The L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) presented youth workforce programming engagement key findings from a 2023 study at The California Workforce Association's Youth Summit in February. Presenters, including UNITE-LA's Amber Chatman, OYC's co-conveners Melanie Ferrer-Vaughn and Ena Volic, and L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity's Vincent Malone, shared recommendations for youth engagement, based on youth-centered design and healing-centered engagement principles.

OYC's presentation highlighted the significance of relationship-building and aligning services with foster youth's unique interests and needs, offering valuable takeaways for creating more inclusive workforce programs.

The presentation also highlighted L.A. County's Automated Referral System (ARS), launched in 2019, built to simplify connections between child welfare workers and public workforce services. Featuring interviews and focus groups with youth referred through the ARS, the study provides crucial insights for effective workforce programming, informed by the lived experience of youth.

The youth engagement case study is slated to be released this year. For more information, please reach out to Amber Chatman, Director of Workforce Systems and Policy, at [email protected].