DRAFT

May 27, 2008

STATE OF NEVADA

STRATEGIC PLAN

THE SHARED YOUTH VISION

A Statewide Collaborative Approach to Prepare Youth for Success in Nevada’s Demand-Driven Industries

MISSION

To establish Inter-AgencyPartnerships that Exercise a Collaborative Approach for Providing Workforce Development Support and Resources to Nevada’s Neediest of Youth

OVERVIEW

A Commitment to Serving the Neediest of Youth

In 2003 recommendations from The White House Task Force Report on Disadvantaged Youth charged all Federal youth serving agencies with developing more effective interagency collaborations to better serve targeted youth populations, with priority given to serving the neediest youth:

  • Children of incarcerated parents
  • Court involved youth
  • Youth at-risk of court involvement
  • Homeless and runaway youth
  • Migrant Youth
  • Out-of-school youth
  • Youth in or aging out of foster care
  • Youth with disabilities

In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor, Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services created an initiative that outlined a Shared Vision for delivering youth services to those most in need of assistance. This Shared Vision focuses oninteragency collaboration to prioritize resources and improved services to the youth most at risk for making a successful transition to adulthood. In 2007, the federal team was expanded to include the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Social Security Administration, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Shared Youth Vision calls upon the youth service system at all levels to work collaboratively in designing and coordinating programs focused on serving the neediest youth. State of Nevadaand local areas all play a critical role in the outcomes of youth served in their programs.

Nevada will focus on the emerging youth workforce with the expectation that the most neediest of youth will have opportunities to become educated, well trained for gainful employment and leading to self-sufficient as they transition to adulthood.

Creation of the Shared Youth Vision Team

As an established intermediary the State of Nevada and the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation,serves as project coordinator for the team composition and administrative support.

Representatives from key youth services agencies:

  • Department of Human Services,
  • Juvenile Justice,
  • Migrant/Seasonal Farm Workers,
  • K-12 Education,
  • Higher Education
  • Center for Independent Living.
  • Stakeholders throughout the state,
  • Youth service providers,

The composition of a Shared Youth Vision Team will serve the youth most in need while benefiting the community through;

  • Better use of resources
  • Better outcomes for programs
  • Better futures for our youth and our economy

The Teamwill:

  • Develop, create and initiate collaborative approaches to prepare the nation’s neediest youth for success in Nevada’s Demand Drive Industries
  • Communicate the Shared Youth Vision to States and local workforce system providers and other youth-serving agencies across the State
  • Engage the support of state leadership
  • Facilitates the alignment of programs, policies and funds through the Governor’s Reserve Fund and the local Workforce Investment Boards
  • Facilitate the leverage of resources and promote outreach to recruit additional partners to connect the neediest youth to quality secondary and post-secondary educational opportunities and high-growth and other employment opportunities
  • Provide best practices and activities to support state and local Shared Youth Vision efforts
  • Define skills needed by workers at different levels of responsibility
  • Set compensation benchmarks as workers skills progress
  • Build an information clearinghouse to facilitate the sharing of best practices, existingcore competencies and credentials, career development and compensation initiatives anddemographic data on the workforce.

To accomplish Nevada Shared Youth Vision it will take political will and a commitment of substantial public resources on the local, state levels to support and sustain a skilled and stable out-of-school workforce.

Pursued simultaneously,the points below will help move us towards building a skilledand stable workforce and a more cohesive field. Leadership is the key to halting the revolving door of turnover, guaranteeing staff a living wageand making working with children and youth during non-school hours an attractive career option.

  • Develop and make educational materials available to state coalitions.
  • Workforce development strategies must become part of the fabric of city and statewideout-of-school time initiatives.
  • Publicize the link between high quality staff and high quality programs.

The following initiatives will play a critical role in a successful Shared Youth Vision Action Plan based on the following strategy:

ATTACHMENT “A” GOALS AND STRATEGIES

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