Building with the youth-serving workforce

Millions of young people turn to youth-serving organizations to enrich their lives through after-school programs, summer learning, youth sports and other evidence-based activities that support their learning and development. As demand for these integrated student supports grows, so does the need to sustain a skilled youth-focused workforce. 

To elevate the role of this critical workforce, Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation is launching the Youth-Serving Workforce Solutions initiative to support the current work of youth-facing organizations through integrated education and learning solutions. 

“There is no such thing as an average young person, and no single organization can meet the full range of what learning and development require,” said MLFC Dean Carole Basile. “Youth-serving professionals are a critical part of the education ecosystem, and through our collaborative work we can design systems that honor human variability and create the conditions for both young people and those who serve them to flourish.”

The initiative underscores MLFC’s role as a co-designer of solutions that benefit learners, the professionals who work with them, communities and employers. To learn more about the initiative, and how to get involved, visit the Youth-Serving Workforce Solutions web page.

The need is clear: Across the country, four million youth-serving professionals — athletic coaches, mentors, tutors, and youth development practitioners — are shaping the trajectory of young people's lives every day. Despite their vital role in advancing community strength and opportunity, these practitioners often lack access to the professional development and career pathways they need to fully realize their impact, according to a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The Future of Youth Development: Building Systems and Strengthening Programs. Furthermore, more than half of afterschool providers say they are extremely or very concerned about staffing shortages, according to a comprehensive survey commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance.

To provide a sustained solution, the Youth-Serving Workforce Solutions initiative will elevate understanding of the youth-serving workforce and its essential role alongside schools, communities, families and employers. It will also explore how systems can be designed to cultivate and sustain a workforce capable of delivering integrated supports at scale. An interconnected, systems-based approach to education and learning is especially critical at a time of chronic absenteeism and disengagement from the education system.

As part of this initiative, the college offers a suite of learning opportunities for all youth-serving professionals, including industry-recognized undergraduate and graduate degree programs; professional development opportunities through the Professional Educator Learning Hub; and the Community Educator Learning Hub. Programs under development will incorporate a future-ready learning approach to better prepare young people, as outlined in Learning to Flourish in the Age of AI, through collaborations with AI initiatives grounded in the science of learning and development. 

The initiative is led by MLFC faculty in close collaboration with an advisory board that brings a deep understanding of the dual function of the youth-serving workforce, which directly serves millions of young people, while simultaneously developing the next generation of civic leaders, entrepreneurs, and engaged citizens essential to a democratic society and economic competitiveness.  Their work is bolstered by evidence of the youth-serving workforce's critical role in civic and economic vitality, as documented in the bipartisan National Commission on Military, National and Public Service’s 2020 report Inspired to Serve. 

MLFC faculty members involved in the initiative include: MLFC’s Carolyn Trager Kliman, professor of practice; Ayesha Boyce, associate professor; and Jill Koyama, vice dean and professor. 

Advisory board members’ organizations represent nearly 200,000 practitioners who collectively reach more than nine million young people annually. The Youth-Serving Workforce Solutions advisory board includes: Jennifer Bronson, managing director of programs at Accelerate; Jillian Green Loughran, sr. director regional operations and strategy at the Center for Healing and Justice through Sport; Tay Moore, research and policy associate at the Aspen Institute’s Education and Society Program; Phil Robinson, CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment; Rey Saldaña, president and CEO of Communities In Schools; Ozzie Smith, president of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star; and Stephanie Wu, chief transformation officer at City Year. Their expertise will create a foundation for future initiatives with an initial focus on: 

• Elevating awareness about the critical role that the youth-serving workforce plays in economic and civic vitality. 
• Identifying career pathways to increase the number of practitioners, including those who can serve as male role models.
• Supporting the preparation, education and ongoing professional development of the youth-serving workforce. 
• Collectively identifying critical roles that the youth-serving workforce can play in reaching learners through responsible uses of AI grounded in the science of learning and development. 

To learn more about how you can get involved with this initiative, visit the Youth-Serving Workforce Solutions webpage or contact Carolyn Trager Kliman ([email protected]).