AGENDA REPORT
TO: Edward D. Reiskin FROM: Alexa Jeffress
City Administrator Director, Economic and
Workforce Development
SUBJECT: Informational Report on Youth
Employment Programs
DATE: June 20, 2022
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report From The City Administrator On (1) All Youth Employment Programs Within The City Of Oakland, Including The Total Number Of Placements For 2022; (2) Funding Sources That Support Youth Workforce Programs; (3) Efforts To Increase Youth Participants; (4) Clarify The Application Process To Businesses And Participating Youth; (5) Outreach Efforts And; (6) Youth Employment Opportunities Within City Departments
BACKGROUND
At the June 7, 2022 City Council meeting, the City Council (Council) requested that staff provide a report about Youth Employment Programs that includes: an update on all Youth Employment Programs within the City of Oakland, including the total number of positions or placements for the current year, funding sources, plans and efforts to expand the number of youth participants, further clarify the City’s application process for young people, and employment opportunities within City departments.
This informational report focuses on the Oakland Workforce Development Board’s (OWDB) summer and year-round youth employment programming and funding sources, including a report out on activities across other City departments, and also shares updates on steps OWDB staff have taken to advance these efforts and makes additional recommendations for how to support collaboration across other City departments involved in youth employment programming.
Jun 23, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Youth Employment Programs Date: June 15, 2022 Page 2
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
All Youth Employment Programs Within the City of Oakland, Including the Total Number of Positions or Placements for the Current Year
In addition to the OWDB, several City Departments provide summer and year-round employment opportunities for youth including: 1) Oakland Public Works (OPW) provides youth employment through the “Team Oakland” program and serves an average of 100 youth ages 15 to 24 each summer; 2) Oakland Parks Recreation and Youth Development Department (OPRYD) provides 300 job opportunities through their summer programming; 3) the Human Services Department (HSD) Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY) funds youth workforce development programs that provide summer jobs in collaboration with Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) Exploring College, Career, and Community Options (ECCCO) program to over 450 students and in partnership with the OWDB, OFCY will support 205 youth this summer and; 4) the Department of Violence Prevention (DVP) serves 230 youth through their Career Exploration and Education programming.
For 2022, the OWDB will also place an estimated 575 youth into year-round and summer employment through federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programming and the new State-funded Oakland Forward program.
Table 1 below shows the total number of positions for the current year:
Table 1 – Youth Employment Placements in Oakland 2022
Department Type of Program No. of Positions
OPW “Team Oakland” Summer 100
OPRYD Summer 300
DVP Summer/Year- Round 230
OFCY/ OWDB Partnership Summer 205
OFCY “OUSD ECCCO” Summer 450
OWDB (current & estimated) Summer/Year-Round 575
TOTAL 1,860
Funding Sources for Youth Employment Programs supported by OFCY and OWDB
Currently the estimated funding sources to support the 2022 Summer Youth and year-round programming for youth, including funding for the programs run by both OWDB and HSD/OFCY, is as follows:
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Youth Employment Programs Date: June 15, 2022 Page 3
Table 2 – Revenue Sources from OFCY and OWDB Programming Revenue Sources OFCY OWDB TOTAL
CaliforniansForAll Youth Workforce Grant
“Oakland Forward”*
$3,489,577 $3,489,577
WIOA Youth $2,448,161 $2,448,161
Private Fundraising $100,000 $100,000
Measure HH
Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax
$400,000 $400,000
OFCY $525,000 $525,000
TOTAL $525,000 $6,437,738 $6,962,738
*Include funding for summer and year-round employment opportunities.
This funding includes a new source not available in prior years, with approximately $3.5 million from the CaliforniansForAll “Oakland Forward” Youth and Young Adult Workforce grant.
The City applied at the end of 2021 for this noncompetitive funding to support youth workforce programming, with funds allocated to each of California’s 13 largest cities depending on population. Through the FY 21-22 California State budget, the city of Oakland applied for and was allocated $5.9 million in youth workforce development funding from this program.1 As shown above, $3.5 million of the total $5.9 million is allocated for youth programming in FY 2022-2023 with the remaining funds to be spent on administrative costs and programming in the following fiscal year. Funds must be obligated by June 30, 2024.
OWDB staff have designed a program called “Oakland Forward” to use these state funds to create a year-round youth and young adult employment program to support climate resilience and improve neighborhood conditions as part of the City’s COVID-19 recovery, with a focus on two areas: 1) Clean and Green and 2) Public Safety. Youth engagement and workforce development in target sectors, including green jobs, are key pillars of the City’s Economic Recovery Plan.2 The City’s recently released Equitable Climate Action Plan (ECAP)3 outlines the importance of climate resilience and identifies opportunity for green jobs in areas such as material waste consumption, recycling, carbon removal and environmental stewardship. In addition, recent surveys of small businesses overwhelmingly identify public safety and illegal dumping as key priorities for Oakland’s economic recovery. This program will include both contracts with community workforce service providers and positions within City departments as discussed in Section 6 below.
