starting out with a college degree.
Life was determined to teach me a lesson, and after 7 years
out of high school and multiple failed attempts at higher
education, I came to the realization that maybe the traditional
college route wasn't for me. Through all of this, I worked, I
lived, I failed, I grew. The one constant in my life was a
hunger for something more.
After the trials and tribulations of experiencing
homelessness, I wanted to give up on school. I wasn't willing
to risk the stability that I had just fought so hard to
achieve. So my younger sister called me one evening almost
exactly a year ago now to tell me about Year Up. I knew I had a
lot to lose but even more to gain.
As I started Year Up, I realized this program was like
nothing I had ever seen before. From the beginning, the staff
represented Year Up as more than a schooling opportunity. Year
Up maintains a high expectations, high support environment.
They took the time to get to know me and my goals and dreams,
to laud my strength and bring focus to my growth areas. They
gave guidance and advice and kept me focused when I was too
tired to see straight.
They taught me what it takes to navigate a corporate
environment, and not just as an entry-level contributor, but as
a young black woman moving into a realm dominated by older
white men. All of this meant that I had to be there every day,
on time and fully engaged.
If I didn't hold up to my end of the agreement, I was held
to the contract that all Year Up students sign. If I was 1
minute late or missed an assignment, I would lose points and,
more importantly, money from my stipend. I learned that nothing
was given. Everything was earned through hard work and visible
dedication.
Year Up student services did their part to eliminate or
minimize external obstacles, so that I could stay focused on
the rigorous academic and professional development program.
Attending classes Monday through Friday, I completed daily
assignments, regularly collaborated with my classmates, and
participated in weekly feedback sessions, teachable moments,
that helped me grow as an individual and as a professional.
I had one chance to take this opportunity and do what I
hadn't: Thrive. Because Year Up had my back like no one else
had before. And then they placed me at my internship at
Microsoft. To many, that may not seem so big, but for me it
meant so much. Before doing Year Up, I was earning minimum
wage, and the huge opportunity that Microsoft represented was
beyond exciting. They placed me with a team dedicated to
helping me achieve my goals, to learning more every day, and to
helping me get a sense of my own power.
My mentors, Jim and Daniel, were the perfect Dr. Who's to
my Martha Jones. And Al, my manager, noticed my potential and
kept me inspired from across the pond. After my internship, I
was immediately hired on as a vendor and was just recently
hired on as a full-time employee as a business operations
associate with Microsoft's IT showcase team, making more money
than I really only dreamed of.
And I haven't forgotten about getting a degree either. I
will be taking classes at my own pace with a clear goal ahead
of me.
By telling my story today, I hope to inspire this Committee
to understand that, given the right opportunities, more young
adults can achieve more with their lives. And I hope to have
inspired you to help close this opportunity divide in our
country.
Year Up provided me a hand up. In 1 year, I went from
minimum wage and homeless to living comfortably above the
poverty line. And now here I am in front of you no longer
fighting to survive. I am a young, responsible, working woman
with a fantastic new career trajectory in front of me that will
allow me to achieve my fullest potential.
One year ago, I joined Year Up and made the choice to learn
to thrive. It was the best decision I have ever made. Thank
you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Roland follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman SMITH. Thank you very much. That is tremendous,
and I am anxious to learn----
[Applause.]
Chairman SMITH [continuing]. Anxious to learn more as well.
So thank you very much.
Mr. Manuel, you are recognized.
STATEMENT OF MARTRICE MANUEL, SENIOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR, YOUTH
SCHOLARS, SKILLS, AND SERVICES
Mr. MANUEL. Good morning, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member
Davis, and all Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Martrice
Manuel. I am the associate director of Alternative School
Network. We operate within 22 alternative schools, community-
based schools I should say, throughout the city of Chicago. So
we service about 2,500 youth on a yearly basis that have
dropped out of school.
So the things that we operate are in three areas. That is,
education advocacy, policy, and employment. The reason that we
do this, as Mr. Davis stated earlier, there are about 5 million
youth, young adults, between the age of 16 and 24 across this
country that are either out of work or have dropped out of
school. So that is our mission--to help to reengage these
youth.
Some things to consider. A lot of these youth have--you
know, there are different titles for them. They are either
considered at risk, disconnected, or opportunity youth. Some of
the characteristics of these youths are youth in poverty, low
academic standing, single-parent homes, either missed or
undiagnosed mental illness. And some of those mental illnesses
are depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and ADHD.
Many of these youth come from disconnected neighborhoods,
violence, poverty, low self-efficacy, poor academic
population--I am sorry, poor academic preparation. And,
disproportionately, these are youth of color.
To get a better idea of the story that I am speaking of
now, I will talk to you a bit about one of our teen moms. Her
name is Tia. Tia was in high school. She was 15 years old and
she became pregnant. Through some altercations within high
school, and her pregnancy, she ended up dropping out of school.
Tia wanted to go back to school, but Tia became--she needed to
take care of her child.
Tia was in the foster care system. She lived with her
great-grandmother. She had--her parents had lost parental
rights. Through that time, Tia became 17 years old. She was out
of school for about 2 years. Tia knew that she wanted to do
better, she wanted more for herself and her child, so Tia began
to do some research, and she located one of our schools which
is located on the west side of Chicago.
Through that program, her case worker set up a meeting with
her mentor. Tia came in that first semester. We are not here to
say that we work miracles within a few weeks. She struggled
that first semester. But through the consistent efforts and
advocacy from her mentor, Tia began to turn it around. That
mentor has provided guidance. That mentor has worked with--
collaborated with her great-grandmother, her case worker,
bringing all parties together, so that Tia can be successful.
From that, Tia currently is involved in an internship
program because we like to combine both education and career
readiness. So within the internship that Tia is able to
participate in, she is able to gain experience in a career
field that she chooses. We believe that if a youth is given
opportunities, they are exposed to different things, then they
are more likely to be successful and want to be productive
citizens.
Educating teens is difficult for even the best prepared
schools, but not educating them is detrimental to the mom and
the parent--I am sorry, and the child that she is bringing.
So with that, we have a program, in collaboration with the
Department of Children and Family Services, which we call YS3.
That is the Youth Scholars, Skills, and Services program.
Within that YS3 program, we assist them with mentoring, as I
spoke of, career readiness.
