Reinvesting in America's Youth: Lessons From the 2009 Recovery Act Summer Youth Employment...

“On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Passed in response to the 2008 recession, the Act's purpose was to create jobs, pump money into the economy, and encourage spending Through the Act, states received $1.2 billion in funding for the workforce investment system to provide employment and training activities targeted to disadvantaged youth. Congress and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) encouraged states and local workforce investment areas charged with implementing these youth activities to use the funds to create employment opportunities for these youth in the summer of 2009. To gain insights into these summer initiatives, DOL's Employment and Training Administration contracted with Mathematica Policy Research to conduct an implementation evaluation of the summer youth employment activities funded by the Recovery Act. As part of the evaluation, Mathematica analyzed (1) monthly performance data submitted to ETA by the states, and (2) qualitative data collected through in-depth site visits to 20 local areas This report describes the national context for implementation, provides an in-depth description of the experience of selected local areas, and presents lessons on implementation practices that may inform future summer youth employment efforts” (ETA Abstract). (Abstractor: Author)

 Full publication title: Reinvesting in America's Youth: Lessons From the 2009 Recovery Act Summer Youth Employment Initiative

"Administrators and staff in the study sites reported that the SYEI had a threefold effect. First, they got money into the hands of needy families. Second, youth and their families spent the disposable income earned through SYEI jobs in their depressed local economies. Third, youth gained valuable work experience, increasing their human capital and long-term job prospects" (p.13). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2010
• Author(s): Bellotti, Jeanne; Rosenberg, Linda; Sattar, Samina; Esposito, Andrea Mraz, et al.
• Organizational Author(s): Mathematica Policy Research
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
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• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies