Work, Work, Work, Work: The Challenges of Measuring Youth Unemployment in the Brooklyns

Abstract

This project was completed as part of the 2016-2017 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Brooklyn Park. Unemployment rates in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center are higher than those for Minnesota as a whole. The Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth works with young people in both cities, and one aspect of their work is preparing students for college and careers. The goal of this project was to define youth employment, determine benchmarks to measure youth readiness for college, and create an assessment tool to determine whether or not youth in the Brooklyns are on a career and education path to employment. Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth staff member Ivan Lui worked with a team of students in for students in PA 5251: Strategic Planning and Management, to develop recommendations for the Brooklyns to better measure youth employment and more fully understand the career and employment needs of young people in the two cities. The students' final report and presentation are available.