A few years ago I attended a Forum for Youth Investment [1] luncheon with policy analysts and funders -- all agreed the U.S. was behind the times because we lack any kind of national, coordinated youth policy. In March 2005 Connect for Kids and the Forum fielded a poll [2] that asked if coordinating services for young people made sense--of course the answer was a resounding "yes."
A 2003 White House Task Force report found that programs working to meet the needs of young people are spread across 12 federal departments and agencies with little communication or coordination among them. Currently, there are federal funding streams designed to meet varying needs of youth – afterschool programs, job training, mental health, etc. – but they are administered in silos, independent of one another.
The National Collaboration for Youth is collecting organization sign-ons [4] to encourage the Senate to make the time to pass this legislation designed to improve our nation's response to the needs of older youth.