Youth Employment & CTE Initiative
To build a brighter future for Alexandria youth and the broader community, we are investing in solutions to strengthen the youth career readiness and employment system.
In 2024, ACT launched a Youth CTE & Employment Work Group to better understand the support systems available to youth seeking fulfilling careers, meaningful employment opportunities, and brighter futures. The group includes more than 50 leaders from city government, Alexandria City Public Schools, local nonprofits, funders, higher education institutions, and local and regional employers. Guided by an “open systems” framework, the group focuses on breaking down silos, fostering cross-sector partnerships and building trust within the community.
This Youth Employment & CTE Working Group Objectives include:
- Enhancing youth career readiness opportunities and outcomes
- Streamlining resources by promoting cross-sector collaboration
- Addressing systemic barriers to create equitable opportunities for marginalized youth
- Developing a youth employment pipeline aligned with regional workforce needs
Between April and October 2024, the group met bi-weekly to identify critical challenges and opportunities within our current ecosystem. Drawing on best practices and insights from communities across the country, key findings were identified to more effectively support Alexandria’s young people. Click below for a brief overview of the work to date and the Working Group Report that documents our learning journey.
From Classroom to Career, Youth Employment and CTE Working Group Report
Youth Employment & CTE Working Group Report
We are currently working with Flown Consulting to create a program map with a cohesive referral system to connect youth and their families to valuable employment and career readiness resources. As we seek to identify opportunities to enhance services, address gaps and eliminate overlaps, we are seeking input from various stakeholders through surveys.
Provider Survey – we want to learn more about your experiences with helping young people engage in programming related to work, internships, and/or career preparation. We want to learn about what programs exist, how people hear about them, and what could be better in Alexandria to help prepare youth for future work. Take the survey here.
Nonprofit/Provider Survey Link: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/kTCIli
Employer Survey – we want to learn more about your experiences with entry level employment, internships, mentoring and/or career preparation for young people. We want to learn about what you offer, if you do not offer anything, why not, and what could be better in Alexandria to help prepare youth for future work.
Employer Survey Link: https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/yFCIB5
One of our goals is to center student and family voices in this process and hearing from them about their experience navigating youth employment and career readiness resources. Our student and family surveys have been translated into Amharic, Arabic and Spanish.
Student Survey – we are seeking input from students about their experiences with work, internships, or career preparation programs. We want to learn about what programs exist, how you hear about them, and what could be better to help prepare you for future work.
Student Survey link (options for English, Amharic, Arabic, Dari, and Spanish are linked at the top) – https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/rjfBM3
Families Survey – we are seeking input from family members’ experiences with youth employment, internships, and/or career preparation programs for your student/s. We want to learn about what programs exist, how you hear about them, and what could be better to help prepare your student for future work.
Family Survey Link (options for English, Amharic, Arabic, Dari, and Spanish are linked at the top): https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/jCCI52
Questions or to participate in a focus group – please reach out to christine@flownconsulting.com
We will continue to build strong partnerships with employers to create a robust pipeline of opportunities, including expanding access to work-based learning programs. Our goal is to establish a unified data structure to track youth outcomes and program impact to enhance our ability to measure success. Finally, we will prioritize social-emotional learning and support services to foster greater youth development. We know engaging parents, families and mentors will also strengthen the support system. All of this will be done with a commitment to building trust through transparency, intentionality and shared responsibility.
“As a member of the Youth Employment and CTE Working Group, the Workforce Development Center’s Youth Team has fostered valuable connections with community partners and employers. ACT plays a crucial role in uniting us to address shared challenges, enabling us all to more effectively support and serve the Alexandria community.” – Katrina Ashmore, Chief of Workforce Development, City of Alexandria
For more information, please contact Brandi Yee at brandi.yee@actforalexandria.org