SANTA ANA WORK CENTER STEM YOUTH PROGRAM 2 - 2017

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C. PRIORITY OF SERVICES The SAWC has developed great relationships with agencies that provide targeted services to Foster and/or emancipated youth, youth with disabilities and youth on probation. Social Services Children & Family Services invites us to their annual foster parent and Staff resource event where we market our services and programs. Additionally, we attend their monthly Foster Youth Outcomes meeting that provides us the opportunity to network with other agencies that also specialize in servicing foster and/or emancipated youth. Orangewood Children's Foundation has also continues to work with us on referring any of their emancipated youth that can benefit from our programs and services. Youth with disabilities continues to be a population we outreach and market our services to. Every year we are asked by the Santa Ana Unified School District's Transition Partnership Program to help in the annual planning of the Senior Transition Day that targets seniors with a disability transitioning out of high school. Staff also works individually with school staff that works specifically with youth with disabilities to provide theirs with tours of the SAWC and presentations of our services. As an added resource, we have onsite the Department of Rehabilitation and Goodwill Industries that provides us with insight on serving individuals with disabilities, referrals, and possible worksites. Currently we are operating the California New Start program funded by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation which has provided us with networking opportunities with staff that specifically work with individuals on probation or on parole. Moreover, our staff has worked with juvenile detention centers to provide presentation about our programs and services in addition to providing workshops on how to find employment once they are out. We also work with our Santa Ana Police Department to update them on the services we have available to youth and adults and provide them with marketing material to distribute as needed. Due to our many years of experience and expertise in workforce services, we make it a priority to stay informed and research what occupations are increasingly growing and what are the high demand industries. It is clear that most jobs of the future will require a basic understanding of math and science. For example, a 10-year employment projections by the U.S. Department of Labor show that of the 20 fastest growing occupations projected for 2014, 15 of them require significant mathematics or science preparation. That is why it was important for us to focus our program around educating youth on STEM careers and its projection to be the fastest growing occupations to pursue. It is imperative that we make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education awareness and careers a top priority for our youth. Although as a nation we have a lot of work to do when we consider reports from The 2010 ACT College and Career Readiness which found only 29% of the tested 2010 graduates are considered college-ready in science and 43% are considered college-ready in math. Locally some of our schools are making efforts to develop academies that focus around STEM careers, yet they are still seeing challenges in getting youth into college and less youth continuing on STEM career pathways if they do graduate from high school. Our goal is to work with youth that are struggling to finish school and don't see themselves going on to college and/or pursuing a job that will provide theirs with living wages and a realistic shot at becoming self-sufficient. Tarmeted Proiects: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related fields are many and diverse. About 150 different college majors have been identified by the National Science Foundation as STEM majors. Equally diverse are the industries in which STEM jobs are critically important to growth and competitive success. Some of these industries are obvious: advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, chemical engineering, energy, actuarial science and health care all relay on high-level skills and education in the STEM fields in their workforce. Other industries may seem less obvious for Exhibit A 6