Emily Stover DeRocco Speech

Jobs for America's Graduates
Washington, DC
July 21, 2005

Thank you for that very warm introduction and welcome. It is a special delight for me to be here with you today.

This is an organization that my colleagues at the Department of Labor and I are convinced is one of the most effective and valuable leadership organizations in the country for helping high-risk and economically disadvantaged young people to succeed.

You are helping pave the way to where I hope our entire workforce system will go in the future:

• More cost effective.
• More focused on meeting the needs of employers as a way to help ensure good quality jobs and other opportunities for economically disadvantaged young people.
• Looking to the private sector to join with the public sector in leadership, oversight, and supporting roles.
• Demonstrating that we can exceed the performance standards established under WIA and that we in the workforce system can be held to a much higher standard.

And, as our job training reform proposal moves through Congress, I hope we can look to you for a new round of JAG leadership in reaching out-of-school youth and demonstrating the most effective ways of serving them.

Let me spend a few moments on those points, because I do think they are important:

• In the Vision Statement for Youth that we released last year, Jobs for America's Graduates was highlighted as the kind of programmatic approach to which the workforce system should look as they are making investments in economically disadvantaged youth. Although many other programs were considered, JAG and two others were the only ones cited in our Vision Statement. We chose JAG because of your 25-year track record of success. You are our model and one that we hope we can encourage others to follow.
• You are also doing extraordinary work in helping very high-risk and economically disadvantaged young people succeed in high school. I know you will hear more from Senator Carper and Assistant Secretary Sclafani this evening about No Child Left Behind and the goals of our Administration in ensuring that, truly, no child is left behind.
  
  We have the enthusiastic support of the great majority in the Congress to adhere to some very rigorous standards. Once again, in my view, Jobs for America's Graduates serves as an outstanding example of how best to serve the highest-risk youth - and to do so cost effectively and consistently - once again, exceeding the state and national NCLB performance standards.

Let me turn to the issue of the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act.

As you know, our Administration believes that one of the most urgent issues now facing our country is the challenge of reaching our out-of-school youth and providing them the education, skills, and supportive services they need to enter the labor market and to succeed once they are there.

We know it is a tough policy call to seek to shift resources in favor of out-of-school youth. However, we are convinced that it is one of the best economic investments that can be made. With less than 70% of the next generation completing high school, finding and successfully serving out-of-school youth is critical to the long-term health of our economy.

As we seek to shift some of our resources to out-of-school youth, it is vitally important that we provide our workforce system with powerful models that are cost-effective, proven, and able to deliver real educational and employment results for this very challenging population.

We know that Jobs for America's Graduates has a proven model of reaching at-risk youth and keeping them in school. It is our hope that JAG will expand its services to impact more out-of-school youth. We believe that JAG can be a powerful model as we encourage our workforce system to spend more resources, and, importantly, spend them far more effectively to make a real impact on success rates for high school dropouts.

As we look ahead, our Administration continues to focus on 12 "high-growth" industries and encourage the public workforce system to invest its training dollars in areas where the greatest number of the jobs of the future will be. That's why we have a whole series of initiatives underway - including those related to helping out-of-school youth - to focus on meeting the demands and the requirements for success by employers in high-growth industries.

The 12 industries in which we are focusing at the national level are comprised of a broad range of occupations, including those in health care, retail, transportation, manufacturing, biotechnology, financial services, information technology, and construction, among others.

However, as we have done our homework, one of our findings is especially troubling. A great majority of our young people do not know what jobs are in demand nor understand the nature of the jobs each industry is creating. We find that far too many young people are headed towards occupations with dwindling numbers of jobs, or think they are pursuing good jobs only to find that those jobs are no longer what they once were. The nature of work and of jobs is changing - and fast. That's especially true in high-growth industries.

That is why we have increased our focus on career awareness. Over the past year, we have greatly expanded a web site called Career Voyages. Through career videos and youth-oriented features, Career Voyages provides a full understanding of the nature and kinds of jobs available in high growth industries. It also details the training options available in specific local areas and the wage and salaries you can expect in the field.

Finally, our Administration is focused on some of the nation's most "underrepresented" populations to support their entry into these high-growth industries. We are currently undertaking a series of initiatives that, in many cases, overlap what you are doing. This includes initiatives to recruit, screen, and provide training and placement assistance for many more Hispanic Americans, new immigrants, Asian Americans, youth and adult offenders, and youth and adults with disabilities.

I know you are already effectively serving many of these populations. We hope you will continue to expand your efforts. These populations offer great resources to our economy and, at the same time, are most often left out of our economy and our society.

From the perspective of our Administration, the bottom line is that the growing and expanding American economy simply cannot afford to leave any worker or any young person behind. That's not just because we care - but because the economy and our employers must have hardworking, committed, well skilled new workers in ever larger numbers.

We don't want employers to go overseas to find them. We have the talent right here. What we need to do is be certain that our future workers understand the requirements of the workplace and the needs of employers. We must then ensure that they have the kinds of skills and the support they need to meet those employer demands and build successful careers.

This is my second time attending a JAG National Training Seminar. Much like last time, I am deeply impressed by the level of energy, enthusiasm, and commitment that I see, both prior to the events, and once they are underway.

I know you will be spending much of the next two days devoted to learning new techniques from some of the best experts in the country: the people in this room. Learn them well and pass them on to our colleagues in the workforce system.

I want you to know that this Administration believes in what you do and is committed to doing all we can to support your work, your reach to a new scale, and your grasp of both the challenges and the needs of young people, employers, and schools.

Congratulations on 25 years of excellent service to more than 500,000 of America 's most at-risk young people. You have done - and are doing today - something truly extraordinary.

On behalf of the President, the Secretary, and all of us in the Employment and Training Administration: Thank you!