Directorates
·	Director General's Office
·	Data Development
·	Strategic Evaluations
·	Partnership and Continuous Evaluations
Publications
·	Evaluation Reports
·	Evaluation Briefs
·	Labour Market Development Agreement Series
·	Lessons Learned Series
·	Evaluation Tool Kit Series
·	Evaluation Forum Newsletter
·	From Theory To Practice

In 1994, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) launched the Strategic Initiatives (SI) program. In Alberta, it was agreed that SI would fund an Integrated Training for Youth pilot project in partnership with the provincial departments of Family & Social Services (F&SS;) and Advanced Education & Career Development (AE&CD;).

The pilot project was initiated to test the value of customised counselling, training and work site interventions for young individuals who are at risk of long term dependence on public income support. Tenders were called in early 1995 for agencies to establish Integrated Training Centres for Youth (ITCYs) which were to incorporate certain features of a service delivery model developed by the Center for Employment Training in the United States. Contracts were awarded to the following 3 agencies:

1. Career High — a program of the Chinook School Division to provide training to youth at two sites in Red Deer and Innisfail;

2. Destinations — a partnership between two training consultants and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to provide training to youth in Edmonton;

3. Fifth on Fifth Youth Services — a program of the Lethbridge Youth Foundation to provide integrated training to youth in Lethbridge and area.

The three ITCYs targeted youth aged 16 to 20 who had dropped out of school and were at risk of long-term dependence on social allowance. Clients were to receive integrated life, job and academic skill training coupled with job placement, job maintenance, financial incentives and other support services necessary to complete their training and gain meaningful employment.

Methodology

The Outcome Evaluation was intended to document program impacts on training participants, and determine the extent to which the intervention led to incremental benefits. The evaluation measured impacts using both a pre-post designs for program participants as well as a comparison group design using non-participating program applicants.

Qualitative information was collected through interviews with clients, program staff and other government and community stakeholders. ¹ Quantitative data was collected over a period of nearly 2 years through a series of survey instruments delivered to Program

Group and Comparison Group members at different stages of the intervention (Baseline, Exit, Follow-up). The quantitative results were consolidated into quarterly periods to compensate for low monthly response rates. The data was also adjusted using covariate regression techniques to compensate for selection bias between the Program and Comparison Groups. Bias between responders and non-responders was not considered significant.

Evaluation Conclusions

The following conclusions have been drawn regarding major evaluation issues established to guide the study:

• Participant Satisfaction — Clients rated the programs quite highly and were generally satisfied with the services and support they received. Employers were also generally satisfied with their role and with the clients they trained or hired.

• Reasons for Discontinuation — The main reasons participants discontinued training include: poor motivation/lack of interest; dissatisfaction with the program, having transportation barriers; getting a job; going back to school; and having family/financial problems.

• Impact of Incentives — The provision of financial incentives was instrumental in attracting many clients to the training. The incentive was adequate for most participants; however, it was not needed in some cases, and in other cases was not enough to meet clients' needs and encourage/enable them to finish their training.

• Impact on Home and Family Life — The ITCY training had a small impact on clients' home and family life.

• Preparation for Self-Sufficiency — The ITCYs biggest impact appears to have been on clients' attitude, motivation and self-esteem. Most clients also gained useful work experience and occupational skills, as well as job finding and life skills. The programs were not as successful in providing academic skills and a career plan.

• Achievement of Self-Sufficiency — Clients showed a steady increase over time in the proportion employed and in their weekly incomes. However, the ITCY programs appeared to have only a modest impact on clients' self-sufficiency, as measured by incremental gains in employment and income relative to the Comparison Group.

• Removal of Barriers — The longer clients trained, the better their employment outcomes tended to be; however, the ITCYs were not entirely successful in mitigating the effect of certain barriers to employment facing many clients (e.g., poor motivation, lack of transportation, low education, poor work history/lack of experience).

• Cost Effectiveness — The Integrated Training model is valued by case managers who believe it to be a more efficient and effective way to deliver services to highly barriered individuals. The partnerships forged by the agencies (e.g., with employers, with other community service providers) helped to bring more services to the client without increasing program costs.

• While results indicate that program participants fared somewhat better than the Comparison Group, it is doubtful that the incremental economic benefits would outweigh the higher costs associated with the training model. On follow-up, many clients indicated not using or needing the skills they learned in their current jobs. In addition, the jobs obtained by program participants were not substantially better than jobs obtained by the comparison group. These findings call into question the "value added" by the occupational skill training component of the programs.

Lessons Learned

Based on the results from the interim and final Outcome Evaluations, the following lessons have been learned from the Integrated Training Centres for Youth pilot project:

• There is a need for employment-focused services for youth that have dropped out of school. Existing services typically focus on adults, or provide alternative schooling for youth not coping well in the traditional educational system.

• Community stakeholders support the concept of Integrated Training. They view it as a more holistic, efficient and effective way to provide the range of services needed by youth at risk.

• Employers are not loath to become involved as trainers of youth at risk, and are prepared to take on a mentorship role that goes beyond the usual training-on-the-job function.

• Partnerships can be developed which enhance the services provided:

• The pilot projects suffered no major jurisdictional obstacles. On the contrary, the partnership between the Federal and Provincial government resulted in more creative and comprehensive programming than might have been mounted by either partner alone.

• The ITCYs are able to form partnerships with employers and other community service providers which reduce duplication and increase access to complementary services which otherwise would need to be provided in house.

• Incentives help to attract youth to training and to reduce their barriers to training. Incentives also provide an inducement for employers to take on youth to train, and for clients to stay in training for extended periods.

• The provision of incentives is problematic. It is difficult to implement a system based strictly on need. Also, projects, which provide incentives, can expect higher than normal dropout rates since the money will attract a certain proportion of participants who are not committed to pursuing long-term employment.

• Although clients were highly satisfied with their experience with Integrated Training, the programs were not fully successful in mitigating some of the barriers youth at risk face in gaining access to the job market.

• Integrated Training is a relatively expensive employment intervention. Substantial economic benefits must be realised in order for the government to obtain payback over a reasonable time horizon. The pilot projects did not appear to result in the necessary level of incremental benefits.

Recommendations are provided in regard to the conditions under which the ITCY pilot projects could be expanded or replicated to address problems facing young people in other areas.

Footnotes

1	Qualitative results have been extensively documented in a previous Interim Report. Major findings from the report have been brought forward into this report for the purposes of drawing final evaluation conclusions.