How to Help Disconnected Youth

The Annie E. Casey Foundation has outlined strategies for reducing the number of disconnected youth: 1

1. Comprehensive system reform, not just the provision or expansion of direct services:

• Extend resources and services to isolated communities, while taking steps to change the existing institutions and systems. "Disconnected youth often reflect the problems of disconnected communities." Expect that if the community is isolated, disconnected or considered a "tough" neighborhood young people will have worse outcomes.
• Plan, implement and staff local community activities and services. Rely on neighborhoods rather than on the existing systems to provide direct services.
• Address the challenges. Issues include overwhelmed courts, lack of community-based services, prosecuting youth in adult courts, remedial programs for ex-offenders, and common misperceptions about juvenile crime.
• Provide more "natural helper" support. Integrate local community mentors, who understand where the youth are coming from, to assist professionals in providing more intensive help to teens and young adults on a more long-term basis.

2. Investing in schools:

• Expand access to high-quality, comprehensive early care and education. Research shows that "public investments in early educational programs in the first decade of life can contribute positively to children's later success." (A landmark study published in the Journal of American Medical Association and reported by Reynolds, et.al., 2001)
• Prevent disengagement early in children's school careers. The National Research Council reports, "in coming years education research needs to focus more intensively on the issue of motivation, with a view toward strengthening schools' ability to engage and hold students."
• Improve the relevance between what schools teach and what disadvantaged youth need. Connect traditional academic learning with practical real-world experiences to help build foundational skills while developing problem-solving; money, time and resource management; computer and a mastery of other skills that are essential for working with different people in a variety of settings.
• Create a small-school atmosphere so students feel known. Research shows high school dropout rates decline when students are provided a small-school environment in which they get more involved and are allowed to have a consistent advisor or counselor.
• Help students recognize the value of working hard in high school. If students are not motivated to exert effort in school, find out what impedes their effort.

3. Create well-structured school-to-career (STC) programs.

• Teach students the "soft skills" that employers value. A study by Rosenbaum brings to light the importance of at-risk students engaging in school-to-career programs to acquire informal skills by learning to take responsibility for attitudes and work habits (attendance, dependability, perseverance, quality work, and getting along with others) that will help them succeed in the workplace.
• Assist students with finding part-time jobs. Providing at-risk students the opportunity to work in a supervised, school-linked, part-time job reinforces learning and the application of skills for productive behavior in the workforce.
• Encourage school-to-career programs. There is dual benefit in community hiring disadvantaged youth. The youth get job experience and the community gains confidence in disadvantaged youth as they get to know them.
• Help young people gain access to job sites. Transportation may be a hurdle that needs to be addressed.

4. Address impediments to employment.

• Help youth find meaningful employment not just a job. Work should build on interests and be a bridge to support a long-term career.
• Create opportunity for immediate work experience. Supervise tasks so youth can gain work experience as they deal with issues that may have caused them to disconnect from school or jobs.
• Assist in employment opportunities for family members. Support employment opportunities for the individual as well as unemployed family members so efforts are not undermined by non-workers.

5. Meet the adolescent's intense need for nurturing, guidance and protection.

• Strong families build strong communities. Build a neighborhood network of caring and support through families who supervise youth peer groups.
• Support mentoring programs. Bonding with an adult in the community can help the young person weather tough times by offering support.
• Address violence against teens. Abuse and neglect of teens is underreported and often not considered a problem. Take action to prevent or confront all forms of harassment, teasing and bullying as well as sexual abuse.
• Track youth aging out of foster care through age 21 and provide focused assistance. Many disconnected youth have abuse and neglect issues that lead to emotional and physical health problems and thus affect school attendance and employment. Provide transitional support and preparation for daily living as they develop their independence. Help young people in transition "feel loved!"

Key principles for reconnecting youth, as well as ways employers, lawmakers, communities, and individuals can get involved include: 2

Key principles for reconnecting youth:

• Intervene early - prevention is the least costly, in both human and financial terms. Communities need to place priority on early intervention – be there in the fork of the road when the child comes to the first detour.
• Involve parents or caregivers - at every stage of the child's life, seek opportunities for family to participate at some level in the reconnecting process.
• Don't give up on any youth - being given a "second chance" allows people to learn responsibility and accountability from mistakes and contribute to the community in a respectful and supportive environment.
• View youth as resources - the challenge is to help disconnected youth live up to expectations and involve them in the solution of planning for their future success.
• One size does not fit all - no single program or approach will work for every disconnected youth. Thus a "cookie cutter" approach is not appropriate to meet individual needs based on their unique circumstances, attitudes, goals and rate of progress.
• Comprehensive commitment - in addition to addressing education and work, the barriers to progress such as mental health, lack of housing, substance abuse, child care, transportation and access to services requires a coordinated effort.
• Mutual accountability - both the disconnected youth and public systems/community agencies taking leadership efforts must be held accountable for outcomes (positive or negative) and document efforts in reconnecting these youth to school, work and community.

