TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute all documents with the United States Department of Justice to receive a grant in the amount of $300,000 for a Long Beach Youth Career Academy pilot that will assist probationary youth ages 14-17; to execute all documents with various initiative partners in an amount totaling $145,000; and to execute any needed subsequent amendments. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The Workforce Investment Network (Network) operates and funds various youth programs and services through the Youth Opportunity Center which provides assistance with education completion, access to career and technical education and training, and participation in internships and other work-based experiences. With assistance from Congresswoman Laura Richardson, the City is receiving $300,000 in Congressional Earmark funds for education improvement activities that will augment youth services in the Network's service area through the Youth Career Academy pilot (Academy).
Tandem to reforms adopted by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors around the transition of probationary youth back into communities, the Network began working closely with the Probation Department and the Long Beach Unified School District in 2009 on a pilot strategy funded by the U.S. Department of Education to better coordinate and assist youth returning to Long Beach after incarceration at County Probation Camps. Through that partnership, the Network and Partners are currently working with 70 such young persons, with another 50 to be enrolled this coming year.
These new grant funds through the Department of Justice will allow the Network and its partners to augment that number by 50, bringing the total probationary youth assisted to 170.
The Academy Pilot engages a cohort of youth who significantly contribute to delinquency, gang involvement, and other at-risk behaviors in the community. Services to the youth center include strategies of coordinated education and release planning while youth are still in custody, through structured school placement and mentoring, and through layered career pathways and technical education activities over"time. Of the total $300,000 grant, $155,000 will support the Network's grant oversight and management activities, operating expenses, and participant-related services. The remaining $145,000 will be utilized by partnering organizations as requested below:
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on August 3, 2010 in order to facilitate the processing of required documents.
FISCAL IMPACT
Sufficient funds are currently budgeted in the Community Development Grants Fund (SR 150) in the Department of Community Development (CD) for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY 10) activities. The remaining amount will be appropriated via the Fiscal Year (FY 11) budget process. There is no impact to the General Fund. Approval of this recommendation will result in augmented education and work readiness services to 170 high-school aged youth.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
DENNIS J. THYS
DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
APPROVED:
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER