DIRECTIVE	:	TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION NOTICE NO. 23-95
TO	:	ALL STATE JTPA LIAISONS ALL STATE WAGNER-PEYSER ADMINISTERING AGENCIES
FROM	:	BARBARA ANN FARMER Administrator for Regional Management
SUBJECT	:	Calendar Year 1996 Summer Youth Initiatives

1. Purpose. To communicate the Department's continued commitment to summer youth initiatives and support of private sector involvement in summer jobs, as well as to provide assistance to states and local areas in their private sector campaigns this summer.

2. Background. Preparing today's young people for tomorrow's high-skill jobs is essential to our Nation's continuing success. For more than a decade, the JTPA Summer Youth Employment and Training Program has introduced young people to the world of work and has helped them better understand how to apply the knowledge and skills they learn in school, while paving the way for brighter, more productive futures.

   In recent years, the Department's Summer Challenge has urged businesses to get involved -- to provide summer jobs for teens in their communities, to provide funding for programs to help those younger teens, to serve as mentors in the schools, and so on. The Department has also urged the private sector to play a larger and more vital role in preparing young people for the world of work, recognizing that employers know best the sorts of skills they need in their future employees to remain competitive.

   As demonstrated in previous years, States know the importance of private sector involvement in youth efforts and have, for the last few years, responded to the Department's Challenge by initiating a variety of private sector campaigns. Today, given the reduced funding of JTPA

   programs, private sector participation is more important than ever. Therefore, the Department encourages you

   and the local areas in your State not only to continue, but to intensify efforts to engage the private sector in local summer youth job programs this year.

3. Technical Assistance. To this end, the Department is sending to the training and employment system SummerWorks A Compendium of 1995 Private Sector Summer Youth Jobs Initiatives and School-to-Work Summer Programs, a "how-to" booklet developed by staff of the San Francisco Regional Office. The booklet is based on a series of interviews with private sector employers and employment and training practitioners active in youth initiatives in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.

   ETA's Regional Offices will be distributing this booklet, along with a cover letter from Assistant Secretary Tim Barnicle, to your offices and to all SDA's in the State, in order to share successful strategies for developing private sector summer youth jobs. As additional technical assistance materials become available, they will also be provided to you.

4. Inquiries. Please contact your Regional Office for any additional information or questions you may have.

5. Separate Cover. SummerWorks A Compendium of 1995 Private Sector Summer Youth Jobs Initiatives and School-to-Work Summer Programs.

NOTE: Not available to DMS