We also assist them with tutoring. We allow them the
opportunity for credit recovery because many of these youth are
below their credits needed for graduation. Out of our 22
schools, 21 help the youth to obtain a high school diploma. We
have one that focuses on GED.
Our youth have shown great success in these programs.
Within the YS3 program, we service about 200 youth in care a
year. About 35 percent of those youth in care are teen parents.
I would like to commend this Committee on the work that
they are doing because the investment that is being provided to
help to assist these youth has made a great impact on the city,
and the youth. And so we don't believe in just reaching
benchmarks; we want to save children's lives and change
communities.
So, with that said, we want to thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Manuel follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Manuel.
Ms. Oldham.
STATEMENT OF CHERYL A. OLDHAM, VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION
POLICY, U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Ms. OLDHAM. Good morning, Chairman Smith and Ranking Member
Davis, and Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Cheryl
Oldham. I am vice president of education policy at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber is the largest federation representing the
interests of business in the country, 3 million businesses of
all sizes, sectors, across the United States. And I really
appreciate the invitation to be here with you today.
You have heard already the numbers. You have talked a
little bit about them yourselves. So I would like to focus my
time this morning on the opportunity that we see to
significantly improve the lives of millions of at-risk youth by
developing and implementing innovative strategies that can
provide the skills, support, and education necessary to break
the cycle of poverty.
In 2015, the U.S. Chamber Foundation released a report
called Making Youth Employment Work: Essential Elements for a
Successful Strategy. One organization highlighted in that
report is Year Up, and I am so honored to be here today sitting
with Gerald and Jameela. They are a remarkable example of how
companies are successfully working to empower low-income young
adults to move out of poverty through training, internships,
and a professional career.
Another example of employers working to provide
opportunities for at-risk youth and adults and, in turn,
benefitting from their skills, is the Hillside Work Scholarship
Connection. Launched in the 1980s by Wegmans Food Markets to
help at-risk youth finish high school, Hillside provides
tutoring, mentoring, college preparation, and job readiness
training to prepare young adults for jobs at Wegmans and 20
other employer partners.
Another is Quality Float Works. A small manufacturing
company established a work-study program where students attend
academic classes in the morning and work on the shop floor in
the afternoon. They test their skills on approved equipment,
assist with prep work, and explore different roles in the firm.
Students receive school credit for participating in the
program and benefit from coaching on soft skills and have the
opportunity for high-paying careers in manufacturing. And, in
turn, Quality Float Works has an opportunity to identify
promising young talent that might have otherwise gone
unnoticed.
Building on the 2015 report, the Chamber Foundation
launched a youth employment initiative that is supporting
employers and business associations, championing scalable and
sustainable solutions. In particular, this effort focuses on
building the capacity for greater employer leadership and
identifying promising practices for how the business community
can more deliberately engage young people in an overall part of
their talent strategy.
We believe that in order to address the youth employment
challenge of our time, we must activate the large network of
business associations and other intermediaries that are well-
positioned to partner with employers. Our federation of State
and local chambers is over 2,500 strong. Many of them regularly
engage with their members on issues related to finding and
retaining talent, as well as ensuring that education and
workforce programs are aligned to business needs.
The Denver Opportunity Youth Investment initiative,
supported by the Denver Chamber of Commerce, is dedicated to
improving educational and employment outcomes for youth. This
initiative is focused on building connection points and
pathways for young people, along with developing tools and
resources for the business community and the many community-
based partners that work with opportunity youth.
Another important network is community-based organizations
that can better reach disconnected youth. One example is
i.c.stars. As a technology training program for low-income
young adults in Chicago, they leverage project-based learning
to equip participants with not only the technical proficiencies
but also the behaviors, values, and attitudes to be leaders in
the workforce and their communities.
With about 1,000 hours of hands-on experience, the 16-week
core curriculum creates small teams of young adults to solve
real-world business problems, allowing them to develop the
critical foundational, professional skills employers need in
the innovation economy. It is a good example of how alternative
networks and ways of learning can make a big difference for
opportunity youth.
For our part, the U.S. Chamber remains committed to
strengthening our Nation's education system. This is truly the
single most important step to addressing poverty. In addition,
we believe that more employers must become involved in
initiatives to help at-risk youth and must understand how these
initiatives can benefit both students and businesses alike.
Through our vast network of businesses, as well as State
and local chambers of commerce, we will continue to educate the
business community on the opportunities effective youth
employment strategies present.
We encourage policymakers to consider how, through
activating employer leadership and business associations as
part of the solution, we can go a long way toward scaling up
youth employment.
Again, thank you for this opportunity to testify before you
today. I welcome questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Oldham follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman SMITH. Thank you very much to all of our
witnesses, and, Ms. Oldham, thank you.
Mr. Chertavian, in your written testimony, you discuss a
commitment to rigorously evaluating what you are doing. You
look for perhaps W-2s and an increasing nature, hopefully, of
those W-2s for your participants. You also discuss how perhaps
some of our institutions--be it educational or others--are
really wanting to do the right thing, and yet are not really
adequately preparing young adults for success in the labor
market. And I am concerned that Congress oftentimes funds
programs without looking at the evidence of success.
So you recommend focusing on outcomes and results in your
testimony. What measurements do you use to evaluate Year Up's
success in helping the youth move out of poverty and up the
economic ladder? And how frequently do you measure? And can you
tell us more about what you do with that information and who
might find it most useful?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Sure. Thank you for the question, Chairman
Smith. We are currently undergoing our third randomized control
trial. The last two were funded by the Federal Government in
one of the most significant investments this country has made
in studying anti-poverty programs called the Pace initiative.
Our goal is to prove and improve what we do every single
day. We measure the increased earnings that our graduates are
able to achieve over now a 3- to 5-year outcome versus a
control group that was also admitted to the program but that
was not served by the program. So you are looking very
specifically at control groups versus those who are served.
Measuring the delta of their earnings is your first major
measure.
We also measure postsecondary attainment, so how those
young adults, now that they can feed their bellies, how do they
continue to feed their brains, right? And those often have to
be done concomitantly for folks in this country today. We will
then look at other factors of how young adults are achieving,
like wealth creation. Are you now buying homes? Are you
investing in assets? It is not just income; it is actually
achieving wealth over time. And so we are looking at those
factors.
