Nearly 20 percent of 16-24 year old people in the Phoenix Metro area are neither in school, nor have a job, according to recent estimates.
There have been several efforts to reduce the number of these so-called “disconnected youth,” including the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, which brought its job fair to Phoenix last week.
Earlier this year, another national group brought its program to Arizona – it’s called Year Up Arizona and aims to give these young adults the skills and experience they need to get a job. Kim Owens, founding executive director of Year Up Arizona, and Eren Espinoza, who’s a couple of months from finishing her year in the program, spoke about the issue.
