Repeatedly I declare that we don't need an employer demand driven workforce system. We need an opportunity system powered by the demands of youth. What is it that interests them? What will benefit them more so that their future economic success is enhanced? Continuing to focus on developing an employer demand driven workforce system is undermining our ability to engage the youth we are entrusted to serve. The problem with the principles of youth development, however, is that it does not allow you to ask the question, "Why do we need these principles in the first place?"

As a youth worker with several years of experience, I have urged programs to stop candy-coating the issues and speak openly and plainly about the problems within the system. In the minds of youth, the terms "workforce and youth development" reduce our youth's capital to something that we are crafting for another demographic -a demographic that is going nowhere.

Unfortunately as policymakers and practitioners, we seldom take a deeper look, mainly because we are unaware of our youths' genuine concern about the state of their lives and where they are headed. The reality is that they are not as indifferent as we believe them to be. When prompted, youth participating in focus groups outlined what they believed to be the keys to a more successful and positive outcome. Surprisingly, these points mirror what we as parents want our youth to strive towards. Some of these points include:

-Credentialing

-Obtaining educational degrees

-Building of work experience

-Developing new skills

-Increasing social networks

With this information as ammunition, workforce development practitioners must change their name. We should no longer use the term workforce or labor anywhere in our vocabulary. The U.S Department of Labor must become the U.S. Department of Future Economic Opportunity, the State of Nevada's Workforce Investment Board must become the State of Nevada's Future Economic Opportunity Board, and U.S. Job Corps must become the U.S. Future Economic Opportunity Corps.

Policymakers and practitioners must recognize that any effort to do to others without addressing the underlying issues will be suspect and consistently rejected, and should therefore be scrapped. We can start off by sending a new message.

In my speeches I often state that we live in a world of reality TV. We give props over how radical people are willing to become for a date, a million dollars, or 50 pounds of weight loss, none of which are accomplishments that have any relevant meaning to our youth. I charge that we must concentrate on the relevant and become passionate about the things that are important to our youth. What do you think your young people will think when you get radical for them?

Copyright (c) 2008 Edward DeJesus

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