We study the randomized control trials the most rigorous.
We do assiduous surveys 1 year out, collect data on the
students who have graduated a year ago. Every 5 years, we will
do a complete sweep and go all the way back to 17 years ago and
grab every single student we can. It tends to be through
different mechanisms, like text and interesting ways to get
that.
That data absolutely drives every improvement we make, and
we are dedicated each year to seeing how do we get better and
smarter. And what we have learned I would humbly think over the
past 17 years could be very applicable to a wider range of
Federal programs that are looking to actually serving adults
and move them out of poverty.
So it is something that I would be more than happy, however
helpful, to share anything and everything we have learned over
17 years. We have now served 17,000 young people in 21
locations across America, so we have learned a lot that we
would be happy to pass on. And the data we have acquired, we
will happily pass on that in ways that are effective.
Our goal is not to grow our program; it is to help this
country. So if this program called Year Up can help our
country, that is our goal as a program is to ultimately be of
assistance to the wider issue of those 5-plus million young
people.
Chairman SMITH. All right. And do you feel that the Federal
Government, perhaps in the limited interactions you have with
them on funding, on the funding front, what--I mean, do they
express an interest in as much data as you might have? Or,
obviously, you are very rigorous in going through all of that
data and looking at outcomes. Has the Federal Government
indicated an interest in all of that? Is there room for
improvement?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. So what I have observed myself is there is
an increased desire to look at evidence-based and increasingly
outcomes-driven models. I think the outcomes-driven is in its
ascendancy. Evidence-based we see increasing. Unfortunately,
though, we still see a disconnect between who gets funded and
how are those programs evaluated.
So it seems programs in operation, new programs, may be
being held to different standards, programs that have been
funded for a while. So we receive almost no government money
today because we don't fit often in the somewhat inflexible
requirements of a program, yet we are the fastest-growing
program in the country that serves low-income youth. So there
is some disconnect there between how funding currently flows
and, indeed, the evidence base is growing. That is for sure.
Chairman SMITH. Okay. Well, in the interest of time, I have
a lot more questions, but I might have to postpone those.
But we will move on here. Mr. Davis, you are recognized for
5 minutes.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you very much again, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Manuel, we know that foster youth are twice as likely
to become teen parents as their peers, and we also know that
they are much more likely to have more than one child before
they are 19. What are the critical services that your
organization provides that really help these young people
decide that it is not time to have another child, and that
there would be some impediment, in all likelihood, to their
continuous progress?
Mr. MANUEL. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Well, first of all, we
obviously know that we are not the pregnancy police, but we do
try to put things in place for those teen parents. First, we
start off--I talked about earlier--about a mentor. That mentor
meets with that youth daily. That mentor also helps to direct
that youth to other teen parenting programs, sits with them, so
that they can get background on financial literacy, what it
means if they have another child.
They also work with that particular teen parent involving
them with group discussions, so that they can sit with other
teen parents to learn about some of the issues that they face
with having more than one particular child.
The biggest thing, the most influential piece that I could
say is just those youth having a role model to look up to. So
when they have no particular individuals in their lives, then
it helps to somewhat reduce the likelihood of them becoming
pregnant again.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Mr. Chertavian, I was interested in your story about Greg
Walton, who went from a correctional facility into a program.
But what really interested me is the fact that you were able to
convince employers to take these individuals on, and in some
instances even paid to be a part of the program. How do you get
employers to really join in?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. So we appeal not only to employers' social
responsibility, but perhaps, if not more importantly, their
wallets. We know that a job that pays about $40,000 a year--and
Excentra has done separate research on this--it is more cost
effective for a company to work with Year Up to find entry-
level talent than to go to the street, hire 100 people, see if
they work out; one out of two out of three doesn't.
The cost of that, the cost of retraining, rehiring--so we
can produce research in front of a company that says, ``You may
not have seen these young adults as economic assets. We can
prove to you--17,000 young people now--that this is not only a
better but a more cost effective way to grow your workforce.''
Once they see that, it now becomes something they are coming to
us for. So American Express said, ``We will now take 200 entry-
level Java developers from your organization, but we need you
to open up in Phoenix and in Plantation, Florida.''
So we move also to accommodate the need of industry, which
means we have to be responsive to where the job demand is in
this country. And I think that critical thing is you have to
start with the employer and work backward. And many programs
are starting not at that employer end, and, therefore, there is
a disconnect between what the employer needs and what training
is happening for the young person. If we could reverse that
flow, boy, we could help this country.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you very much.
And, quickly, Ms. Roland, you expressed glee when you were
able to connect with this job that really paid enough money for
you to feel like you were living well or decently on. We just
had an experience with a young intern who managed to get a job
paying $18 an hour for the rest of the summer with a utility
company.
Trying to prepare people for that, is there a way that we
could be more helpful in terms of helping people get jobs that
actually paid a livable wage?
Ms. ROLAND. I think one of the things that help get young
adults hired is networking, connecting them to people who are
willing to help. That is one of the big things that Year Up
taught us. Most jobs are gotten by knowing someone or knowing
someone who knows someone. So if you know a young adult, if you
know a good program, introducing them to it is definitely very
helpful.
Mr. DAVIS. Thank you very much, and I yield back Mr.
Chairman.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you.
Mrs. Walorski.
Mrs. WALORSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of
you that are here today.
Jameela, you rock. You just had an opportunity to tell our
fellow Americans and the youth in this country that there is
hope and determination. There is a way. You just did it. You
just proved it. And what young person doesn't want to work at
Microsoft? I mean, this is the best news that could be
delivered, I think, to this country. It is from you. Because
you have proven what we have all talked about up here, which is
there is not one way fits all, all size--one size fits all.
College is not for everybody right outside the door, you know?
I so much appreciate your determination and the hunt that--
and the mission that you were on, and I think that, you know,
for me, when I look at organizations like Year Up, I have an
organization in my district as well, Goodwill of Northern
Indiana, that has a program called Excel Center. And, you know,
they are bringing on hands-on this and hands-on that, and
offering, you know, business connections and setups and all
those things, networking, like you said, as well.
But I think it is so important for young people in this
country to be able to talk about the fact that they can point
to people who did this. And I think it is easy, and I think it
is easy at the Federal Government level to say that government
always has the answers, we always do this right, you know, all
these models and plans never exhaust.
