Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) offer paid opportunities for youth and young adults to gain career exposure, training, and work experience. In the spring of 2022, CLASP set out to understand how SYEPs have changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the resources needed to expand access to quality summer job experiences. The resulting pair of documents shares insights gleaned from interviews with a small sampling of SYEP funders, providers, and youth:

SYEP in 2021: Lessons for a Changing World looks back at how SYEPs and youth responded to the realities of a second pandemic summer, with implications for 2022 and beyond.

Toward a Vision of Quality Summer Employment for All Youth considers what SYEPs could be. What if every young person who wanted a summer job could gain access to an experience that met their needs in the ways they deserve? What might it take to make that possible?

These new documents build on previous work done by CLASP and the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. In October 2020, CLASP and Aspen worked with the National Youth Employment Coalition, U.S. Conference of Mayors, and National League of Cities to survey 73 SYEP funders and providers. Summer Youth Employment Programs 2020: Lessons from the Field explores the survey responses in a three-part series:

• Part 1: Why Summer Jobs?
• Part 2: Challenges
• Part 3: Innovations and Promising Practices