Roundtable on youth unemployment discusses how closing skills gap could lower jobless rates

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A roundtable held at Cuyahoga Community College Friday, co-hosted by dpaf, a Washington, DC-based youth unemployment advocacy group, discussed ways to lower high joblessness among teens and young adults. In this photo, protesters in Boston rallied in February for more funding for summer jobs before marching to the statehouse.

(AP Photo, Elise Amendola)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - They gathered at Cuyahoga Community College on Friday knowing that an hour wouldn't be enough time to tackle the issue of the high rate of unemployment among youth, a problem that has been at least a decade in the making.

But that was OK. The Washington, D.C.-based youth unemployment advocacy group hosting the roundtable wanted to spark discussion and start on the journey to finding solutions.

David Pattinson, founder and CEO of dpaf or David Pattinson's American Future, said the roundtable showed him that businesses and educational institutions were interested in working together to address the skills gap, which he says often undermines the chances of teens and young adults being hired. He said the meeting formed an early goal of setting up advisory boards, assigned to school districts, so that employers and educators could help shape curricular aimed at making students marketable. The roundtable included about 20 participants from a range of backgrounds including employers, educators, public officials and those in workforce development.

Pattinson said he was pleasantly surprised that representatives from business and education wanted to work together in addressing the skills gap. He initially envisioned the business community wanting to address the problem right away, with educators reluctant to move so quickly.

But Susan Muha, executive vice president of Tri-C's workforce and economic development division, said making sure students are prepared to land jobs is a prime goal for many educators. She said programs successful at doing this are often praised; but limited resources often restrain their reach.

"Instead of serving 100, how do we scale these programs up to serve 5,000?" Muha said.

Ronald Register, president of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board, said schools have to do a better job of exposing students to careers and instilling in them that they do have viable options, especially those students who may not be college bound.

"I don't know if there is a whole lot of conversation now in schools about how students see themselves fitting into the labor market," he said.

The roundtable was part of what will be dpaf's national effort, WeTheFuture:Preparing Today's Students for the Jobs of Tomorrow. Cleveland was the kick off city for the national tour.

The roundtable was held the same day the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC released a report showing that employment rates among teens and young adults had dropped dramatically in about a decade. In 2000, 45 percent of teens 16 to 19 held jobs, which was down to 26 percent by 2011. In 2000, 72 percent of young adults 20 to 24 were working; but by 2011 it was only 61 percent.

As a small business owner, Nichelle McCall is committed to hiring young people. She is CEO and Founder of BOLD Guidance, which makes software to guide students through the college application process using mobile devices. However, because of the skills gap, she said it is often difficult to find jobseekers with at least some of the necessary skills.

"I am willing to take the risk (in hiring and training), but they have to be willing to meet me at least half way," she said.

Melissa Yasinow, a Cleveland Heights councilwoman, said successfully tackling high youth unemployment by addressing the skills gap will require evolving strategies.

"You have to understand that the skills students may require today may be different from what will be needed only a few years from now," She said.

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