YouthBuild Blueprint: Follow-Up Period

Follow-up Services for Each Participant

WIOA requires that YouthBuild programs provide follow-up services to exiters for 12 months after they leave the program. This requirement means that all participants must exit at least 12 months before the end of your grant's period of performance, so they can access the full year of follow-up services.

YouthBuild regulations define allowable follow-up services. Review this resource for further information: What activities are allowable during program participation, follow-up, and both phases?

Your program should design follow-up services to assist participants in their transition to and retention in employment, Registered Apprenticeship, and postsecondary education. By maintaining close contact with program graduates, YouthBuild programs can also track program outcomes more thoroughly.

Program staff must conduct follow-up contact frequently to identify and address challenges or barriers faced by program graduates with individualized services and to document progress. Learn more about maintaining contact with participants in follow-up: YouthBuild Tip Sheet: Staying Connected in Follow-up.

Grant Period of Performance: 12-Month Follow-up Period

YouthBuild grantees must reserve the last 12 months of every YouthBuild grant period of performance for the grant follow-up period. The grant follow-up period is a time when programs can track WIOA outcomes, validate their data, and get a sense of the effectiveness of their practices. Grants cannot offer active program services during this period, but they can continue to offer follow-up services to program exiters in their individual 12-month follow-up periods. At minimum, the program director, case manager, and job developer must remain on staff through all 12 months of the grant follow-up period. It is critical that programs maintain compliant staffing to offer support to every program exiter as mandated and to track, validate, and document final program outcomes.

Grantees must reserve a minimum of five percent of grant funds for the twelve-month follow-up phase. Grantees must fully expend grant and match funds during the period of performance.

Grant period of performance includes:

1. Planning Period
2. Active Programming Period
3. Follow-Up Period

• What activities are allowable during program participation, follow-up, and both phases?
• YouthBuild Tip Sheet: Staying Connected in Follow-up
• GPMS Data Entry Video #4: Entering Outcomes
• YouthBuild Blueprint: Data Management
• Best Practices in Performance Management: Data Analysis

Return to YouthBuild Blueprint

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2023
• Posted by: YouthBuild TA
• Posted in: YouthBuild