There is a multitude of programs that support Opportunity Youth. In Hartford specifically, there are fifteen (15) programs that are dedicated to providing these youth with the means to reintegrate into society by way of entering the school system or labor force. A few of these programs are listed below:
Our Piece of the Pie (OPP) Hartford
Blue Hills Civic Association Hartford
Urban League of Greater Hartford
Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA)
Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)
Services Provided
We have received aggregated data from five of these listed programs which we have used in our research analysis. These programs provide these youth with a variety of services to help them along their journey. The services they offer has been aggregated and they fall under the specific categories. These categories have been defined as follows:
Services |
|
Categories |
Definition |
|
Adult Education |
Practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values
|
|
Basic Skills |
Individual or group instruction focusing on increasing literacy and numeracy skills; includes English as a second language instruction
|
|
Career Competency |
Career readiness; skill development in areas such as job seeking, customer service, interpersonal and communication skills, personal qualities, problem-solving and decision making, and computer literacy
|
|
Entrepreneurial Training |
Training on the basics of starting and operating a small business
|
|
Financial Literacy Education |
Budgeting; opening bank accounts; managing spending, credit, debt; consumer rights education; credit reports; education on making informed financial decisions; identity theft education; money management; workshops
|
|
Follow up Services |
Services provided after program completion/exit
|
|
Guidance and Counseling |
Comprehensive guidance and counseling; behavioral health counseling; career awareness; career coaching; career exploration; career guidance; drug and alcohol abuse counseling; financial counseling; exposure to post-secondary educational possibilities; assistance enrolling in and transitioning to education and training
|
|
Individual Services Strategy |
Objective assessment; career pathway identification; goal setting; goal progress
|
|
Integrated ed and training |
Education offered concurrently with and in the same context as workforce preparation activities and training for a specific occupation or occupational cluster
|
|
Job development |
Job search assistance; job coaching; job mentoring; job development; regular contact with a participant’s employer, including assistance in addressing work-related problems; assistance in securing a better paying job or further education or training; career pathway development; work-related peer support groups
|
|
Leadership development |
Community and service learning projects; peer-centered activities, including peer mentoring and tutoring; organizational and teamwork training, including team leadership training; training in decision-making, including determining priorities and problem-solving; citizenship training, including life skills training such as parenting and work behavior training; civic engagement activities; youth leadership roles; job clubs; networking
|
|
Occupational skills training |
An organized program of study that provides specific vocational skills that lead to proficiency in performing actual tasks and technical functions required by certain occupational fields at entry, intermediate, or advanced levels; On-the-job training; pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship training
|
|
Support services |
Services that are provided that help Opportunity Youth complete the program they are in.
|
|
Work experience |
Providing Opportunity Youth with work experience and helping them find jobs
|
|
Mentoring |
Providing mentors to Opportunity Youth |
Three of the listed categories, Support services, Work experience, and Mentoring, were not defined on the Data dictionary we had been provided by Hartford Data Collaborative. We have defined these categories as best as we could.
The five programs we have received data for are listed below:
Our Piece of the Pie (OPP) Hartford
Blue Hills Civic Association Hartford
Urban League of Greater Hartford
These programs have served 1127 youth throughout Hartford, and these youth are divided throughout Hartford according to the location of the programs, as shown in the map above.