What can employers do?

1. Does the company have family-flexible work schedules?
2. Are there on-site opportunities to volunteer with youth organizations like 4-H, Scouts, Big Brother/Big Sister programs, mentoring...?
3. Does the company promote internships or job shadowing for students?
4. Does the company provide release time or opportunities to attend parenting classes or brown bag lunch sessions at the work site that are relevant to youth development, parenting and support?
5. Are there opportunities to engage in public/private partnerships?

What can state lawmakers do?

1. Review data on North Dakota (using KIDS COUNT! data on-line and any other helpful data sources)
2. Visit state/county/private facilities to see how the youth are treated.
3. Visit other states that have successful outcomes. (See MO residential facilities)
4. Start some pilot ideas/projects, if you can't change the whole state.
5. Support early childhood intervention programs such as Parents As Teachers.
6. Create incentives for after-school and summer care programs.
7. Encourage businesses to sponsor mentor programs for young people.
8. Institute incentives to support youth through scholarships, work programs...
9. Learn firsthand about youth today by being a mentor and prominent role model.
10. Reward successful programs through special grants or reimbursements (e.g., fee-for-service rates).

What can communities do?

1. Assess the situation (using KIDS COUNT! data on-line and any other helpful data sources):
   • How many youth in your community are between the ages of 16 and 24?
   • What proportion of (a) middle students never make the transition to high school; (b) students who enter the 9th grade graduate from high school four years later; and (c) high school graduates go on to some form of post-secondary education?
   • How many young people in your community age out of the foster care system every year?
   • How many teenagers and young adults return to the community each year from juvenile and adult correctional facilities?
   • Are most of the school dropouts, court-involved youth, and foster care youth concentrated in specific neighborhoods or high schools?
2. What opportunities exist in your community for disconnected youth to reconnect to school, work, and caring adults? Are there enough options to meet the current need?
3. Do agencies working with disconnected youth in your community regularly share information and coordinate their efforts?
4. What federal, state, or local funding sources can be used to support initiatives that respond to the needs of disconnected youth?
5. To what extent have key community leaders and youth come together to develop a shared vision and plan to help disconnected youth in your community?
6. What roles are disconnected youth playing in informing and shaping local policies and practices that seek to address their needs?
7. How can communities reinforce personal responsibility for actions and yet be prepared to go the extra mile to help all youth succeed?

What can you do?

1. Volunteer to work with a young person in a school, youth organization, community agency or congregation.
2. Mentor a child.
3. Tutor a child or compliment them when they really work hard on something.
4. Support prevention programs for youth.
5. Support the creation of policies that encourage positive youth development.
6. Support efforts to keep children in school.
7. Get involved with children in the community and include them in making decisions in your family, neighborhood, or organization.
8. Get to know the children in your neighborhood by name and stop to talk with them - ask them what they want to do in life.
9. Read a book with a child, allowing their interests and questions to direct conversation.
10. Play games with children or cheer at a young person's sports game, concert, play or other performance.
11. Ask young people to teach you new skills, such as using computers, programming DVD players, using remote controls.
12. Share a talent you have with a child - start by getting down on the floor to play with a baby or toddler or help a young person with a homework assignment or school project. Call a niece, nephew, grandchild or other child to say "hi" and see how he or she is doing.
13. Encourage and appreciate positive parenting and those who work to improve the lives of children.
14. Be an example - give back extra money when a cashier gives you the wrong change and explain why you did it.
15. Ask a young person to stop doing something that was inappropriate - i.e., being disrespectful to others.
16. Be willing to "listen between the lines" to what youth have to say.
17. Encourage youth to believe in themselves and their ability to create new visions without discounting their ideas.

Sources:

1 - "Reducing the Number of Disconnected Youth," 2003, KIDS COUNT Indicator Brief, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, www.aecf.org/kidscount/indicator_briefs/disconnected_youth.pdf

2 - Reengaging Disconnected Youth, NLC Institute for Youth, Education, and Families Action Kit, 2004, www.nlc.org/iyef

Data and Discussions:

Publication Resources for Disconnected Youth:

• NDKC Factbook (state, region, county levels; see description of indicators that are included):
  • See each two-page profile for Children At Risk
• NDKC Abridged Factbook (county profiles with state data for comparison):
  • See Children At Risk data
• NDKC annual Overview of children's well-being in North Dakota
• NDKC Inform Fact Sheets:
  • See At Risk Fact Sheets
    • Moving Youth From Risk to Opportunity (January 2005)
    • "Everyone's Responsibility" Preparing Youth for Life (April 2004)

Interactive Data Resources for Disconnected Youth:

• CLIKS
• Data Center

Other Data on the Web:

• Child Trends DataBank
  • Behaviors that Affect Learning
    • After-School Activities
    • Parental Involvement in School
  • Employment
    • Youth Neither Enrolled in School nor Working
  • Pro-Social Activities and Attitudes