Data shows that the most consistently effective path to a life and family sustaining career is through attainment of a college degree. However, rising higher education costs, mental health burdens and the need to help provide for parents and younger siblings has meant that many young people in Greater Boston do not have equitable access to this pathway.
College matriculation rates dropped more than 10 percentage points in the past decade, from 73.2% in 2015 to 62.4% in 2022. These numbers are even more stark for youth from low-income families and BIPOC youth. The disparities are clear along racial and socio-economic lines: matriculation rates for Black students are at 56.6%, students from low-income families at 45.1%, and Latino youth at 38.5%.
How can we create more support networks for Boston’s youth? Northeastern University’s C2C (Community to Community) Impact Engine and the City of Boston’s Office of Youth Employment & Opportunity recently convened practitioners, direct service staff and policy leaders to learn about current available programming and how to develop integrated supports for Boston youth transitioning from high school to the next stage of their lives.
Takeaways from the forum included increased exploration on approaches such as:
- Linking the Boston Public Schools academic learning to summer jobs and careers beyond high school.
- Linking the Boston Public Schools academic learning to summer jobs and careers beyond high school.
- Expanding “Learn and Earn” higher education opportunities for summer jobs.
- Expanding “Learn and Earn” higher education opportunities for summer jobs.
- Laddering professional experiences from one summer to the next.
- Laddering professional experiences from one summer to the next.
Early college and early access to the workforce are proven strategies touted to support youth in attaining a successful future. Boston offers a “Summer Learn and Earn” program for high school juniors and seniors to earn money while taking college-level courses in a variety of majors, from IT and business to HVAC and web design. The program includes wrap around support services such as academic coaching, campus tours, financial aid information sessions and more.
Practitioners at the C2C workshops also lifted up Early College, which allows high school students to take college-level courses for free during high school, giving them a head start on college credit completion and potentially saving thousands of dollars as they pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree. Our New Way Forward partners such as West End House and Franklin Cummings Tech serve youth and young adults in this space and have seen their students get ahead in college and earn money for their future.
“In order for us to meet our goal of attaining economic justice for our youth and young adults, we must scale these promising programs that have a track record of success,” said Juan Cantu, Vice President for Pathways for Youth & Young Adults at United Way of Massachusetts Bay. “We support our partners at the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College and work closely with the City of Boston to ensure that young people have access to these workforce and college opportunities throughout their time at BPS. Together we can invest in our young people and ensure they are ready for the challenges ahead.”