The Launchpad by Second Day

Overall estimated read time: 15 minutes

Last updated: July 2021

In this country, youth are consistently left behind by the social safety net. While a disproportionate amount of political and financial energy goes into K-12 education, the other systems that support youth are critically important. Youth services typically refers to work  with homeless and runaway youth, the youth in the child welfare or foster care system, youth that are victims of domestic violence, immigrant and refugee youth, and youth in the criminal justice system. Compounding inequity and institutional failings have led to some of the starkest outcomes in life trajectories. 

For example, over half of homeless youth report mental health challenges and half struggle with drugs or alcohol. Over one third of homeless youth have reported exchanging sex for food, shelter, or drugs. Trauma and rape rates among unaccompanied youth are two to three times higher than those of the general youth population. Unaccompanied youth often find themselves the victims of physical and sexual assault and robbery. 

Take youth in foster care as another example一 50% of foster youth will not graduate from high school on time and 48% of girls in foster care become pregnant by age 19. Upwards of 70% of youth involved in the juvenile justice system have been involved in the child welfare system, as have 60% of child trafficking victims. There are 424,000 foster youth nationwide, and within four years of aging out of the system, 70% will be on government assistance and less than 12% will ever earn their college degree. Kids in foster care are 4x more likely than other children to attempt suicide. 

No matter which system you look at, it is clear that the US is failing its youth. More than 4 in 10 children live in a household struggling to meet basic expenses, and between 7 million and 11 million children live in households in which they are unable to eat enough because of the cost. There are also huge racial disparities一 black and hispanic youth are about 3x more likely to be in poverty than white youth. If we actually lived in a country of opportunity for all, we wouldn’t operate like this, but these issues rarely reach the top of political agendas. 

The good news is this might be starting to change. The child allowance passed as part of the American Rescue Plan should significantly cut down child poverty, and there are more and more solutions being proposed each day to make sure the youngest in society are supported and given the resources they need to thrive. Philanthropists, direct care workers, and new initiatives are bringing renewed energy to the field to support the hundreds of thousands of committed field staff in this work. If you want to be part of this movement and help to change these outcomes for future generations, a career in youth services might be a great fit for you. 

This career guide is here to demystify the process of finding a job in youth services. To inform our work, Second Day has spoken to experts in the field and gathered the best information out there for upcoming graduates and recent graduates. The guide will take you through the  different entry-level positions to look out for in this field. Along the way, we will provide tips on actually getting a job in youth services. We’ll finish with our next three steps: actionable items you can take to make progress towards finding your first job in youth services. Let’s get started!