Creating job opportunities for lower-income youth
An increasing number of minority and low-income youth are locked out of job opportunities.
Young people that are not in school or not employed face significant challenges to finding employment. Nearly half of all jobs - even 'entry-level' jobs - require prior work experience. Youth from low-income households often face additional barriers such as skill and education gaps, few opportunities to connect with employers, and may be dealing with housing insecurity or involvement with the criminal justice system.
The result is that 7% of the nation's teens - more than 1.1 million - may never recieve the training, guidance, and connection to career opportunities that lead them to a promising career.
At the same time, the water industry is suffering from a shortage of workers.
Water utilities across the U.S. face mounting challenges in the recruitment, training, and retention of employees. Maintaining and improving our aging water infrastructure will only become more challenging as over a third of the water workforce becomes eligible for retirement in the next decade. The existing workforce is older with less racial and gender diversity, and the water sector is struggling to attract younger and more diverse talent.
The water industry could be a high-potential source of employment for opportunity youth. Jobs in the water sector pay above the average, workers face fewer educational barriers, and the skills that water industry workers learn are applicable across many skilled trades. What low-income and minority youth need is a point-of-entry that leads to their first job opportunity in the sector.
Our Solution: The Water Spot can be a workforce development program for opportunity youth.
The Water Spot was also specifically developed as a platform for skills training and education about water quality and treatment. Workforce training programs are important to low-income communities as they address skill gaps, create employment opportunities, increase income levels, foster career advancement, contribute to community development, and help break the cycle of poverty.
Our goal is for the Water Spot to be assembled in the low-income communities where it is most needed, providing opportunity youth with pathways to a career in skilled trades such as plumbing, electrical, and light manufacturing.