And I think today the reason this is so important is to
listen to all of you--but, Jameela, especially you--to be able
to say that being able to fund innovative programs, and being
able to allow innovation and research, and those kinds of
things to happen in the private sector, to come along on the
front lines and absolutely start showing new ways, new
innovations, new paths to follow.
And I think one of the things that you said is so
important. You talked about--and it matches up with my Goodwill
in Northern Indiana--they talk about career and college, not
college and career. And I think when we kind of start breaking
through that mind-set of setting people free, they don't have
to go into that one mode and that one model.
So in initiatives like the Excel Center in my district,
Year Up that you are involved in, they are locally driven. They
adapt to individuals. They help make that bridge out of
poverty.
But, Jameela, you mentioned that in the 7 years that you
were trying to attend college, you couldn't find the support
you needed to make it work. What specifically did Year Up do
that colleges weren't going to provide? What was it that when
you saw that and you thought, oh, my gosh, I just found the
key, I am walking through the door, what is--what was it that
they offered that you didn't see anywhere else?
Ms. ROLAND. A stipend.
Mrs. WALORSKI. Ah ha.
[Laughter.]
Ms. ROLAND. A stipend is so critical because during the
program I had to work just to pay the bills. Even the stipend
amount wasn't fully enough to take care of everything, but the
fact that there was a stipend meant that I could reduce my work
hours and focus on this program without having to, you know,
work all night long and then come in the next day tired, not
fully receiving everything.
Mrs. WALORSKI. And let me ask you this. So I spent 2 years
on another committee chairing a subcommittee on the bridge out
of poverty, on nutrition, and it was on food stamps, and it was
on all these different things. But we had 17 hearings listening
to people all over the country talk about the bridge out of
poverty.
And the one thread that I saw in all of those hearings for
2 years seems to be also buried in the success of yours. And
can you speak to the fact of I guess one of the things that I
saw was it is one thing to just be providing money maybe over
here or normal, just traditional resources over here, without
human interaction.
Can you speak to, when you talked about accountability and
all these classes, how much just having another human being,
another person, not just being a number through the government,
but the hands-on with people, how much of a role did that play?
Ms. ROLAND. That was also--that is probably right under the
stipend. It is so important, because every day I walked in I
knew the staff knew my story, knew my situation, knew my
circumstances, my challenges. And so when I needed help, and I
reached out, I didn't have to retell my story every time, which
can get extremely exhausting and very discouraging as well.
So having someone who knows your story, who is willing to
engage in you, who checks up on you, if you are going through
something, it means a lot to know that they care about more
than just their bottom line.
Mrs. WALORSKI. Right. And then what kind of--what was going
on with your family? So as you are going through this process,
and you are interning, and you are happy, and you are working,
and you are doing all of these classes, that stipend is coming
in, things are a little bit better, I am sure your self-
confidence was building, you felt more secure, so what was
happening with the interaction around other groups of people,
your friends and your family, as they were watching this
transformation? What did your friends say?
Ms. ROLAND. I honestly didn't have much interaction with my
friends at the time because I was----
Mrs. WALORSKI. You were so busy?
Ms. ROLAND [continuing]. Pretty busy. I was really busy.
But everyone--every time I gave updates on--oh, cool,
internship at Microsoft--everyone was so excited and
supportive. My family was so excited and supportive. Yeah, I
don't know if you read my testimony, but my sister, she cries
about everything because she is always super excited. And so I
had a lot of support from--on a personal level.
Mrs. WALORSKI. That is awesome. Well, lady, you rock. And I
am excited for our fellow Americans and for young people to
know that there is hope and to keep moving and that one size
doesn't fit all and to keep pushing for those individual things
that mean a lot to those individuals.
Thanks for being here today to all of you. I very much
appreciate it.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you. And, you know, the more
successful you are at Microsoft, maybe Apple will be knocking
on your door as well.
[Laughter.]
Or a number of other brands. So with that, next up is Ms.
Sewell.
Ms. SEWELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me echo my--the
other colleagues who are just so excited for you, Jameela, for
your success, and Year Up sounds like a wonderful program.
Look, I represent rural Alabama--Selma, Alabama--where
everybody knows about the bridge, but it is a town of 19,000
and it is dying on the vine. My question is: How can we scale
programs like Year Up to help rural America? Especially when
you have--you don't have a Microsoft located in your community,
and yet we still have disconnected youth.
In fact, in my district, between the ages of, you know, 16
and 24, the sort of disconnected youth age, 15.9 percent are
disconnected, meaning they are not employed. And so what are we
doing to help scale programs like yours or the program that you
suggested, Mr. Manuel? I think you said it was Y2--Y3?
Mr. MANUEL. Y3.
Ms. SEWELL. Yes. How do we scale up programs like that, so
that they are accessible and tailored? Because we know one size
doesn't fit all.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. That is correct.
Ms. SEWELL. Tailored for rural parts of America.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. That is right. In fact, I was just on the
phone with folks from Birmingham, Alabama, talking very
similarly. I think what is most important to understand is the
principles that will drive the outcomes, in many cases. So if
this only works if an employer says, ``I need talent,'' now
that talent doesn't have to be we work in technology and
finance and I would call middle-skill white collar jobs.
But this applies to any job today that requires honestly
more than a high school degree, which is the vast majority of
jobs in this country. So I think if one says, ``How do I scale
it?'' I have to see what jobs do exist. It could be
hospitality, they could be logistics, right? A range of jobs.
But I can promise you those employers want the exact same thing
Microsoft does.
So if we start with what incentives will get programs, not
just Year Up, to actually do the right thing, Darwin will
ultimately take over. Programs that succeed will get more
funding. Those that aren't able to get that outcome, a W-2 that
grows over time, will get less funding. So rather than choosing
winners and losers, let's set the incentive systems based on
principles we know work in youth development and youth
workforce development.
In that context, it will apply to a rural, it will apply to
an urban setting. We have looked at that through Year Up. One
has to understand what jobs are available, but it is not just
the Microsoft. There are many, many other jobs that would be
the perfect first job for a young person, but we are not
producing folks who are employable. Attitudinal, behavioral,
communication skills, that is what employers most want.
If you provide that, and you have a willing learner, they
will take it from there. And so I think that is what we are
often missing is we are not asking folks to really make sure
folks are employable and holding them accountable for that
outcome and paying them on the result of that outcome. The
principles will work, rural and urban.
