Pennsylvania Prepares Youth For Workplace Success
Posted on: 2nd December 2009
Department of Labor & Industry Secretary Sandi Vito and Department of Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak today discussed how to better prepare youth for success in the workplace by improving the state’s youth career development programs and services.
“To help Pennsylvania’s workforce recover from the national recession we must be dually focused on immediate solutions to get Pennsylvanians back to work, and on making that recovery sustainable by properly preparing our youth for the careers and economy of the future,” Vito said during a panel discussion at the Pennsylvania Youth Services Academy conference in Grantville.
“We have a unique, award-winning system of partnerships, service providers and workforce investment boards providing career education here in Pennsylvania,” Zahorchak said. “It’s critical that we continue to hold these discussions, develop innovative policies and explore strategic partnerships to keep building upon that success in the future.”
The conference, themed “Building for Recovery: Empowering Pennsylvania Youth,” runs through Dec. 2. It provides a forum to share best practices, develop solutions to workforce and education challenges and discuss the future of youth employment programs and services in Pennsylvania. Attendees include several Pennsylvania youth participants, along with representatives from Pennsylvania’s Regional Career Education Partnerships, or RCEPs, local workforce investment boards, youth services providers and other practitioners involved in youth workforce development across the state.
Pennsylvania already has several successful workforce development initiatives focused on youth. RCEPs were recently received the “State Excellence Award for Leadership” from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies for being an outstanding workforce-related program. Pennsylvania’s RCEPs connect businesses, education, and communities to prepare Pennsylvania’s future workforce. The 22 partnerships across the state provide more than 323,000 students better opportunities to gain the knowledge, skills and work-based learning critical for success in college and careers.
Pennsylvania’s Summer Youth Employment Program was a major focus of the conference. Feedback from this past summer, as well as recommendations for future programming, will be gathered during the conference for inclusion in a tool kit to be provided to participants at a later date.
For more information about the Pennsylvania Youth Services Academy, visit www.papartners.org.