2024 Youth Practitioners' Conference

Last week, NYATEP's annual Youth Practitioners' Conference took place with 250 attendees having a blast in Saratoga Springs. The afternoon of March 11th kicked off with a welcome from the Saratoga Mayor Safford, and a presentation by Michael DeVito of the New York Center for Interpersonal Development (NYCID), titled "How Do You Show Up? And What Do You Do When You Get There?" Following that presentation, attendees ate some delicious ice cream sundaes made by Ben & Jerry's and headed into the first workshop session of the week. That night, about 60 folks attended Paint & Sip, while others enjoyed a night out in Saratoga Springs.

On March 12th , we were all greeted with a warm welcome by Assemblymember Mary Beth Walsh, and the Saratoga Springs WDB Director, Gretchen Steffan. The morning plenary session was titled "Building Bridges to Brighter Futures: Empowering Homeless Youth for Workforce Success" and the panel included Shanterra Mitchum, Center for Teen Empowerment; Mustafa Tabakovic, Jericho Project; Madeline Hehir, OCFS; and Antwan Williams, RochesterWorks. 

Attendees were encouraged to leave an inspiring note or motivational quote on our "Impact Wall", inspired by Melinda Mack's impact that she left on all of us and the world of workforce development. It was awesome to read all of the notes left throughout the week! Later on, attendees gathered at Saratoga Strike Zone for bowling, snacks, bumper cars, and games. Fun was had by all!

March 13 was our last day, but was still jam packed! We closed up the conference with a panel titled "Driving Opportunity: Navigating Youth Employment through Transportation Access" with Trent Griffin-Braaf, Tech Valley Shuttle; Brian Williams, Capital Region Workforce Development Board; Venessa Colon, Workforce Solutions Now; and Rebecca Wood Six Flags Great Escape. 

NYATEP would like to thank our sponsors and exhibitors: NYSERDA, OCFS, Grant Associates, ProLiteracy New Readers Press, Aztec Software, Public Works Partners, Transfr VR, NXA Development, Workforce Development Board of Herkimer, Madison, Oneida Counties, Inc., NYCID, and Columbia Greene Workforce NY.

Do you have pictures you'd like to share with the team? Please email them to Adrienne at [email protected]!