Ms. SEWELL. You know, the other thing I think it is really
important that this Committee focuses on, you know, we have
jurisdiction over wraparound services that are important to
give a hand up to folks like yourself, Ms. Roland. So can you
talk a little bit about some of those wraparound services that
the Federal Government offers while, you know, you are getting
an opportunity from a private partnership that is done through
Year Up?
I would assume that you needed healthcare. I am assuming
that you needed other sorts of social service programs that we
have within our jurisdiction. Can you talk a little bit about
how we can, public and private, work to support disconnected
youth?
Ms. ROLAND. Can you define ``wraparound services''?
Ms. SEWELL. Sure. Healthcare. While you were--for that 1
year, who provided you with healthcare services for that 1
year? Or did you not have it?
Ms. ROLAND. I had healthcare. I had healthcare through the
Affordable Healthcare--the Affordable Care Act.
Ms. SEWELL. Okay. And so talk to us about whether or not it
was affordable for you. You know, I just really want--that is a
wraparound service, right? So, yes, this program provided you
with training, which is great, and a job opportunity. But we
also do programs that are like social service block grant
programs, we do TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Those are the kinds of Federal programs that we have
jurisdiction over. And I am always interested in seeing how,
working in tandem, private and public can uplift and undergirth
disconnected youth, such as yourself.
Ms. ROLAND. Yeah. So I was the recipient of benefits. I had
healthcare, I had food stamps, and it really took a lot of
stress off of me, knowing that those were taken care of, that I
didn't have to shell money out of pocket that I really didn't
have. I know healthcare can be really expensive, too, and
knowing that if I did get sick, I could go to the doctor and it
won't, like, put me in a financial bind, was critical.
Ms. SEWELL. And I think that what your success story really
illustrates to all of us is that, you know, those programs are
not about trying to breed dependency. Rather, they are programs
that can help undergirth, and working with private, give you
the hand up that you need in order to be the success that you
are today.
So I want to thank you for being so brave to come and talk
to us about your success, and just want to remind the Committee
of how important what we do is as well in undergirthing
disconnected youth. Thanks.
Ms. ROLAND. Thank you.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Ms. Sewell. And given the time
constraints, we are going to do a 2 to 1 ratio. Next up is Mr.
Reichert.
Mr. REICHERT. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Well, welcome, and thank you all for your testimony today,
and especially thank you all for the hard work that you do.
Jameela, you and I have a couple things in common. Did you
know that? One is I lived on the street, too. I ran away when I
was a senior in high school and lived in an old car. And so I
think, you know, eventually you are going to be a
congresswoman, so that is, you know----
[Laughter.]
Second--maybe not.
Chairman SMITH. You may have higher aspirations as well.
[Laughter.]
Mr. REICHERT. Right. Maybe a senator. I don't know.
Secondly, I come from the State of Washington, and I was
the sheriff there. So we have a list of partners, and I was
happy to see the King County Sheriff's offices on there as one
of the partners. It is I think definitely a community effort,
and the police--I spent 33 years there, and so I, you know,
just saw about--just about everything that you could see. And I
know how hard you had to work to get to where you are.
But now the responsibility is not just about you; it is
about all those friends that you talked about that are all
excited. Now you can help share your success with them, right?
And I know that you are going to do that because I can tell
that by the energy that you have and your personality.
So did you bring friends and family today that are
supporting you, or are they supporting you from----
Ms. ROLAND. Yeah. Everyone is supporting me from home. I
came solo on this trip because it was a little last minute, but
I am pretty sure everyone who is willing to be awake this early
on west coast time is watching right now.
[Laughter.]
Mr. REICHERT. Well, say, ``Hi, Mom.''
Ms. ROLAND. Hi, Mom.
[Laughter.]
Mr. REICHERT. So here is the bottom line. We can--you know,
the stats are good. I really like the way that all of you are
approaching, you know, your each individual piece of this, and
collecting the data is absolutely critical to success in
figuring out which programs work. The Federal Government--like
I have been here--this is my 13th year here, and I still can't
figure out how the heck they do things, and it is just--it is
complicated, it is convoluted, it is sometimes not based on
fact, it is based on politics. My belief is the best work is
coming from all of you. You are in the trenches, and you are
working with people that are day in and day out knocking on
your door, and you know the best ways to reach people.
When we talk about, Mr. Manuel, 2,500 in Chicago per year
that don't graduate, and we talk about these disconnected
youth, and we need to have these programs to reach these young
people. We are losing smart, young people every day. How do
we--my question is, and maybe, you know, your organizations
haven't delved that deeply into it yet, but how do we prevent
the disconnect from happening in the first place? I mean, that
is really the question that we need to ask.
Prevention, of course, in law enforcement is our number one
goal, to prevent crime and keep people safe from crime before
it even happens. So does anyone--I am going to ask the entire
panel this question. What are we going to do to stop this
disconnect in the first place? What are we doing? How can we
work to help young people start out with a strong foundation to
begin with? What is the answer to that one? That is the million
dollar question.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. I know this isn't an education committee,
but humbly I think if we can do a couple of things, first of
which is ensure our children are ready to read when they get to
school, probably one of the best things we can do for our
children in this country.
The second is we talk about high school. When we know that
50 percent of every college-goer in America today works full-
time, we have to ensure you leave high school knowing how to
work as well as how to consume postsecondary education. And we
talk about career readiness in the United States, but there
aren't standards and assessments that actually drive someone
being employable. And what happens is you have graduated high
school, you don't have those skills, you are working 80 hours
to just get by, college, postsecondary, is a dream.
So I think there is a lot we can do in high school, not
only dropout prevention but proper preparation for the world of
today, coupled with early childhood literacy, kind of a barbell
structure, could be effective.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Manuel.
Mr. MANUEL. Thank you. The approach that we are trying to
go into is both a combination of prevention and intervention,
because there is a reason that a lot of----
Mr. REICHERT. Families?
Mr. MANUEL. Yes. We work with the--we are getting to that
point where we are working with the families because a lot of
those youth, as I stated earlier, their parents may have been
incarcerated, their parents may have been unemployed, and so we
want to try to break that cycle.
Mr. REICHERT. There you go.
