Breaking the Cycle: How Two YDPA Apprentices Are Healing Their Communities

“To me, that’s the biggest message with this apprenticeship — this is the perfect way to learn how to change lives.”

As we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2024, we highlight two Lake County Youth Development Practitioner Apprentices who use their work to break the cycles of trauma and heal their communities: Luis Garcia Jr. and Jenessa Armstrong. Click here to read about their journeys in becoming the person they wanted to have in their corner growing up.

A Legacy of Partnership

FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) partners with federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, community-based organizations, education and workforce agencies and community members to design, implement and evaluate social programs. Along the way, we and our partners learn alongside one another to develop our collective capacities to advance well-being through data-driven, locally led solutions — so that humanity thrives.

2023 NIWL Annual Report

Our work in 2023 highlights our pivotal role as an intermediary organization. In fulfilling our mission to advance solutions in education and workforce systems, we focus on bringing people together, listening to our partners and local leadership, fostering networks of support and providing a comprehensive spectrum of services for learning and workforce development.

Read NIWL’s 2023 Annual Report to learn more about our work to strengthen our partners and forge connections so that we can all reach our fullest potential.

Just looking for the highlights? Check out our 2023 Infographic.

Approach to Justice-Impacted Populations Overview

FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning partners with federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, the private sector, and civil society to improve the education and employment outcomes of young adults, ages 18 through 24, during and after involvement in the U.S. criminal justice system. Read this overview of our comprehensive services.

Career MAP Overview

Designed in partnership with the Greater Washington Urban League (GWUL), the Career Mobility Action Plan (MAP) project takes a holistic approach to career mobility and success. A groundbreaking pilot, Career MAP is designed to remove barriers that families with low income confront as they pursue employment that can sustain them.

National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL) Fact Sheet

This fact sheet profiles the work of FHI 360’s National Institute for Work and Learning (NIWL), which focuses on two key drivers of individual well-being: education and employment.

An Innovative Approach to Developing Talent for Youth-Serving Employers

FHI360’s Youth Development Practitioner Apprenticeship program offers employers the opportunity to recruit and train employees while giving back to the community and filling their talent pipeline. YDPA targets both existing professionals and opens options for new professionals with lived experience in the communities they serve. Occupations include youth service intake counselors, outreach workers, or justice reentry case workers among others.

NIWL Annual Review 2021: Navigating Through Turbulence

This annual review summarizes the work and accomplishments of the National Institute for Work and Learning across the areas of college and career readiness, workforce development, and research and evaluation. It references major projects, publications and events, and uses data to demonstrate outputs and, where possible, outcomes. The review also mentions new work won and our agenda for 2022.

Providing Education Inside the Walls: A Michigan Pilot

In 2021 FHI 360 began a collaborative project with the Michigan Department of Education, Office of Career and Technical Education, to test a replicable 360 model designed to enhance the career and technical educational program offerings for teachers within Michigan juvenile justice facilities and potentially juvenile facilities throughout the nation. FHI 360’s technical assistance specialists in justice, education, workforce, community development, and research and evaluation, provided four hours of comprehensive and responsive training and technical assistance to 34 teachers and direct service staff at four Michigan juvenile justice facility schools. Learn more about how educational programs offered in facilities reduce recidivism and improve employment outcomes.

BTE Volunteer Training: Trabajar Con Jovenes

El eModule es un módulo de orientación y capacitación diseñado para los empleados de la compañía operativa local de Johnson & Johnson que son nuevos en el programa Bridge to Employment y que trabajarán con jóvenes. Los conceptos clave introducidos incluyen el desarrollo del cerebro de los adolescentes, el desarrollo positivo de los jóvenes, la comunicación eficaz y las prácticas de construcción de relaciones. Este módulo electrónico introductorio es seguido por una capacitación en persona con especialistas de FHI 360 que explorarán cada tema en mayor detalle