INTRODUCTION

NEW YORK CITY is home to over 1.7 Million young people1 striving to carve out a path for themselves.Growing up in the five boroughs should bring tremendous opportunity for all but New York City continues to have both the largest and one of the most segregated school systems in the nation2 resulting in squandered potential, the perpetuation of systemic inequities and an environment where your zip code directly correlates with economic mobility3 .

These baseline realities are presently compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing further clarity to the depth and breadth of barriers faced by low-income young people, particularly those who identify as people of color. Contending with learning loss4 and the immediate adverse mental health impacts of isolation5, youth are set to experience significant delays in social-emotional development and academic progress largely influenced by their racial and socio-economic backgrounds.

Older youth, i.e., those preparing for high school graduation, college enrollment or their first postsecondary employment opportunity, are especially impacted by the economic downturn of this moment. Using the Great Recession as a case study, we know that recession era graduates earn less over the course of their career6 and experience alarming long-term health impacts, including a “higher incidence of unhealthy behaviors and higher middle age death rates”. 7 With all of this being true of young adults who did not experience the significant academic disruptions and trauma of living through a global pandemic, we must take proactive, intentional steps to ensure that our next generations of leaders do not become a lost generation lagging behind.

The history of access to employment in New York City and our country is characterized by the systemic exclusion of people of color.8 As documented by the Center for American Progress, the median wage in the United States in August 2019 was $18.58 per hour but the average wage in service, domestic and agricultural occupations, where Black, Latinx and Asian Americans are overrepresented, was just $12.57 per hour.9 At a recent White House briefing, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice noted, “the U.S. economy has lost a staggering $16 trillion over the last 20 years because of discrimination against families of color” and she continued to state, “if we closed racial gaps in income and opportunity, these same economists have estimated we could add $5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next five years and add over 6 million new jobs for all Americans”10 .

In New York City, the median income for families of color has fallen in comparison to their White counterparts and a 2016 estimate noted that “42% of New York City households lack sufficient income to meet minimum basic family needs.11 Recognizing that the New York State economy is roughly the same size as Canada’s,12 it stands to reason that intentionally and 42% OF NEW YORK CITY systematically closing the racial divide would generate tremendous prosperity for our City. HOUSEHOLDS LACK SUFFICIENT INCOME TO MEET MINIMUM It is also well documented that, although we have made BASIC FAMILY NEEDS some advances towards mitigating hiring discrimination, this issue persists. Racial identity continues to have a meaningful impact on who is hired, promoted and retained, with reports finding that hiring discrimination, particularly against Black Americans, has not declined since the early 1990s.13 In a 2004 study published in the American Economic Review, researchers found that, even when resumes were identical, “White-sounding names receive[d] 50 percent more callbacks for interviews”14 and that “the racial gap is uniform across occupation, industry, and employer size”.

These facts are in stark opposition to the perceptions that young people have about their identity as it relates to their ability to strive towards a “good life”. 15 Youth believe that their diversity and uniqueness will help them succeed and progress towards their goals.16 It is our obligation, moral, economic, and otherwise, to ensure that our young people continue to believe in and work towards their biggest possible futures. From an early age, young people, across racial and socio-economic identities, imagine themselves to be leaders.17 We need to support their vision with policy and systems of accountability across sectors to make certain employers honor their identity as an asset towards their future.

Mentoring, like that offered through Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City (BBBS of NYC), provides a solution to both the immediate social-emotional impacts of the moment and an answer to the longer-term economic questions facing New York City. As an intervention, mentoring continues to be linked to Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)18 and an increasing body of research exploring social capital points to relationships as a key to accessing careers.19

Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC (BBBS of NYC) is the nation’s first and the city's largest youth mentoring organization. Our vision is that all youth achieve their full potential. Our mission is to build and support mentoring relationships to ignite the biggest possible futures for youth. Our work is guided by our values: Put Youth First; Advance Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Operate with Integrity; Engage with Empathy; and Invest in Learning & Innovation.

The reality is that nearly 85% of jobs are filled through employee referrals or networking20 and that networks tend be made up of people who hold similar identities (race, class, religion, etc.). 21 We can leverage policy and partnerships to mobilize mentoring to reinforce Positive Youth Development (PYD), an approach rooted in asset based engagement, access to developmental opportunities and rooted in strong relationships,22 while disrupting existing systems through our most precious,

most recession proof commodity: our connection to one another.

Additionally, referrals through employees can generate significant savings of approximately $7,500 per hire.23 By creating more intentional mentoring relationships between underrepresented youth and professionals, these programs can break the cycle of homogenous talent pools while giving youth interpersonal support and experiences to successfully navigate their career path as an entry level employee.

Balancing our collective focus on technical job skills with an investment in increasing a young person’s “developmental relationships”25 will elevate current youth programs. Too often our youth jobs agenda is centered on a singular, oftentimes seasonal, work experience solely focused on skill building or delinquency prevention. These experiences are often one-sided and transactional rather than reciprocal and long-lasting, with youth being instructed in how they need to act or behave in order to succeed in the established hierarchy and career ladders.

Instead, we can build a system that fosters long-term, dynamic connections, rooted in shared learning, to not just potential employers, but more importantly the very employees who influence hiring decisions through their networks and referrals. These “developmental relationships”, defined by The Search Institute through 5 key characteristics: Express Care, Challenge Growth, Provide Support, Share Power and Expand Possibilities,26 develop not only self-determination, motivation and autonomy in youth, but meaningfully expand access to critical resources and impactful connections that better position them for their future.27

“I mentor because I would not be where I am without my mentors. I know that I can make an impact and I’m grateful that [BBBS of NYC] is offered at my company and I look forward to talking to my Little on program Wednesday”

- Big Brother Randy