Although about 20 percent of all youth will become at risk of disconnection at some time before reaching the age of 25, only 5 to 7 percent will reach age 25 without connecting in a meaningful way to employment and social support systems. This slide deck is a field scan of what selected school districts, foundations, and nonprofit organizations are doing to reconnect these young people to school and other social networks so that they are prepared for careers and further education. Individual slides can be taken from this deck and used in presentations.

Harlem Children’s Zone,®Inc. has experienced incredible growth - from the number of children we serve to the breadth of our services. But one thing has stayed the same: the agency’s “whatever it takes” attitude when it comes to helping children to succeed.

The organization began 1970 as Rheedlen, working with young children and their families as the city’s first truancy-prevention program.

On March 30th, 2009, the Urban Institute, with support from the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation, conducted a roundtable discussion entitled "Infants and Toddlers in State and Federal Budgets: Yesterday's Choices, Today's Decisions, and Tomorrow's Options." The event brought together about 40 leading state and federal budget experts, practitioners, and policy-makers including experts in early childhood, health care, and nutrition policies and programs. The aim was to assess the evidence about the effects of state and federal budget choices on young children, to identify immediate opportunities and risks for young children related to the recession and the economic recovery package, and to suggest both short- and longer-term next steps for researchers and policy-makers. The conversation centered on two substantive areas: health and nutrition (particularly Medicaid and WIC) and early care and education. In addition to this podcast, organizers will prepare a conference report outlining insights from the day's proceedings.

A new Child Trends brief helps funders, administrators, and practitioners find evidence-based programs that may be appropriate for their target populations and communities. The Guide provides an overview of 22 resources and 12 searchable online databases that offer information on a range of evidence-based intervention programs.

On July 14, 2009, President Obama unveiled the American Graduation Initiative, a plan to raise graduation rates, improve facilities, and develop new technology. The plan would allow colleges to improve remedial and adult education programs and integrate developmental classes into academic and vocational classes and provide comprehensive personalized services to help students plan their careers and stay in school.

New York City faces a civic crisis of “disconnected” youth and young adults. There are over 163,000 young people ages 16 to 24 who are neither in school nor in the labor force. When we add the number of “unemployed” young adults, who are actively seeking work but unable to find it, we have more than 220,000 young people who are not in school nor working—nearly one in five of the total age group. These young people—largely youth of color from poor communities—are at high risk of becoming permanently disengaged from the labor market, threatening their ability to break out of the cycle of poverty and contribute to our economy and community. Their idleness represents a great waste of resources and human potential. The Community Service Society of New York looks offers recommendations.

How a student YouTube posting brought top-level attention to a growing initiative that connects under-represented young people to college campuses—Jamaal Abdul-Alim of Youth Today reports.

In 2007, 1.7 million children under age 18 had a parent in prison—an 82 percent increase 1991, disproportionately affecting children of color. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to drop out of school, engage in delinquency, and subsequently be incarcerated themselves. This Sentencing Project brief evaluates Department of Justice data and offers policy recommendations to support parent/child relationships and minimize the harm to children.

National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC) would like to alert you to our newest publication, Expanding Options: State Financing of Education Pathways for Struggling Students and Out-of-School Youth (2008). These profiles of state policy in Indiana, Massachusetts, and North Carolina examine how various education options are accessing public funds in three states. They contextualize the funding of education options within larger secondary education reform and dropout prevention and recovery efforts and provide a close look at state education funding policy in each of the three states. Building on NYEC's previous work, each profile begins with a one-page overview of the secondary education reform context, major dropout prevention and recovery efforts, and funding of education options in the state. Overviews are followed by more in-depth discussion of these areas, as well as detailed information on state funding of public education in each state and examples of how state policy affects programming at the local level. Copies are available at http://nyec.org/pn_tools/prodreg.cfm to download or you may order a free hardcopy.

A once-a-week adult-student mentoring meeting does not an after-school program make, according to this brief from the Forum for Youth Investment. But perhaps, with a little help, it could. The question is not which makes more sense, mentoring or after-school, but how can we utilize both strategies to increase the likelihood that young people have the supports they need to thrive. The 8-page brief offers some ideas.