Hosted by Senior Research and Policy Manager Rohit Naimpally, the inaugural season of J-PAL Voices will explore how summer jobs programs fit into the broader goals of fostering mobility from poverty in the United States. Hear from advocates and program coordinators, researchers, and most importantly, the participants themselves about why these programs matter to them and why they should matter for all of us. We hope you’ll join the conversation and tune into J-PAL Voices. Coming to you this October, wherever you listen to podcasts.

In the first episode of J-PAL Voices: The Impact and Promise of Summer Jobs in the United States, we introduce you to some of the people you will meet throughout the series: Researchers like Judd Kessler and Sara Heller, who use rigorous randomized evaluations, or randomized controlled trials, to measure the impact of summer jobs programs on crime, incarceration, and employment. Participants like Habiba Khan and Erica Chen, who went through Common Point Queens’ Ladders for Leaders program. Program Directors like Angela Rudolph and Julia Breitman, who oversee summer jobs activities in Chicago and New York City. Over the rest of the season, we explore how summer jobs programs might help foster upward mobility, by diving deep into these programs through the lens of the US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty’s five strategies.

We would love to hear your comments and feedback at podcasts@povertyactionlab.org. J-PAL Voices is brought to you by J-PAL North America (https://www.povertyactionlab.org/na). Stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/JPAL.NorthAmerica/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/JPAL_NA).

Please take the short, one-minute survey at https://j-p.al/voicessurvey.

Links:

·         Stopping a Bullet with a Summer Job (pdf), a J-PAL Policy Briefcase summarizing research by Judd Kessler and Sara Heller amongst others

·         Chicago Magazine coverage (webpage) of the research in Chicago

·         Additional summaries of the research by Judd Kessler (webpage) and Sara Heller (webpage)

·         The Effects of Youth Employment: Evidence from New York City Lotteries (pdf) by Alexander Gelber, Adam Isen, and Judd Kessler

·         Summer Jobs Reduce Violence Among Disadvantaged Youth (webpage) by Sara Heller

·         The US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty (webpage)

·         Chicago’s One Summer Chicago program page (webpage)

·         Common Point Queens’ Summer Youth Employment Program page (webpage)

·         New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program (webpage)

What does it mean for a program to transform communities while remaining grounded in the voices and perspectives of residents? In the second episode of J-PAL Voices: The Impact and Promise of Summer Jobs in the United States, we look at how summer jobs programs in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City strive to ensure that zip code is not destiny. These programs celebrate diversity and introduce participants to a variety of perspectives. Hear how yesterday’s participants become today’s leaders through the stories of Rashad Cope and Tatiana Arguello. Learn about the value of building deep relationships from the Philadelphia Youth Network’s Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend. And hear from participants like Benjamin Babayev and Sunny Lee on how their summer experiences broadened their horizons.

We would love to hear your comments and feedback at podcasts@povertyactionlab.org. J-PAL Voices is brought to you by J-PAL North America (https://www.povertyactionlab.org/na). Stay in touch via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/JPAL.NorthAmerica/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/JPAL_NA).

Please take the short, one-minute survey at https://j-p.al/voicessurvey.

Links:

·How do Summer Youth Employment Programs Improve Criminal Justice Outcomes, and for Whom? (pdf) by Alicia Sasser-Modestino

·PBS News Hour video (webpage) on Chicago’s One Summer Chicago program going virtual

·Snapshots: 20 Years of Impact (webpage) publication with participant stories from the Philadelphia Youth Network

·WBUR story (webpage) on Boston’s summer youth employment program adjusting this summer

·United Activities Unlimited’s Summer Youth Employment Program page (webpage)