Worcester Youth Development and Professional Leadership Symposium

The WYDPLS started in 2016 as an effort to improve coordination and access to professional development opportunities aimed at improving the youth work force. In its third year of operation, its signature effort is an annual summer training program for youth ages 14-21 who are staffing Recreation Worcester summer programming and youth who are being placed in summer jobs across the city, some of which are in youth programs. The WYDPLS is managed by the City of Worcester Division of Youth Opportunities (DYO) and is a collaboration of several partners: Worcester Community Action Coalition (WCAC)/YouthWorks, Mass Hire (the local workforce investment board), the YouthConnect Coalition, Worcester Public Schools (WPS), Worcester Division of Public Health (WDPH), and Santander Bank.

WYDPLS at-a-Glance

• Cross-sector collaboration of 7 partners.
• In Summer 2019, 404 youth participated in trauma-informed training.
• In summer 2019, 110 youth were placed into Recreation Worcester summer programs and 294 youth into 75 businesses across the city.
• Plans for expansion to scale city-wide to reach more youth.