Learning to LEAP: Resources Share Early Lessons on Supporting Youth

Three new resources have one shared con­nec­tion: A focus on the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Learn and Earn to Achieve Poten­tial (LEAP)™ initiative.

Now in its third year, LEAP aims to help youth who are home­less or have expe­ri­ence nav­i­gat­ing the child wel­fare and jus­tice sys­tems. The ini­tia­tive employs two mod­els — Jobs for America’s Grad­u­ates and JFF’s Back on Track — to move these youth onto path­ways that can advance their edu­ca­tion and employ­ment success.

Ten local part­ner­ships dri­ve this effort, which spans 54 cities across eight states as well as a grow­ing net­work of fun­ders and four nation­al orga­ni­za­tions: Jobs for America’s Grad­u­ates, JFF, MDRC and School & Main Institute.

The three resources, ref­er­enced below, cov­er key lessons learned in LEAP’s ear­ly years.

MDRC’s data snap­shot: engag­ing young peo­ple in LEAP

Since launch­ing LEAP pro­gram­ming in April 2016, the 10 local part­ner­ships have enrolled near­ly 2,000 young peo­ple in job-train­ing and post­sec­ondary pro­grams at 87 loca­tions nation­wide. A data snap­shot from MDRC describes LEAP par­tic­i­pants, reveal­ing that:

• more than 80% are youth of color;
• 56% have been involved in fos­ter care;
• 38% have been involved in the jus­tice sys­tem; and
• 46% have expe­ri­enced homelessness.

MDRC’s data snap­shot also describes how sites have adapt­ed their approach­es to engage LEAP youth. These adap­tions include:

• pro­vid­ing one-on-one learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing to help accom­mo­date par­tic­i­pants who are jug­gling work and parenthood;
• inte­grat­ing trau­ma-informed prac­tices into their pro­gram­ming as well as a focus on youth resilience;
• part­ner­ing with oth­er youth-serv­ing orga­ni­za­tions to improve data-shar­ing and refer­ral net­works; and
• offer­ing a pause option for par­tic­i­pants who face unex­pect­ed life chal­lenges, enabling them to sta­bi­lize their sit­u­a­tions before resum­ing the program.

These find­ings are part of a larg­er eval­u­a­tion, which MDRC will release in 2019.

School & Main’s brief: sup­port­ing suc­cess­ful tran­si­tions from the jus­tice system

“Mak­ing Edu­ca­tion and Career Path­ways Work for Jus­tice-Involved Youth,” a brief from School & Main Insti­tute, tells how LEAP part­ner­ships are work­ing to con­nect jus­tice-involved youth with greater edu­ca­tion­al and employ­ment opportunities.

It rec­om­mends:

• focus­ing on rela­tion­ships, since cul­ti­vat­ing trust is key.
• help­ing youth address their imme­di­ate needs, includ­ing hous­ing, child care and men­tal health ser­vices, so they can bet­ter plan for their futures.
• con­nect­ing young peo­ple with employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties that allow them to earn an income while still par­tic­i­pat­ing in LEAP.
• devel­op­ing cross-sec­tor part­ner­ships — with courts, pro­ba­tion offi­cers and oth­er local offi­cials — to pro­vide young peo­ple with per­son­al­ized, inte­grat­ed support.
• start­ing ear­ly since we know that the soon­er young peo­ple enroll in pro­gram­ming, the less like­ly they are to reoffend.

JFF’s report: shift­ing post­sec­ondary practices

Post­sec­ondary Sys­tems Change, a report from JFF, exam­ines how LEAP sites are part­ner­ing with post­sec­ondary insti­tu­tions to help young peo­ple suc­cess­ful­ly pur­sue edu­ca­tion and training.

It rec­om­mends:

• increas­ing on-cam­pus hous­ing options for young peo­ple in fos­ter care, enabling them to remain in their dorms dur­ing hol­i­days and oth­er aca­d­e­m­ic breaks when stu­dents typ­i­cal­ly vacate;
• offer­ing one-on-one coach­ing ser­vices to help LEAP par­tic­i­pants com­plete the Free Appli­ca­tion for Fed­er­al Stu­dent Aid, review reward require­ments and nav­i­gate the appeals process if fee- or grade-relat­ed bar­ri­ers arise; and
• pro­vid­ing trans­porta­tion assis­tance, on-cam­pus child care and oth­er wrap­around sup­port services.

“Learn­ing and eval­u­a­tion are key com­po­nents of LEAP,” says Patrice Cromwell, direc­tor of strate­gic ini­tia­tives at the Casey Foun­da­tion. ​“We’re excit­ed to share these lessons, and we hope they can help improve youth-serv­ing sys­tems and insti­tu­tion­al prac­tices so that more young peo­ple — espe­cial­ly those fac­ing some of life’s most dif­fi­cult chal­lenges — can reach their full potential.”

Learn more about LEAP’s ear­ly progress