As with any innovative project, there were many successes as well as challenges encountered by the Adult Connections Team over the 5 year grant. Some of the more significant ones included:
Successes:
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- Mentoring relationships that lasted beyond the 1 year commitment and beyond the youth’s emancipation from care
- Employment successes beyond 6 months
- Youth hired at Children’s Home + Aid remained in their positions for nearly 3 years
- Ability to engage with youth who initially declined to participate
- Helping youth work through conflict at work rather than lose their job
- Addressing other needs such as applying for college, completing FAFSA, opening bank accounts, assistance with housing applications, negotiating relationship challenges with case managers or foster parent
Challenges:
- Difficulties maintaining contact with youth due to frequent changes in phone number, loss of cell phone, moving to different placements, and changes in case manager and case management agency
- Inconsistent contact between youth and their Success Coach caused lack of accurate contact information
- Additionally, some of the young adults did not always make themselves available to their Success Coach
- In the NEXT program, some youth started Job Readiness Training, but did not complete all of the modules
- Some youth had unreliable or even inappropriate contact information, (e.g., unprofessional email account names) which caused problems for employers who attempted to contact youth for interviews
- Some youth struggled to gain employment after completion of JRT due to lack of a High School diploma or GED
- Some youth were unable to pass a drug screen, which is required by many employers
- Monthly attendance for Peer Connections events was very inconsistent due to geographic and scheduling constraints
