Los Angeles YouthSource Centers

Goal: Infuse a youth-centered approach to assessment and referral to services to reengage youth who have 

dropped out of high school and assist youth who have graduated high school but are not currently employed.

About YouthSource Centers: To reach this goal, the City of Los Angeles’s Economic and Workforce 

Development Department (EWDD) and Workforce Investment Board (WIB), and the Los Angeles Unified 

School District (LAUSD) work in partnership to reengage youth who have dropped out of high school and 

assist youth who have graduated high school but are not yet enrolled in postsecondary education or in the 

workforce. Based out of YouthSource Centers operated by the city, collaboration partners provide academic 

advising, employment training programs, and other services to youth. 

Collaboration Model: In 2009, YouthSource Centers began partnering with LAUSD to conduct targeted 

outreach to students who had dropped out of school or were at risk for dropping out. Together, they 

identified a comprehensive strategy to:

• Co-locate LAUSD Pupil Services and Attendance (PSA) counselors at YouthSource Centers —

counselors are funded evenly by both EWDD/WIB and LAUSD to allow access at the Centers to 

school district data in compliance with privacy laws. 

• Conduct outreach activities to identify youth for services — PSA counselors educate school staff who 

work with high-risk students, communicate with school police, make phone calls and conduct home 

visits, and host an annual Student Recovery Day with the support of 1,000 volunteers to connect 

with youth that might benefit from services. 

• Infuse a youth-centered approach to assessment and referral to services — every youth who enters a 

Center receives a comprehensive educational and psychosocial assessment.

Promising Practices used in the collaboration:

• Use data to facilitate change — Partners used data 

to make the case for urgent action and funding to 

improve school attendance and job participation; 

they again used data on dropout rates to plan the 

locations of more YouthSource Centers. 

• Find creative solutions to complex systemic 

challenges — YouthSource Center staff engage in 

collaborative service planning and delivery while 

complying with federal policy restricting access to 

student-level data. YouthSource Centers have two 

separate data systems, one of which is intended for

PSA counselors so that they alone can access 

students’ confidential educational and attendance records. Youth sign consent forms that allow 

counselors to discuss the case with colleagues for service planning.

• Making continuous improvements and addressing sustainability — Through open and rapid 

communication between the systems and staff, and a focus on performance standards and quality 

principles, continuous quality improvement processes help to retain staff and sustain the larger 

partnership. 

Lessons Learned by the collaboration: In the midst of a climate of significant spending cuts and pressure 

from some stakeholders to articulate the benefit of co-investing between two large systems, collaboration 

leaders had to overcome resistance by using data and focusing on the most important goals. 

Read more at youth.gov/collaboration-profiles/los-angeles-youthsource-centers 

Smart investments that benefit youth

In its first year of implementation

(2012-2013):

• 8,534 young adults used the 

YouthSource Centers.

• 5,394 young adults received 

academic advisement from an 

LAUSD counselor.

• 972 high school dropouts were 

successfully recovered and 

returned to school.