American YouthWorks-type efforts saving kids daily & could be expanded
Showing their fellow lawmakers that theyre a couple of the few who evidently understand how to help Texas teenagers recover their lives finally yesterday comes State Reps Mark Strama (D-Austin) & Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) with an effort to rally support for struggling kids via a Green Jobs Program provided by charter school operator American YouthWorks in Austin. Austin prognosticators wondering how many bills of significance might make it out of the Texas House are taking note of how many legislators are suddenly falling in line to support their effort.
Committee Substitute to Senate Bill 108 (CSSB 108) would require the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to establish a green jobs" program via various grants to expand an already proven & statistically viable job skills training programs for Texas school-age kids and others most of whom have already dropped out of school
CSSB 108 calls for the Workforce Commission to expand already successful youth and young veterans training programs that teach participants mathematics through learning how to build a house which happens to require exhaustive amounts of measuring geometry math and not the least of which hard work.
An already successful pilot project that serves as a model for the Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) Reps. Mark Strama (D-Austin) Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) & Eddie Lucio III (D-Brownsville) idea has been operating in East Austin for years run by the non-profit Charter School called American YouthWorks. Its intensive ½-day work and ½-day mandatory classroom education teaches those who had previously given up acquiring a high school diploma self-sufficiency and a degree.
A small East Austin neighborhood resembling the Land of Oz because of its brightly colored homes includes small energy efficient homes build by drop-out youths fresh off the streets whove learned the hard way an education is more attractive then a life without purpose. That drive is the most significant incentive leading high-school age youth to enroll & maintain lifestyles of strict scheduling and tutored work-training.
Those completing the program graduate with a high school degree and certification in homebuilding job skills often worth over $50000 in salary in todays homebuilding market.
The bill requires a participant in order to qualify for eligibility to participate in the youth training program to be an individual who is at least 16 years of age not older than 24 upon the date of enrollment who either is not attending high school and has not received a high school diploma (or high school equivalency certificate) but is at risk of dropping out of high school or is recommended for enrollment by the high school or the equivalency certification program.
The bill requires a program participant in addition to meeting the requirements described above to be a member of a household that receives public assistance that earns not more than 80 of the area median income; to be educationally disadvantaged be referred to the program by a school district state agency or court; or be a veteran who is not older than 24 years of age.
The Juvenile Probation Commission (JPC) would provide grants to juvenile boards for the community-based programs and would be required to establish guidelines for implementation of the programs. JPC would be required to prepare and deliver a report describing the implementation and effectiveness of the community-based programs and comparing the cost of the community-based programs to the cost of committing youth to TYC.
C.S.S.B. 108 requires future training program like American YouthWorks to be funded through non-profit grant program or be hosted by a regional partnership that presents a plan to implement training programs that lead trainees to economic self-sufficiency and legitimate jobs-skill career pathways. These could include university or college or technical school or other nonprofit workforce training provider such as Chambers of Commerce or local workforce agency or other partnering local employers.
The bill requires the training program to assist an eligible individual in obtaining education skills training and labor market information to enhance their employability in a highly skilled and productive workforce industry.
The bill requires participating training programs to receive funding for a period not to exceed three years so results & provable results hold accountable those receiving funding.
C.S.S.B. 108 requires the Texas Workforce Commission in determining whether to award a grant to an applicant to give preference to a training program that provides certification and a career advancement mechanism to a worker who receives job skills training under the program and leverages additional public and private resources to fund the program including cash or in-kind matches.
The bill also requires grants to be awarded in a manner that ensures geographic diversity thereby ensuring true implementation in differing demographic areas to gather information for potential further growth in the state.
The bill requires TWC not later than October 1 of each even-numbered year to submit a report to the governor the lieutenant governor and the
Speaker of the Texas House summarizing in detail program results that must include a full summary of all information for grants awarded to include the total dollar amount of grants awarded; the geographical distribution of grants awarded; the number of youths and other participants enrolled in projects funded by grants; the number of youths and other participants who are projected to secure full-time jobs at the conclusion of participation in projects funded by grants; the number of youths who are projected to graduate from high school or receive a high school equivalency certificate while participating in the program; and the estimated dollar savings due to improved energy efficiency in projects funded by grants.