Mr. MANUEL. The other thing that we look at is trauma. We
use a trauma-based approach in working with the youth. But not
only the youth, the staff that work with our youth. We do
realize that it takes a toll on the staff dealing and being
faced with all of the different trauma, the events that these
youth bring to them on a daily basis.
And so monthly we take the staff through vicarious trauma,
and so we give them an outlet. And so then they are refreshed
and able to go and meet with those youth and then talk to those
families again.
Mr. REICHERT. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, if I may indulge just one quick question.
Jameela, what high school did you go to?
Ms. ROLAND. I graduated from Federal Way High School.
Mr. REICHERT. Federal Way High School.
Ms. ROLAND. Yes.
Mr. REICHERT. Go----
Ms. ROLAND. Go Eagles.
Mr. REICHERT. Yes.
[Laughter.]
Chairman SMITH. All right. Thank you. Next up will be Mr.
Bishop, followed by Ms. Chu and Mr. Curbelo. Mr. Bishop.
Mr. BISHOP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the
Committee, and thank you to the panel. It is a great
discussion. I wish we had more time.
Mr. Chertavian, thank you for what you do. It is amazing
what we can do when we operate in such a logical way. I really
do appreciate the way you have approached this and the way you
present this because it is very logical. I am thrilled to see
Ms. Roland and how well you are doing.
I am wondering, what percentage of your graduates--I don't
know, maybe we should call them those that have succeeded
through your system--are actually employed? How many actually
get a job and matriculate through the system?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Sure. So 91 percent of our graduates within
4 months, and we have a very clear window that comes down, will
be full-time employed. A small percentage are going to college
full-time and working part-time. But 91 percent of those
graduates; average wage is $38,000 per year, immediate
taxpayers for this country.
Mr. BISHOP. Amazing. Excellent.
Ms. Roland, when you finished with the program and you
found your job at Microsoft, did you have to relocate? And how
did you make ends meet in between, in your transition period?
Where did you live, and how did that work?
Ms. ROLAND. So I didn't have to relocate. I live in Federal
Way still, and I commute to Redmond every day. Not for long,
hopefully. And with employment, I was hired directly after my
internship with no gaps because they needed me. So I didn't
really have much of a transition from being a student intern to
an employee.
Mr. BISHOP. That is great. Good.
And, Mr. Chertavian, do you help with it? Does the program
help with transition period type stuff, relocation and gas?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Absolutely. In fact, you know, our only
outcome we focus on is that young person to get the W-2 that
grows over time. So whatever we need to do to ensure that
happens.
We also have now, you know, 11,000 graduates. We will have
30,000 grads in the next 5 years. We have a whole alumni
association across the country. So if you needed additional
financial literacy support now that you are getting a mortgage
or a car, if you--we have an EAP program for graduates,
employee assistance program. If they had a crisis that could
come up, additional college counseling, to say, ``How do I
finish that degree?''
Through Year Up, you get 1 year of the degree under your
belt. How do I finish that now that I am gainfully employed? So
we have a national alumni association across the whole country
that is very scalable and very cost effective because it is
accessed through Skype and, you know, is a very easy means as
opposed to trying to replicate that in 21 locations in America.
Mr. BISHOP. Thank you.
Mr. Manuel, I was involved--I am from the Michigan,
Detroit, area. I was involved in Covenant House, which is a
very similar organization to the organization that you are
with, and I can tell that our mission is very simple--very
similar. How do you--and when you are out there, you are
looking for that demographic of folks that you are focusing on.
How do you attract them? What gets them into the program?
They have probably known about it. They have tried
different programs. What brings them into your program? How do
you reach out and grab them and pull them in?
Mr. MANUEL. Well, a big part of our recruitment, I should
say, is their peers. And so we allow their peers to have an
opportunity to be able to talk and recruit and talk about some
of the things that they have experienced, because it is
easily--we can lay everything out, have a conversation about
the internships, what it means to have a high school diploma.
But if that is not a practice that they are used to, or that
the family has embraced, then they are not going to buy into
it.
And so we try to set up what we call a trial period, a
pending period, so we allow that youth to be able to come into
the school, experience everything that any other student would
experience, and then that decision is made by that youth to see
if that is a fit for them. We are not schools that feel as
though we want the elite youth.
We make sure that our recruiters, whether it is the youth
or paid staff, that they go into those areas that no one would
ideally go into, to try to bring those youth back off the
streets, enroll them back into school, and letting them know
that they do have a promising future.
Mr. BISHOP. Interesting. I know that the two missions are
the same, the organization that I was speaking of, the Covenant
House, and if we could get all of the organizations together
and figure out how to reach out and to really connect with
these--the youth out there, I think it would make a big
difference if we could do that.
Thank you all very much, and I yield back.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you.
Next up, Ms. Chu, followed by Mr. Curbelo. Ms. Chu.
Ms. CHU. Mr. Chertavian, your program is so impressive,
and, Jameela Roland, your story is so inspirational. And, Mr.
Chertavian, your program incorporates so many different
approaches to helping youth and young adults gain the skills
that they need, including training, mentoring, and providing
internships with private sector employers.
And, in your testimony, you stated that education and
training systems are increasingly out of touch with employers'
needs and out of reach for young adults. You also indicated
that you would like to see assistance programs such as TANF and
the social services block grant more closely aligned with the
demands of the labor market.
TANF, for example, puts States at risk of Federal penalties
if they enroll too many people in programs that combine job
training with work. And, in many cases, programs like yours
that produce successful outcomes do indeed try to align them.
So, in your opinion, what would be an ideal form of TANF
that would allow for greater employability for good middle
class jobs for young people?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Thank you for the question. I think what we
see is funding programs to try to help someone we know isn't
working. So if we say to the folks who are in the business of
training talent, actually, we will pay you upon a result,
right, when you achieve milestones. So the incentive has to be
based on that outcome I think, first and foremost.
For the individual, as Jameela said, we started with, where
is she right now as we met her at the door, right? What was her
personal situation? How do we help her? If she needed to get a
part-time job in addition to what we are doing in training,
that is great. If she needed some assistance, you mentioned
before on transportation to get to that internship, how would
we be thoughtful about doing that?
So we are flexible around the human being and what their
needs are, and that often is harder to implement in a program
that has very rigid requirements as to who you can serve, do
they lose certain benefits if they are gaining certain
benefits.
