In and effort to assist State, local, and tribal entities provide services to disconnected youth more efficiently across multiple federal funding streams, Congress authorized the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. The Act allowed grantee organizations and their partners to request to pool funds from different federal discretionary funding streams and receive waivers from these programs' eligibility, reporting, and other requirements. In 2015, the federal agencies participating in P3 awarded the first cohort of nine pilots. Subsequently, six more pilots were established in two additional cohorts.

The purpose of this study is to identify and document the extent to which the P3 initiative increased coordination across Federal agencies and programs to allow local communities the flexibilities they need to support disconnected youth. Further, based on the results from local evaluations at each of the nine P3 Pilots, the study will highlight effective and promising practices for achieving employment-related outcomes for youth.

This report is based on data collected from interviews between 2016 and 2018 with Federal staff, Cohort 1 pilot staff, and youth participants. Key findings include:

• Cohort 1 pilots reported that there were benefits to the approved waivers, specifically in reducing administrative burden and expanding the youth eligibility for the services.
• Federal respondents reported that P3 created a tension between the desire for more extensive waivers and the need for accountability.
• Cohort 1 pilots reported that the P3 process encouraged new connections and referrals across the education and workforce domains and that the waivers increased eligibility for services, decreased reporting requirements, and allowed tailoring of state and federal services.
• Federal respondents reported that P3 interagency systems were unlikely to continue beyond the life of the P3 initiative. They found that P3 required high agency effort and multi-agency approval processes resulted in slow decision-making.
• Youth interviewees reported positive experiences with service strategies that included case management, mentorship, and work experiences