A comprehensive evaluation conducted of the 2013 Summer Youth Employment Initiative in Jacksonville, Florida, funded by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund ("duPont Fund") and administered by United Way of Northeast Florida("United Way"), revealed that the primary benefit to participating high school youth was the acquisition of a basic set of professional behaviors and attitudes. This skill set was not specific to any one industry or job experience but rather constituted the basic building blocks for professional success in any sector. With this finding in hand, United Way in partnership with duPont Fund staff made the critical decision to focus the program even more directly on the acquisition of these non-technical, or "soft" skills. To help further orient the program in this direction, Pratt Richards Group ("PRG") was engaged to do a cursory landscape scan of youth development programs and youth employment programs working at this intersection. In addition, PRG reviewed the relevant research on the topic. This report represents the critical findings from this effort. Specifically, it addresses: 1)Context and Definition: Who is saying these skills are important, and what skills are they? 2)Operationalizing the Work: What are the best practices in soft skill development, specifically in youth employment settings? 3)Evaluation: How does one assess successful soft skill development?
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- Copyright 2014 by Pratt Richards Group. All rights reserved.