So we would increase flexibility for sure, have the
incentives follow the outcomes we want primarily, and I think
you have to start with the employer and work backward as to
what the employer needs, which is skilled talent. And if they
are happy--I mean, you have to imagine, employers are
contributing $25,000 per Year Up intern to gain access to
talent. They would never do that unless it was in their
economic interest.
We know employers are craving talent that is loyal. Our
folks stay 3 to 4 times longer than the average employee. So
companies are seeing this as a better source of talent. So it
is really understanding, what does the employer need? They have
the money to augment the investment the Federal Government
makes and to lever, leverage the Federal investment through the
corporate need. I think we could do quite a lot there, to use
TANF as a lever, but expect corporations to have skin in the
game as well, because if they don't have skin in the game, they
don't value what they are getting in terms of talent.
Ms. CHU. So I like your idea of going backward and seeing
what the employer needs. TANF has this limit of 1 year of
education and training. Is that enough for employers in your
experience?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Yes. Yes, it is. One year is enough to get
started. Many of our companies will say to us, ``We expect your
graduate to continue to complete their education.'' In fact,
American Express, they start at $37,500. AmEx will pay for them
to complete their associate's degree. As soon as they complete
it, they move to $55,000.
So companies are increasingly getting in the business of
education. We are seeing that all over the country. But if we
can leverage, not pay for everything from the Federal
Government, but encourage with incentives for the employee to
do the right thing, I think we could get more from our Federal
dollars in this space.
Ms. CHU. And, Mr. Manuel, you mentioned in your testimony a
number of challenges facing disconnected foster youth, such as
mental illness and lack of parental support. And there is one
reason why it is so important that we make sure that we don't
make deep cuts to Medicaid, and that is that could undercut the
health benefits for these youth who are struggling so much.
If Medicaid were block granted, capped, or cut in such a
way to make it more difficult for foster youth to access
healthcare, how would that impact the youth and young people
enrolled in your program? Especially those who need mental
health services or substance abuse counseling or just basic
healthcare.
Mr. MANUEL. It would greatly impact because we have two
different populations that we work with. One is youth in care
who would--you know, while they are in care, they receive some
health benefits while being in care. But a great majority of
our youth are not in care, and so they need those health
services to be able to address some diagnosed or misdiagnosed
mental illnesses.
We talk about the teen parents. They need the healthcare
for themselves and for their children. So any bit of a cut to
healthcare would greatly impact and--because a lot of those
issues affect the youth from attending school. A lot of our
youth, if their attendance drops, it is because of, you know,
healthcare issues.
Ms. CHU. Thank you.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Ms. Chu.
Next we have Mr. Curbelo, followed by Mr. Renacci. Mr.
Curbelo.
Mr. CURBELO. Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity.
Thank you for taking some time to focus on these 5.5 million
young Americans, people who are so full of potential, yet have
obviously given up hope because they are not employed and they
are doing nothing to educate themselves to become employable.
So I think this is a wonderful opportunity, and it says a
lot about this Subcommittee, about Ways and Means, and about
how Republicans and Democrats can work together.
And thank you to all of the witnesses, especially to the
superstar, Jameela. I want to ask you a question because I
think a lot about the messages we send children in this
country, and as they grow up and become adolescents, that
message I think gets reemphasized. You mentioned that you
immediately wrote off Year Up because you felt like a college
degree was the only path to success. Can you talk a little bit
about why you felt that way and what helped you realize that
wasn't the case?
Ms. ROLAND. So pretty much the dialogue from sophomore year
of high school onward is, after you finish high school, you
have to go get a college degree, so you can get a job, buy a
house, be successful. And the only alternatives that were
pretty much offered up were you can either join a trade school,
learn to be a carpenter or a nurse, or you can join the
military.
None of those really appealed to me, so I was like, okay, I
will go to college, learn something. And after years of--I have
gone to college, three different colleges, three different
programs, and they just never really worked out because there
were external factors that meant that I couldn't give it the
focus I needed, or just I didn't know what I was supposed to do
next, and I didn't really know who to ask or how to ask for it.
And so a lot of the times when the only options you have
are, okay, just go to college, you don't really get any more
information, more relevant information, on how to finish
college, how to pay for college, what is needed to make sure
you are successful. You just get the whole ``go for it.''
Mr. CURBELO. So, Mr. Chertavian, do you think that we, the
government, are complicit in trapping a lot of young people
into believing that only by getting a traditional college
degree they can be successful? Do we also send those messages
in the way we invest public dollars and in the messages we
send?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Yes. We do, unfortunately, reinforce that
belief system. In part, we think about how Pell grants flow.
Yeah, you have to be going how many credits before you get
access to a Pell grant? The average age of a bachelor of arts
in America is 28 years old. That means you are probably doing
it part-time, so that gives up your Pell eligibility.
Even to get financial aid, I could not complete the forms
for our students. You know, I didn't know how to do it. So just
the ease with which one can access that; also the expectation.
If we changed the word to ``postsecondary'' for all, and truly
believed in valued multiple pathways into the mainstream, we
could fundamentally I think change this country in a powerful
way. But the word ``college'' assumes 4-year, fixed-term,
residential. That is only 8 out of 100 adults in America have a
4-year degree that they got between the ages of 18 and 22; 92
adults of 100 do not have a BA that they got between the ages
of 18 and 22.
And often, to the folks thinking about policy, what was our
lived experience? And is that with which we are creating the
idea of what we want? As opposed to 92 out of 100 Americans
don't do 4 years between 18 and 22.
Mr. CURBELO. And yet we disproportionately fund that----
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Correct.
Mr. CURBELO [continuing]. Eight out of 100, you said?
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. That is correct.
Mr. CURBELO. Eight percent.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Right.
Mr. CURBELO. Ms. Oldham, do you have any ideas as to how we
can send the message that there are other ways to becoming a
successful citizen in our country? Perhaps in the way we
allocate resources, perhaps by making some of our policies more
flexible?
Ms. OLDHAM. Right. Thank you. I think, absolutely, and I
would echo what Gerald said. I think one of the most important
things we can do is provide information. I mean, the comment
about, you know, the message from sophomore year on was
college, college, college, I mean, our K through 12 system and
our high schools, the people that are giving that information
don't know employers, don't know careers, don't know what is
available, what are the growing jobs in that region, who is
hiring.
