Montana's National Farmworker Jobs Program Youth Grant

Impacted by mobility and poverty Montana’s seasonal and temporary workers and their children are in need of educational and career opportunities. Through the Youth Program, students who are statistically some of the least likely to graduate from high school, do graduate. Then, defying all odds, they go on to college.

We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

NJFP Today

• Since its inception with the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the NFJP has been an integral part of the national workforce strategy.
• For Program Year 2003, $72.2 million were awarded.
• 36,117 migrant and seasonal farmworker (MSFW) participants received services in fiscal year 2002, of which 11,058 were job training recipients.
• The Youth Program receives a small percentage of the overall money allocated to the NJFP. This program was implemented to ensure that the chilren of MSFW would attain a high level of education and training.
• The MSFW youth program provides services to eligible youth ages 14 to 21 that include outreach and supportive services, remedial and basic education, career development and work readiness.
  

Youth Grant Successes

• Last year a total of 41 credits were issued.
• All 9 seniors served in the program were graduated from high school.
• 37 of 46 students received high school credits during the summer.
• 9 students participated in the Job Shadow Program.
• 1 student received her GED.
  

Why Montana's Program Works

• We focus on the end results: credit accrual and graduation.
• We use established methods: Plato, PASS, and UT courses for credit accrual.
• We incorporate new ideas: A Youth Leadership Conference where students set achievable goals and find out how a life outside of the fields is possible.
• We follow-up with home base schools to make sure students receive credit.
• The most important result is that our students meet high educational standards, attain credit and graduate from high school.