Summer Youth Employment Program Models
SYEP Program Models
During 2025, the Dukakis Center interviewed program leaders from the 20 largest cities that have a Summer Youth Employment Program. We heard from many that there is a real need to facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration among program leaders. Drawing on both our informal interviews and publicly available information, we created short program summaries to share best practices so that cities can learn from one another’s experiences. We also developed an exhaustive case study of the Boston SYEP, comparing it to the research-informed model, to serve as a guide for cities seeking to bring their own programs to scale.
Boston SYEP Case Study
Bringing Youth Employment to Scale with a Mayor’s Youth Jobs Guarantee
In the spirit of building back better after COVID, the intermediaries within Boston’s summer jobs ecosystem sought to develop a more holistic and inclusive workforce development system for the City’s youth. Drawing on the research evidence, Boston succeeded in bringing its program to scale through a first-in-the-nation Mayor’s Youth Jobs Guarantee in 2024.
City SYEP Program Summaries
Sharing Best Practices across 20 U.S. Cities
With support from Arnold Ventures, we partnered with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the Brookings Institution to interview program leaders across 20 major U.S. cities. We learned about how summer jobs programs have been adapted to serve different populations, across a variety of employer types, while braiding together funding sources across complex civic and political landscapes. Where federal and state programs have been slow to evolve, cities are innovating to equip as many youth as possible with the skills they need to be successful in today’s labor market.
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