There is a really robust conversation I think now taking
place after the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, and
all States are really struggling with, what is career
readiness, and how do we measure it, and what do we do in high
schools to ensure that we are really looking at that.
And that career development piece is critical, and there
is, obviously, a real issue with, you know, stretching thin of
sort of counselors and high school and that kind of thing, but
really thinking about a career development focus and providing
that information and really good data about what the successful
pathways are for young people, so they can make better
decisions.
Mr. CURBELO. Thank you, Ms. Oldham.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you. And wrapping up is Mr. Renacci.
Mr. RENACCI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the
witnesses. I appreciate, Mr. Chairman, you allowing me to be
here, even though I am not on the Subcommittee, because this is
really an issue for me that is very passionate.
I started a program in Cleveland, Ohio, called Opportunity
Cleveland where we are looking at youth from age 14 to 24. So I
love to hear these stories because I think the theme--and it is
always good to be the last person--here is what I got out of
what I have listened to, and I hope I have a message.
First off, high school education or a GED is vitally
important because, Ms. Oldham, as you say in your testimony,
there are a quarter of Americans with no high school diploma
who live in poverty. And I will bet you that a majority of
Americans without high school diplomas do not have a good-
paying job. So that is one thing.
The second thing is we have to break the cycle of poverty.
I think that is extremely important. And the third is that a 4-
year degree does not always make sense. And, Ms. Roland, you
are a witness to that.
So I have said all along that the answer--and I am trying
to figure out how to get there--is we have to go back and look
at the high schools, and we have to look at skill sets versus
test sets. And you will hear me say that all the time back in
Ohio. How do we take youth that are going through high school
and make sure that they are looking at skill sets and
opportunities early on?
I came from a very poor family, and the only thing that
helped me is, number 1, I had mentors, and I had job
opportunities, and I saw skill sets in high school that said I
can be a plumber, I can be anything I want to be. We lack that.
I was at a high school recently, 1,300 students, and only
30 were going to technical school. That tells you something
right there; 30 out of 1,300. Because, as I have heard some of
my colleagues say, we are putting all our resources toward you
have to go to college. And the answer is, you have to get a
skill set. And sometimes a skill set doesn't mean going to
college.
So it is interesting that you can be a plumber and own your
own company and make a lot more money than somebody who goes to
college. Or you can graduate in Ohio with a degree and make
$25- to $30,000, or go become a welder and make $75,000. I
mean, these are the opportunities that we need to talk about
early on.
So I appreciate that. I am assuming you are all agreeing
that these are some of the issues, but I guess my question is,
how do we change it? How do we fix this? And what can we do as
Federal legislators to change the system? Because it sounds
like, what I just said, you are all talking about our problems.
So how do we fix it? I did hear--and tell me--maybe we need to
redirect resources. Maybe the Pell grant issue drives people to
college versus high school. Any thoughts from any of the
panelists?
Ms. OLDHAM. Yes. No, thank you. Absolutely, I think there
are some things in terms of redirecting resources. I think
really, I mean, we have talked a little bit about this, but how
do we focus on outcomes in the programs that you do fund and
really measure? We value what we measure; we measure what we
value. And instead of really focusing on the inputs, focusing
on the outcomes, and what are those important outcomes? Do you
have a job? Do you have a sustaining wage? And what are the
programs that are leading young people into those paths? And
get rid of the ones that don't.
Mr. RENACCI. Sure.
Ms. Roland, it sounded like you found your way after high
school. I almost want to think back, in high school, did you
think you were missing something, you didn't see it? I mean, I
hate to pick on your high school because I do think what we
have done in high schools is we have directed everybody to
college as well.
Ms. ROLAND. It did take me a long time after high school to
kind of figure out that kind of I didn't really know what I was
doing. I thought I knew what I was doing because I did what
they told me I should, and that was aspire to college, apply,
do what you can to get into college and get a degree.
But I didn't really know what the realities of that really
entailed, like financial aid, filling out all of the paperwork,
getting loans. I have gotten some terrible student loans
before. So a lot of it is knowing exactly what the expectations
of life are, really, and then being able to find opportunities
to get to where you want to be with knowing those expectations.
Mr. RENACCI. Mr. Chertavian, your program actually gave me
the thought that some of that could be done in a high school.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Yes.
Mr. RENACCI. And you are really the subset after high
school, and you are doing some of the things we could do.
Mr. CHERTAVIAN. Yeah. I think it is fair to say that Year
Up exists because of systemic failure elsewhere. I think that
is, you know, broadly true.
So what we really want is high school students having the
guidance and the counseling that they need, as you expressed,
Jameela, to understand there is not one pathway, whether it is
a good trade in vocation, whether it is a 2-year degree, to
perhaps then go to a 4-year degree, whether it is straight into
4-year, whether it is working and getting stable first, so that
you can consume higher ed.
We don't value multiple pathways in this country. It is
almost culturally seen as a stepchild if you don't do the
accepted rhetoric of 4 years, and it is up to us to think about
how we are incenting that with even just how Pell grants flow.
When you think of Year Up not having an access to Pell
grants in our core program, yet we probably produce good
results for this country. So how restrictive are some of those
funding sources that could actually be directed to things that
have verifiable results for young people?
Mr. RENACCI. I had one person--and I know I am running out
of time, or I have probably ran out--one last question. I had
an individual back in my district say to me, ``You know what?
High school kids should just go to school until 2:00, and then
they should have three paths between 2:00 and 5:00. They should
either go to a work opportunity where they learn a skill set,
they should go and become part of an athletic program where
they learn teamwork, you know, or the third thing is that they
get an educational skill set as well.''
So I don't know if anybody--I mean, I thought that was
pretty interesting, that, you know, we fail because that high
school student doesn't have those paths of opportunity after
their basic education.
Thank you. I yield back.
Chairman SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Renacci.
I want to say thanks to everyone on our panel. Again, thank
you for sharing your story, Jameela, and all of you for sharing
your insight and expertise. And those of you also in the
gallery, so to speak, thank you for taking your time to be here
and participate today.
Please be advised that Members will have 2 weeks to submit
written questions to be answered later in writing. Those
questions, and your answers, will be made part of the formal
hearing record.
With that, the Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:25 a.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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