At ncIMPACT Initiative, we work alongside local communities to help them rethink the challenges they face. When community members stated they wanted to more effectively help young adults reach their potential, we partnered with them to generate the ideas that helped address those needs.

One example of this partnership is Carolina Across 100‘s “Our State, Our Work” (OSOW) program. Beginning in 2022, we worked with OSOW teams to help them build more effective workforce development systems for young adults 16-24 years old who were neither in school nor employed. This group is known as Opportunity Youth. OSOW partnered with 13 community teams across 37 counties, most of them rural, home to 58,000 Opportunity Youth, to improve their employability and technical skills.

When the OSOW teams indicated that strengthening Opportunity Youth’s employability and digital skills would improve their workforce reconnection efforts, we extended our partnerships. With partners that included the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) and Microsoft, we offered both online technical training and credentialing to Opportunity Youth at no cost. Through the completion of the “7 Steps to Get Hired” Course, Opportunity Youth can earn in-demand employability skills and high-value micro-credentials.

The project received support from The Golden LEAF Foundation, which helped to pay for course design, marketing to potential learners, and engaging with workforce and educational professionals throughout the state to teach strategies that meet the skills employers value.

In developing this course, four key lessons stand out.

1. Accessibility is key. The course is accessible via digital devices, such as a phone, tablet, or computer, and offered by the NCCCS at no cost to Opportunity Youth. Anecdotally, we know even learners without a personal device use computers at their local library computer and then re-access the course later on another device. The “durable skills” or “soft skills” set forth by employers and service providers as important for young adults’ employment were incorporated into the “7 Steps” course. The course is free and self-paced, allowing learners to access the course at any time For Opportunity Youth who may be facing financial barriers, this flexibility allows them to upskill at their own pace.
2. Creating a state-wide ecosystem of supportive professionals is essential. Throughout the course, we assembled a team of “local liaisons” from our community partners to support learner recruitment and retention. These liaisons offered learners an opportunity to be in relationship with someone to guide them through the course and to connect them to the wraparound resources needed. We also partnered with many North Carolina Association of Workforce Development Boards (NCAWDDB) and other local organizations with insights into and relationships with Opportunity Youth. These liaisons were helpful not just so the learner had someone to guide them through the course, but connected learners to wraparound resources needed, such as childcare for time to focus on the course. Having a local liaison allowed us to better meet the holistic needs of Opportunity Youth and other young adults across the state as they worked to achieve their personal and professional goals.

   We have now built a network of 36 individuals spanning 86 counties. These individuals include “Our State, Our Work” community leaders, nonprofit professionals, school administrators, COG representatives, NC Works leadership, NCAWDDB, teachers, and counselors. By creating a course informed by previous curricula and the needs of employers, nonprofits and in-school professionals are eager to connect students with the evidence-based tool.

   As a result, across and within-county partnerships and referral networks have been created and strengthened as a result of our outreach efforts and recruitment of local liaisons. In addition, NC Works is able to utilize the course to help learners to develop their Individual Employment Plan.

3. It’s important to target young adults in virtual and physical spaces they occupy. We used targeted ads, managed by HIVE Digital, via Google and Meta, to direct Opportunity Youth to our course landing page to register for the free course and learn about the Microsoft credentials. Finding young people where they were available to learn about the course proved to be highly effective. We reached over 491 learners by using this approach. We were also able to identify potential partners. Users who clicked on these ads were asked to enter basic contact data and their county, as well as indication of their status as a “learner” or “partner.” Our team sorted this information by user type (learner or partner) and then shared learner information based on their county with the appropriate liaison(s). This targeted approach using tailored messaging allowed our team to “find” Opportunity Youth online and connect them with the “7 Steps to Get hired” Course, as well as a local liaison who could connect them with community resources.
4. Elevating the experiences of former Opportunity Youth in the messaging makes a difference. When we reached out to young people, we were able to include voices that powerfully expressed the success young people can have with supports in place. Throughout each module, learners heard from Alyssa Delts, project manager of “Communities Connected For Success (CC4S),” “Our State, Our Work” Team 9 representing Bladen and Columbus Counties, and led by Men and Women United for Youth and Families. Alyssa was able to speak to where our learners are. In fact, when NCCCS Human Resources Development partners asked young people about their reaction to the videos, they stated Alyssa seemed realistic and authentic in her description of why it is so important to be competent in the employability skills explored in the course.

We believe reaching young people and helping them improve their skills is critical to the health of our state. By working together with institutional and community partners, we created a course accessible to young people, especially Opportunity Youth, who are looking to upskill and change their career trajectory.