This WDB Youth Committee Guide is designed to provide Youth Committee members with the basic knowledge of the WIOA Youth Program to better understand their role in serving on the Youth Committee. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) promotes a broad vision of high-quality comprehensive career services for at-risk youth (in-school youth ages 14-24 years and out-of-school youth 16-24 years). Beginning with individual assessments of academic and work readiness and personal strengths and challenges, the local area Youth Programs provide opportunities for overcoming barriers to success with career readiness activities, career exploration and guidance, and support for educational attainment and occupational skills training leading to enrollment in postsecondary education or a good job along a career pathway. The Youth Committee supports the work of the local boards in developing their youth programs and contributes to the design of a comprehensive community workforce development system, with opportunities on career pathways that will benefit North Carolina’s Young Adults.
The work of the Youth Committee is to recommend strategies for improved services to youth target populations, including youth with disabilities, foster care youth, youth offenders, children of incarcerated parents, homeless youth, and pregnant and parenting teens. These efforts lead youth to career pathways opportunities and help identify methods for providing program elements in local area youth programs such as adult mentoring, financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills training, activities that prepare youth for transition to postsecondary education and training or identify internships that lead to job placement.
The Youth Committee commits to local area system-building to align youth services, avoid duplication, and increase career development, education, and workforce development opportunities to at-risk youth through resource mapping, identification of a competitive selection of eligible service providers, and community partnerships. Members serve in a spirit of collaboration to suggest ways to bring together resources and services among schools, programs, and organizations serving youth.
This guide provides general information about WIOA, the local Workforce Development Board (WDB) requirements, Youth Committee structure, Youth Program design and eligibility requirements. The intent is for WDBs to add local content as warranted to serve as a resource tool for their Youth Committee.
