The Summer Employment Experiences and the Personal/ Social Behaviors of Youth Violence Prevention...

“The summer job market for teens in both Massachusetts and the U.S. over the past five years has been quite depressed, with record low summer employment rates for the nation’s teens being set in the past three years (2010-2012)… To address these job deficit problems and provide positive summer activities for youth 14 to 24 years old in low income neighborhoods of Boston, the Youth Violence Prevention Funder Learning Collaborative (“the YVP Collaborative”) has funded meaningful employment opportunities for each of the past three summers, 2010-2012…The purpose of this research was to study employment outcomes for YVP program participants and comparison group members, the quality of their workplace experiences, and the impacts of the YVP summer employment program on personal and social behaviors that correlate with youth violence and exposure to violence” (p.1-2).(Abstractor: Author)

Full publication title: The Summer Employment Experiences and the Personal/ Social Behaviors of Youth Violence Prevention Employment Program Participants and Those of a Comparison Group

• “Among program participants, net improvements in behavior over the course of the summer took place in 19 of the 22 areas examined (social isolation, risky, deviant, delinquent, and violent behaviors). Thirteen of these 19 changes (including delinquent and violent behavior) were large enough to be classified as statistically significant. The biggest changes in these two areas were typically largest for men” (p.26-27). • “The behavioral findings indicate that high quality employment programs targeted to serve Boston’s disadvantaged 14-21 year olds can reduce their involvement in violent and delinquent and other adverse social behaviors. Collectively, the employment and behavioral findings suggest that the YVP summer employment program helped achieve very desirable labor market, economic, and social policy goals” (p.27). • “Efforts to boost post-program employment opportunities for participants should be promoted given their high desire for jobs and their serious difficulties in acquiring them on their own” (p.27). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2013
• Author(s): Sum, Andrew; Trubskyy, Mykhaylo; McHugh, Walter
• Organizational Author(s): Center for Labor Market Studies, Northeastern University
• Funding Source: Youth Violence Prevention Funder Learning Collaborative
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies