The Youth Council

Youth Council members

The Youth Council is a subcommittee of the Board and is responsible for the oversight of Workforce Investment Act Youth services in the region. The Youth Council is an all volunteer subcommittee and currently has over fifty members that represent both public and private organizations that provide services to young people in our region.

The duties of the Youth Council include:

• Developing the portions of the local plan relating to eligible youth, as determined by the chairperson of the local Board.
• Recommending to the local Board eligible providers of youth activities to be considered for grants or contracts on a competitive basis.
• Conducting oversight with respect to eligible providers of youth activities.
• Coordinating youth activities that are authorized by the Act.
• Other duties determined to be appropriate by the chairperson of the local Board.

In addition to these mandated requirements of the Workforce Investment Act our local Board through the Youth Council has several grants that provide the following:

• Department of Education School to Career Connecting Activities - 900 students annually participate in internships in local businesses connected to academics and workplace skills through the Massachusetts Work-based Learning Plan.
• Construction Career Days - 200 students annually attend this event at the Hopkinton Training Center to learn about the wide variety of occupations in the construction industry.
• Community Service Learning Youth Council Grant - Sponsors a junior youth council that annually surveys youth needs in the region and develops and issues a request for proposals from other youth groups to address those needs. These funds provide youth groups with the resources to develop community service learning activities or events that address local youth needs identified by youth. The Junior Youth Council has provided $33,000 in mini grants from 2005 - 2009.
• Summer Employment - In 2009 the Youth Council and Employment Links Inc. are working with local cities and towns, school districts, Mount Wachusett Community College, local businesses and youth service providers to offer over 400 youth a summer work and learning opportunity. This new initiative to provide subsidized summer employment to eligible youth is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
• Pathways to Success by 21 (P21) - The Board and Youth Council have received three rounds of funding from Commonwealth Corporation to develop and implement a strategic plan for vulnerable youth in our region.