Background
The P21 Professional Youth Worker Credential (PYWC) is part of the Massachusetts statewide Pathways to Success by Twenty-One (P21) Initiative. P21 is a statewide effort to improve the future prospects for vulnerable youth ages 16-24 across Massachusetts—including those who are in school and those who are out-of-school and unemployed. The P21 Initiative seeks to foster greater collaboration between state-level youth-serving agencies while simultaneously helping local and regional youth-serving systems better coordinate services for vulnerable youth. P21 envisions a youth system for the whole state that is efficient and effective in ensuring that all youth have the tools and supports necessary to be productive citizens by age 24.
To assist in achieving this vision, P21 has implemented a professional development opportunity for direct-service staff serving vulnerable youth. Commonwealth Corporation, with full support from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and the P21 Steering Committee, has created the P21 Professional Youth Worker Credential to:
- Improve program quality by strengthening partnerships that increase smart use of resources within a region or community, and
- Develop the workforce through access to higher education, career advancement, and quality professional development for staff serving vulnerable youth.
Program Overview
The Model
The P21 PYWC is a credentialing program for a cohort of up to 25 direct-service youth workers who are committed to professional growth, seek academic advancement, and plan to stay in the youth service field. Over a 13-month period, the P21 PYWC program combines 50 hours of trainings and 2 credit-bearing college courses to create a common, competency-based curriculum for youth workers from P21 partner agencies within local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) regions.
The program is offered at no charge to participants, and participating employers offer participants paid time off in exchange for successful completion of the program and implementation of a demonstration project to benefit the host organization.
A part-time, regionally based Student Support Coordinator, contracted, supported and managed by the Commonwealth Corporation, assists with program implementation and provides ongoing support to pilot participants and employers.
The Curriculum
The program addresses 8 competency areas for youth workers and is based on the foundational work of Achieve Boston, a collaborative whose mission is to help after-school and youth workers develop their professional skills and knowledge, advance their careers, and ultimately better serve children, youth, and families.
The program includes an interactive process with local partners and participants to ensure that selected competencies and indicators are:
- on target,
- taught so that they address the needs of youth in the region and the actual work of those participating, and
- supported on the job.
The Partners
Commonwealth Corporation, as the lead agency, works with program staff and regional partners to co-design and manage the P21 PYWC program to successful completion and supports ongoing and overall program evaluation activities.
The Medical Foundation, a Massachusetts based non-profit skilled in asset-based youth development principals and training delivery, oversees the selection of instructors and workshop leaders and provides direct instruction to participants.
The local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) serves as the main point of contact in the regional and leads a Regional Management Team (RMT) consisting of stakeholders (employers and other partners) from the youth serving agencies in the region (i.e., state agencies and local community based organizations). The WIB works with the RMT and Commonwealth Corporation staff and consultants to implement the program and support participants to successful completion.
Participant Selection
Participants are chosen using a selection process co-designed and administered by Commonwealth Corporation staff and the Regional Management Team. The process includes, but is not limited to, an application for participants and a Memorandum of Agreement signed by participating employers.
General criteria for youth worker participation in the P21 PYWC pilot include:
- Position in direct-service, program-level with leadership potential;
- No college degree or a 2 or 4-year college degree in a field unrelated to youth work; and
- Interest in incorporating learning on the job
Credentialing
To earn the credential successfully, participants must: 1) finish training and coursework, 2) supply documentation of competency understanding and application, and 3) complete a demonstration project executed at the worksite. A P21 PYWC certificate, co-awarded by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and Commonwealth Corporation, is presented to graduates.
Successful Completion of the PYWC Pilot Site in Hampden County
A pilot of the PYWC program was implemented in Hampden County in December 2007. The pilot, which concluded in February 2009, graduated 23 participants (case workers, counselors, supervisors, etc.) from 12 local agencies.
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time Institute (NIOST) produced an interim report (September 2008 Report) on the pilot which includes the following positive results:
- The pilot has brought new levels of partnership between organizations and agencies in the community.
- Employers report that staff members are bringing new skills, energy, and strategies to their work with youth.
- The tools, activities and learnings taking place in the classes have enabled staff to strengthen their relationships and understanding of youth in their programs.
The following quote from a Hampden County PYWC Program graduate illustrates a participant’s perspective on the program benefits:
I think that it is an amazing program that pushes you out of your comfort zone. It makes you challenge yourself and think differently about yourself—your strengths and weaknesses. It betters you as a youth worker, which I think is a great opportunity.
Implementation of New Cohort in Brockton Area
Planning is underway towards implementation of a PYWC cohort which will jointly serve youth workers whose primary work site* is in the Brockton and South Coastal Workforce Investment Board (WIB) areas. The program is set to begin with an orientation for participants in late August 2009 and will conclude in November 2010.
* Direct-service youth workers whose work site is located in the following towns/regions qualify to apply:
Brockton area: Abington, Avon, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Easton, Hanson, Stoughton, West Bridgewater, Whitman
South Coastal area: Braintree, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, Halifax, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Marshfield, Middleborough, Milton, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, Quincy, Randolph, Rockland, Scituate, Weymouth
To access the application materials for the Brockton Area PWYC program, please go to:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229BQHAEXUC
Application Deadline: NO LATER THAN 4:00 p.m. on Friday, August 14, 2009.
Contact
For more information, please contact:
Khita M. Pottinger,
Senior Program Manager
Commonwealth Corporation
617-727-8158, ext 2239
kpottinger@commcorp.org
