Assembly Concurrent Resolution 16 Feedback Request

Workforce Services Information Notice
WSIN25-27

Issued: April 24, 2026

The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB), as part of its plan to implement Assembly Concurrent Resolution 16: Needs of Opportunity Youth (Resolution Chapter 130, Statutes of 2023), has formed an Opportunity Youth Workgroup to develop a “Best Practice” Policy Brief. The goal of the policy brief is to increase the effectiveness of Local Workforce Development Boards to serve opportunity youth and improve outcomes for California’s opportunity youth population.

The CWDB is soliciting feedback from the workforce development community on ways to reduce persistent economic inequities faced by the opportunity youth population, and ways to prioritize the following:

  1. Funding for education and workforce training programs that center on opportunity youth and create pathways to good jobs.
  2. Expansion of innovative “earn and learn” opportunities, including apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, and other work-based learning opportunities.
  3. Advancement of dual enrollment implementation, which will allow opportunity youth to earn college credit while earning their high school equivalency.
  4. Ensure inclusivity of opportunity youth in the California Cradle-to-Career Data System.
  5. Protection and expansion of social safety net investments for opportunity youth that support basic needs such as food, housing, internet access, transportation, childcare, and health and mental health care, enabling them to complete their education and training goals, including removing barriers to access to student financial aid programs.

Feedback may be submitted to the CWDB Policy Unit at PolicyUnit@cwdb.ca.gov by 5 p.m. (PST), Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

/s/ KIMBERLEE MEYER, Chief
Central Office Workforce Services Division