Set Up for Success: Supporting Immigrant Youth Through the Workforce Development System
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Highlights
The WIOA Youth program holds real promise for connecting immigrant youth to careers, but English proficiency rules and work authorization requirements limit who can be served.
- The WIOA Youth program offers individualized career and educational support to out-of-school youth, including immigrants, through 14 allowable service elements such as job training, internships, and support services.
- In four states studied—Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia—immigrant youth were not a priority group; most were served through existing referral networks rather than intentional outreach.
- English proficiency expectations and the need for work authorization limited immigrant participation; providers struggled to place English Learners and could not serve youth without work authorization.
- Stronger partnerships with immigrant-serving organizations, integrated English and workforce instruction, and better school-to-workforce transitions could expand access for eligible immigrant youth.
Like all young people, immigrant youth find themselves in a high-stakes period of life. They may be completing their education, building professional skills, and finding their first jobs—a transition to adulthood that can have a significant impact on their prospects for long-term educational and career success. With the retirement of the baby boom generation well underway, and immigration expected to be the main driver of future U.S. labor force growth, supporting young immigrants alongside their native-born peers as they make this transition is an important issue for the United States as a whole and for many states and local communities.
Yet, immigrants—and especially English Learners—often fall between the cracks of the systems designed to promote young people’s educational and career success. This policy brief explores efforts to serve immigrant youth in workforce development programs, with a particular focus on a program under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that serves young people disconnected from school or work or facing other barriers: the WIOA Youth program.
Drawing in part on interviews with the staff of local workforce development boards and workforce service providers, this brief examines the WIOA Youth program’s promise and obstacles in reaching this population. It also discusses how the program illustrates promising practices and lingering challenges to serving immigrant youth in workforce development programs more broadly.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Immigrant Youth and Workforce Development in the United States
The Workforce Development System and the WIOA Youth Program
3 The Experiences of Local WIOA Youth Program Providers
A. Delivering the WIOA Youth Program
B. Serving Immigrant Youth
4 Lessons for Serving Immigrant Youth in the Public Workforce Development System
About the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
The Center is a national hub connecting policymakers, educators, community leaders, and service providers with evidence-informed policy research, technical assistance, and data to advance effective immigrant integration at U.S., state, and local levels.
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