Preparing youth for employable futures is a critical national issue. Young people need to build core competencies and foundation skills which include those identified in the SCANS Report (Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991). Studies show that the workforce of the future will require that youth gain the following competencies; utilizing resources, working with others, using information, understanding systems, and working with technology. School-age Child Care programs have a unique opportunity to provide these experiences.
The National 4-H council Workforce Preparation program is an national effort to prepare youth for employable futures. The program targets all youth-from preschool through high school and uses a model that was developed by National 4-H Council together with representatives from the Cooperative Extension System, other educators, government--including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Labor-- corporations, youth organizations and youth. This Workforce Preparation Model encourages program and curricula development for all age groups, emphasizes helping youth develop competencies and skills critical to employment, and offers opportunities in the transition from school to the world of work in eight phases starting with pre-school children and continuing through adulthood.
The Workforce Preparation program creates curriculum and learning tools, and identifies additional curricula that has been produced by others. One of National 4-H Council's Workforce Preparation curricula is "Rising to the Occasion." It is targeted for youth ages 5 through 18 and integrates workplace competencies with the art and science of bread baking. Learning about how to allocate resources, lead and negotiate and the basics of reading, writing and mathematics are all part of what children learn as they work and shape bread dough.
In addition to curriculum development, the Workforce Preparation program also provides technical assistance to guide local communities in developing community workforce preparation collaborations. National 4-H Council is currently working with about 25 communities across the country. These community workforce preparation collaborations bring people from all parts of a community together to help youth develop necessary skills for employment.
For more information contact: National 4-H Council, Workforce Preparation Team, 7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD 20815; fax: 301-961-2894; E-mail: workprep@fourhcouncil.edu; World Wide Web: http://www.fourhcouncil.edu/wfctrtop.htm.
See the PDF file for picture of Work Force Preparation Model.