Philadelphia youth get help entering and navigating the workforce

image above: C2L Tabling event in Love Park Photo from C2L’s instagram

Iyanna Thomas graduated from Mural Dobbins Career Technical High School in 2024. Thomas was quickly shuffled into college after graduating but soon dropped out because she thought it was “too rigid.”

Thomas began researching career readiness programs in Philadelphia and found out about Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN)’s Professional Pathways program. About a month ago,  Thomas joined their culinary program.

“They taught me that my hobbies could be a career,” said Thomas.

PYN youth in Cosmetology program photo from PYN’s instagram.

Career learning and preparedness programs like PYN’s Professional Pathways are designed to give youth hands-on experience in a particular field of work. These programs also help people with professional development like what to wear to an interview and even soft skills like communication and critical thinking.

These are the skills Thomas says she will remember throughout her culinary career.

PYN’s Professional Pathways is one of many programs that Philadelphia’s youth can be connected to once they apply for Career Connected Learning PHL or C2L-PHL. C2L-PHL is Philadelphia’s paid work-based training and learning experiences for youth ages 12 to 24.

C2L-PHL started in 2024 as a collaboration between the city’s Office of Children and Families, Philadelphia Works, the School District of Philadelphia, and JEVS Human Services. According to JEVS CEO and President, Cynthia Figueroa, Philadelphia’s overall youth work ready program has significantly changed from prior to 2024 to now.

“There wasn’t  the ability to reach as many youths,” said Figueroa. “ I would say there were the same number of players but the coordination targeting the same goals… was probably the biggest shift that’s happened.”

This collaboration across organizations  has made it considerably easy for applicants to apply  online and maintain a lasting online portal. This collaboration has also made it easier for youth to get paid for their work.

Although C2L-PHL has made the work ready process easier, all collaborators agree that the initiative is not perfect. According to all partners, there is a limited amount of positions available.

This year about 16,000 Philadelphia youth applied for C2L-PHL but there were only 8,000 available positions. All partners involved say that if more local businesses sign up for C2L, it will create more opportunities for young people in the city.

“ This work leads to young people staying in Philadelphia,” said Noah Lattanzi, PYN’s Communications Manager. “Economic investment and growth in the city, this is a huge piece of it.”

A lack of opportunities was also the problem when Iyanna Thomas attended Dobbins High School. Thomas says she knew she wanted to be placed in culinary back in high school but the open spots in  Dobbin’s culinary program quickly filled up.

According to the Education Week Research Center’s Evolving Perspectives survey, about eight percent of career technical educators report a decrease in their district’s ability to offer CTE programs, and 39% of those who noticed the decrease say that it was due to a difficulty in hiring certified professionals to teach students.

Post high school work ready programs may be able to share the demand of students in certain programs. But the high demand of these work-ready programs may also lead youth to not be matched well.

Although C2L-PHL works with about 550 businesses a year to provide these opportunities to young people, they still might not be accurately matched on what the young person wants to do. In addition to mismatched work-based training and learning experiences, young people may not have the opportunity to work at a place that is close to home as there may not be many opportunities to their liking in their immediate neighborhood or part of the city.

Youth in PYN’s work ready collaboration with the GreenerPartners. photo from PYN’s instagram

“To me it’s two fold; It’s not just the stuff that’s good. It’s also these safe spaces to fail, to try something and not like it,” said Kim McCaffrey, JEVS Senior Vice President of Youth and Youth Adult Services. “You start to make those professional networks and those connections. They start to see people who look like them in these jobs that they never knew existed.”

JEVS recommends that parents and mentors start asking youth about which subjects and extracurriculars they are interested in. They also say it helps to use their program locator which offers a description of each program and helps them navigate where the program will be.

This can help youth decide which neighborhood their program is in and which neighborhoods they feel comfortable traveling to for work.

C2L- PHL also says some business owners have to get reacquainted with managing first-time workers. But C2L-PHL also partners with Foundations Inc.. to prepare business owners for welcoming youth who are entering the workforce for the first time.

C2L-PHL may be the premiere work-ready program in the city but there are other ways for youth in Philadelphia to get hands-on experience in a field they are interested in. The Office of Families and Children also funds Out-of-School-Time (OST) programs.

This year OST had about 1200 positions open for youth to get involved with creative and performing arts, athletics and health, and STEM activities outside of school. OST is mainly available to youth ages five to 18.

In Philadelphia, CAP4Kids offers free career training for youth which is funded by the Philadelphia OIC. Year Up United offers free career training  in banking, business operations, data analytics, IT support, and project management for people aged 18 to 29.

Most of these programs emphasize visibility to youth who may have experienced foster care or are justice-impacted.

“A lot of young people who have these experiences or the adults serving them may think that these kinds of programs aren’t for them or that the program might not be interested in them,” said Roxolana Golas, Director of Youth Workforce in the city’s Office of Families and Children services. “But we want to stress that these programs are for everyone. And these programs are here to help lift them up.”

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This story is part of Generocity’s 2026 Flourishing Series, supported by People’s Media Fund