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COVID-19 has caused hiring freezes and business and institutional closures, which affected disconnected youth’s ability to continue working with service providers to meet employment and education goals and basic needs. In response, and in order to continue supporting youth, providers have adapted their services. To assess these adaptations, Mathematica and its subcontractor, Social Policy Research Associates, conducted a supplemental study as part of the National Evaluation of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3). This supplemental study specifically examined how providers continued supporting disconnected youth during the pandemic, with research questions focused on (1) how providers adapted their supports, with help from government agencies; (2) respondents’ reported challenges and concerns associated with serving youth during the pandemic; and (3) respondents’ perceived lessons learned and promising strategies for adapting services. Data sources included semistructured interviews with five staff from youth-serving providers and three staff from state and local government agencies. The brief captures interviewees’ perspectives about how providers continued and adapted services during the pandemic. Researchers found that providers adapted recruitment, intake, and case management practices; increasingly relied on virtual modes; and confronted challenges recruiting youth and meeting identified needs due to pandemic-related disruptions. Yet, respondents perceived that youth remained engaged and plan to continue or scale some of the adaptations they implemented.

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Key Takeaways

• Under stay-at-home orders, service providers described helping staff transition to virtual work to ensure continuity of services.
• Service providers reported adapting their recruitment, intake, and case management procedures to continue moving youth along a virtual service path.
• Given reported pandemic-related service disruptions and increased reliance on virtual modes, providers worked to address perceived challenges and concerns to support youth in need.
• With youth health, safety, and well-being reportedly at greater risk during the pandemic, providers said they increasingly focused on identifying and trying to meet youth’s basic needs.
• Despite challenges, staff perceived that youth remained engaged during the pandemic.
• Most respondents said they intend or hope to continue providing virtual case management, building on perceived lessons learned during the pandemic.

Citation

Shenbanjo, T., Mack, M. (2021). Mathematica. Supporting Disconnected Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences from the Field. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.