Set Up for Success: Supporting Immigrant Youth Through the Workforce Development System

Like all young people, immigrant youth find themselves in a high-stakes period of life. They may be completing their education, building professional skills, and finding their first jobs—a transition to adulthood that can have a significant impact on their prospects for long-term educational and career success. With the retirement of the baby boom generation well underway, and immigration expected to be the main driver of future U.S. labor force growth, supporting young immigrants alongside their native-born peers as they make this transition is an important issue for the United States as a whole and for many states and local communities.

Yet, immigrants—and especially English Learners—often fall between the cracks of the systems designed to promote young people’s educational and career success. This policy brief explores efforts to serve immigrant youth in workforce development programs, with a particular focus on a program under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that serves young people disconnected from school or work or facing other barriers: the WIOA Youth program.

Drawing in part on interviews with the staff of local workforce development boards and workforce service providers, this brief examines the WIOA Youth program’s promise and obstacles in reaching this population. It also discusses how the program illustrates promising practices and lingering challenges to serving immigrant youth in workforce development programs more broadly.