Expansion Efforts
OWDB staff have been working to secure additional funding in collaboration with Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, and other City partners to support expansion efforts for youth development. OWDB staff is actively meeting with several foundations and businesses who are interested in supporting youth programming and those efforts will be ongoing.
1 https://www.californiavolunteers.ca.gov/california-volunteers-big-city-mayors-announce-program-to- employ-underserved-youth/
2 https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/oaklands-economic-recovery 3 https://www.oaklandca.gov/projects/2030ecap
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Youth Employment Programs Date: June 15, 2022 Page 4
The Workforce Development division of the Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD) has initiated several actions to better understand and integrate workforce programming across the City so that future youth employment programs, including summer employment are better coordinated and effective in serving Oakland youth.
EWDD has partnered with FUSE Corps for one year hosting an Executive FUSE Fellow to help build capacity and create a holistic workforce development system for the city by conducting a landscape analysis of Oakland’ s workforce development programs, policies, and existing investments. The project goal is to develop an innovative and cohesive workforce development strategy for the city. 4 The plan will identify a clear, unified vision for the city ’s role in workforce development in Oakland, emphasizing solutions t hat diminish inequitable outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) residents. The plan will make recommendations to increase cross -departmental coordination, improve processes, and re -align resources and financial investments to increase efficiency and effectiveness, integrating best practices. This project is actively underway, with a draft of the report expected by September 2022.
Application Process
Young people aged 16 to 21 interested in applying for a summer job opportunity through the OWDB Summer Youth Employment program can apply at: www.oaklandca.gov/wdb.
Efforts are underway to improve the existing online platform to centralize and increase exposure to donors and businesses and help establish credibility and longevity for youth employment programs. These updates to the website will also make it easier to navigate and connect young people directly to organizations providing job opportunities.
A universal application was not feasible for summer 2022 as providers have already begun their own recruitment and have their own existing application process. In addition, the Workforce division does not have dedicated marketing staff and has been operating with significant vacancies since 2021. Staff will work with providers to explore the development of a universal application for next year as the Workforce division continues to build staff capacity.
Outreach
City staff are working to build deep relationships with key stakeholders across multiple City departments, public schools and community colleges, local workers unions, chambers of commerce, and the largest private employers in the city to promote summer and year-round opportunities for youth including collaborating with organizations serving Oakland youth to better coordinate city wide efforts and to better popularize available programs offered by the City.
Creation of Employment Opportunities within City Departments
Through the CaliforniansForAll “Oakland Forward” program, staff are working closely with DVP, the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and OPW to increase employment opportunities for young people ages 16-30. Funding support to OPD and OPW will go towards salary for ten (10) cadets for OPD and a pilot training and employment program for OPW that supports new
4 https://www.fusecorps.org/projects/expanding-pathways-into-high-quality-jobs-by-aligning-workforce- investments/
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Youth Employment Programs Date: June 15, 2022 Page 5
positions with their Safety and Training department, as well as an estimated twenty (20) youth positions in DVP through their Career Exploration and Education programming. Success of these investments will support expansion of these efforts to other City departments in the upcoming year.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact from receiving this informational report.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
This information report responds to council and public interest in youth employment opportunities raised at City Council meeting on June 7, 2022.
COORDINATION
In addition to the Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD), information for this report was provided by OPD, DVP, OPW, OFCY, and OPRYD. Discussions were also had with OUSD’s High School Linked Learning Office.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Oakland’s Workforce Development system provides qualified workers for Oakland businesses and prepares Oakland residents for gainful employment and career paths leading to family sustaining jobs.
Environmental: This report does not directly address environmental sustainability.
Race & Equity: Oakland’s Workforce Development system prioritize services to targeted populations (African American and Latinx) and geographic areas of Oakland (East and West), that have the highest numbers of residents who face disproportionately high levels of unemployment. Per the 2020 OWDB Race and Equity Analysis, the Workforce division identified critical disparities in employment access in Oakland, specifically in “[t]he communities of East Oakland, Fruitvale and West Oakland, where a high number of Black and Latinx residents live and are unemployed at higher rates than the general population.
Target areas are in zip codes 94621, 94603, 94605, 94601, 94607.
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Youth Employment Programs Date: June 15, 2022 Page 6
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report From The City Administrator On (1) All Youth Employment Programs Within The City Of Oakland, Including The Total Number Of Placements For 2022; (2) Funding Sources That Support Youth Workforce Programs; (3) Efforts To Increase Youth Participants; (4) Clarify The Application Process To Businesses And Participating Youth; (5) Outreach Efforts And; (6) Youth Employment Opportunities Within City Departments.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Quinallison Dovey, Program Analyst II of the Economic and Workforce Development Department at [email protected] or (510) 268-
6856 or Honorata Lindsay, Program Analyst III of the Economic and Workforce Development Department at [email protected] or (510) 268-3383.
Respectfully submitted,
ALEXA JEFFRESS
Director, Economic and Workforce
Development Department
Reviewed by: Sofia Navarro, Executive
Director, Oakland Workforce Development
Board
Prepared by: Quinallison Dovey, Program
Analyst II, Oakland Workforce Development
Board