Using data, lived experience, and practitioner knowledge to define policy priorities and engaging local collaboratives in advocacy, COYN responds to and promotes legislation and policies at the local and state level that support positive life trajectories for Opportunity Youth. COYN builds relationships with legislators to ensure that a well-informed understanding of Opportunity Youth is top of mind for the representatives accountable to our communities. COYN develops and promotes common data, metrics, and lifts up voices that tell the Opportunity Youth story in COYN communities to funders and legislatures to gain a deeper understanding of both the problems and solutions facing young people and their communities.
State Policy Priorities ’25
Implementing, Extension and Evaluation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Out-of-School-Youth (OSY) Waiver
In partnership with the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB), COYN helped secure a federal WIOA waiver in August 2021 that provides additional flexibility to workforce development boards (WDBs) across California to serve systems-involved youth regardless of whether they are attending school or not. Since then, 27 local WDBs across the state have opted into the waiver and the CWDB has embedded the waiver into California’s WIOA State Plan.
In 2025, COYN will engage additional WDBs across the state to urge them to opt into the waiver during the program year beginning on July 1, 2025. We will also be publishing an evaluation report documenting the impact of the waiver thus far drawing from data collected in its first several years of implementation.
California lacks a coordinated plan for serving Opportunity Youth through the workforce system, resulting in a patchwork of programs and approaches with widely variable approaches to serving these young people across the various regions. To address this issue, COYN and the California EDGE Coalition advanced Assembly Concurrent Resolution 16 (ACR 16) in 2023, directing the state to develop a comprehensive plan for serving OY. In August 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom also issued the Freedom to Succeed Executive Order, calling for the development of a Master Plan for Career Education to increase equitable access to education and training pathways that will develop opportunities for well-paying jobs for Californians without college degrees.
COYN will collaborate with the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB), California Employment Development Department (EDD) and other partners to implement the Master Plan for Career Education and ACR 16 and collectively develop a statewide plan that will address the persistent economic inequities experienced by OY and prioritize policies and funding strategies that will help create pathways to success for these youth.
COYN and the Alliance for Boys & Men of Color (ABMOC) helped secure $65 million in the 2022-2023 state budget over three years to establish the California Youth Apprenticeship Program. Under this program the state will distribute resources to develop and test innovative practices, increase the participation of OY in pre- apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, and demonstrate the impact of youth apprenticeships through California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) grants.
COYN, ABMOC, and other partners will work with state policymakers on the continued implementation of the California Youth Apprenticeship Program in 2025, including advancing key recommendations developed by the California Youth Apprenticeship Committee. COYN will also conduct outreach and provide technical assistance to OY- serving agencies to help them compete for funding in the next round of COYA grants.
The #CaliforniansForAll Youth Jobs Corps program was established with $185 million in one-time federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars in the 2021-2022 state budget. These funds were passed through to municipalities across California to establish employment opportunities and career pathway development for the state’s youth and young adults. $78 million in additional funding for the program was included in the 2023-2024 state budget, and access to the program was also expanded to include undocumented youth.
COYN will advocate for the state budget to include adequate funding to sustain the #CaliforniansForAll youth program to ensure that it continues to facilitate career pathway opportunities for the state’s youth and young adults.
During the 118th Congress (2023-2025), the House Education and Workforce Committee and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions jointly developed a bipartisan reauthorization of WIOA. The final text included several major COYN priorities, including: replacing the “out-of-school” youth definition with “opportunity youth” and including systems-involved youth regardless of school status; establishing a new $65 million per year program to advance youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities; streamlining enrollment processes and allowing for immediate provisional enrollment of young people into programs while their eligibility is verified; and requiring local and state WDBs to develop specific plans to meet the unique needs of OY.
COYN will continue work with its national partners to inform House and Senate members of the positive potential impacts of the proposed WIOA reauthorization bill and advocate for its passage in the current Congressional session. Once the bill is enacted, COYN will work with state and federal agencies to support effective implementation. COYN will also advocate against any proposed funding cuts to WIOA programs.
Caucuses are unique forums within Congress for dialogue, information-sharing, and advocacy around particular issues. They have proven to be very effective in coordinating and strengthening collective efforts to advance causes. In 2024, COYN helped establish the Bipartisan Opportunity Youth Caucus, the first such forum dedicated to OY issues, and supported its first two public events.
COYN will work with its national partners to expand the membership and increase the impact of the Bipartisan Opportunity Youth Caucus in 2025.
The federal Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) for Disconnected Youth program is a unique opportunity for local and state government to access greater flexibility in federal regulations and funding rules to test innovative approaches to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of programming. The federal AmeriCorps program also offers paid training and educational and career development opportunities to individuals committed to national service. The Opportunity Pathway AmeriCorps program provides a re-envisioning of AmeriCorps programs to increase accessibility to OY and provide skill development and work experience opportunities to youth and young adults to establish post-service careers.
COYN will work with policymakers to create new opportunities through P3 and AmeriCorps to launch and scale innovative, OY-specific programs and strategies.
