WIOA Brings a Wave of Improvements for Out-of-School Youth

Every generation thinks that they had it tough when they were young. As someone who grew up BG (Before Google), I can recall the days when there was one phone in the house, you went to the library to do research, and you typed papers because computers were something that were more sci-fi than reality. And, of course, everyone had a summer or afterschool job.

Today’s youth face different and, many times, greater challenges. Not a day goes by when there isn't an article about a family who has been impacted by the recession. But, the recession has hurt youth even more than adults. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, teen employment has fallen from 50 percent in 1978 to 44% in 2011 to just 25.8 percent today.  

Today’s Millennials have now seen double-digit unemployment rates for over 70 consecutive months. The unemployment rate among all teens in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas nearly doubled. And, it is an even bigger problem for young people of color. Young Black and Latino males are much less likely to be employed than their white counterparts. Given the fact that many youth work to contribute to rent and basic family expenses, the unemployment rate is devastating.

Not only is this a social and moral issue, it is an economic issue. Research shows that these losses are compounded as lack of work experience leads to additional cost in terms of lower productivity, lower wages and lower employment rates later on in a young person’s career. By one estimate, total annual cost of severely high unemployment rates for 18- to 34-year-olds on the federal and state governments is almost $8.9 billion in terms of lost wages and higher public benefits.

We can’t afford to let an entire generation of young people languish in the labor market. Earlier this summer, the President signed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) into law. WIOA recognizes that the unique needs of disadvantaged youth and support efforts to prepare youth and young adults for success in the today’s labor market.

In addition to supporting quality programming, increasing transparency, and measuring progress over time, the new law also:

·    Targets Limited Resources: Title I targets 75 percent of youth funds to provide services for out-of-school youth – a population that has been a challenge to serve.   

·    Simplifies eligibility: The legislation removes some of the cumbersome eligibility issues that can make it difficult to serve youth who are most in need.

·    Supports work-based learning: We know that hands on, experience-based learning makes a huge difference and WIOA requires that that 20% of the youth funding support work experiences.

While it is great to have new legislation, we have to do our part. We are entering into an era of unprecedented scrutiny and accountability and we have to perform. Now is the time to double down on recruitment and engagement efforts. Now is the time to measure return on investment of each of our programs to ensure maximum effectiveness. The work that we do is so very important. It will pay dividends in the future…stronger economy, safer communities, and healthier families.   

Bridget Brown is the Executive Director of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP), an organization that advocates for the workforce industry and works to develop the professional capacity of workforce professionals seeking the highest standards of excellence in credentialing, applied learning opportunities, and cutting edge tools to excel in serving job seekers and business.  

We were thrilled to be joined by Bridget at our first Youth Workforce Leaders Academy (YWLA)* session on July 24^th, where she demonstrated her 20+ years of experience to prepare our cohort of leaders for upcoming changes to local youth workforce programming as a result of the Workforce Investment Act’s reauthorization in July.

*This program is supported by a grant from the Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, an initiative of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

D.C.’s Second Chance System

With the establishment of D.C.’s first Re-Engagement Center approaching this fall, DCAYA and our community partners have a growing interest in the need to align a robust re-engagement system to the frontline work of the Center.   A few weeks ago, DCAYA and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region brought together national experts in youth re-engagement for a virtual, interactive Vonvo discussion with D.C. community providers.  The experts were Andrew Moore, Robert Sainz, and DC’s own Celine Fejeran.  The discussion highlighted three main takeaways.

Trusting Relationships

All of our guest experts touched upon the importance of trusting relationships in the success of strategies to reconnect youth to educational, workforce, and wrap-around service opportunities.  Echoing the findings of our 2013 Connecting Youth to Opportunities Report,   Robert Sainz emphasized the importance of approaching reconnection efforts by first recognizing that each young person has a story and a particular set of needs.  When adults invest in those individual youth stories through mentorship, coaching, or case management, both parties benefit.  Adults gain a clearer understanding of which packages of services will best fit that young person’s goals, skills, and needs.  Youth gain a trusted resource of support through challenges, guidance in setting goals, and a safety net in the case they veer off-track.  In considering national best practice, the exact model of this adult:youth relationship can vary, but the panel of experts stressed that it remains key to successful re-engagement.

Second Chance Systems

Our Vonvo conversation also underscored the practice of building second chance systems around the needs and demands of youth, which necessitates cross-sector collaboration and diverse stakeholders.  While a young person might be most strongly motivated to seek support in order to attain employment to support themselves and their families, in many instances they lack the levels of educational achievement to find self- and family-sustaining work. In response to the simultaneous needs for youth to learn and earn, Celine Fejeran spoke of the decision within the District to house our first Youth Re-engagement Center at the Department of Employment Services in order to streamline youth access to work opportunities and educational re-engagement.  Another critical advantage of cross-sector collaboration is the ability to gather data across various agencies to gain clarity on the specific circumstances of each young person’s experience that stymie sustained engagement.  As Andrew Moore mentioned in our conversation, this shared data about which young people have left school is also the best starting point from which to launch youth outreach efforts to connect them back to opportunity.

Community Connections

Our last key takeaway was focused on the need to encourage a symbiotic relationship between re-engagement centers and the communities they serve.  This applies to the ability of a re-engagement center’s youth outreach specialists to simultaneously build relationships with youth and strong connections to a wide array of wrap-around services.  Los Angeles and Denver are excellent examples of where this has been done well. On the flip side of this relationship is the opportunity for the influence of the re-engagement center to reach the youth’s friends, families, and caregivers.  If a re-engagement center can build these relationships as well, then the success of the re-engaged youth will have ripple effects throughout their communities.

Overall, the national experts and community providers agreed that this is an incredibly exciting and critical time for re-engagement efforts in D.C.  We all must stay invested and involved in the upcoming implementation of D.C.’s first ever re-engagement center.  We may not get a second chance.

Watch our Vonvo discussion here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6LpZEg98ZA  (full length)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsdpJymHu4   (highlight)

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. She’ll be meeting with youth providers this summer to discuss how to best link their programming with the District’s citywide plans to re-engage youth.  If you’re interested in these meetings, please contact her at amy@dc-aya.org.

SPECIAL EDITION: Youth Advocacy Budget Wins

Tuesday was the final Council vote on the budget, meaning the FY15 DC budget season is officially over:

DCAYA is pleased to report that the budget includes a number of smart investments in children, youth, and families:

Youth Homelessness

• The Ending Youth Homelessness Amendment Act passed. It mandates and funds a drop-in center, coordinated intake, 15 new youth beds, an annual homeless youth census and a street outreach program. Total: $1.3 million. 
• More social workers were funded to focus on families experiencing homelessness. Total: $600,000.
• The permanent supportive housing program received more funding. Total: $2.3 million.
• The local rent subsidy program, which facilitates a number of families getting out of shelter and into homes, saw an increase in funding. Total: $3.0 million.

Education

• The Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s (OSSE) budget includes funding to increase capacity and quality of the early childhood education division. Total: $9 million.
• The Healthy Tots Act, which promotes early childhood nutrition, was implemented. Total: $3.3 million.
• A new weight for at-risk students was added in the school funding formula. Total: $81 million (including summer school). 
• Six new school-based mental health clinicians were funded. Total: $470,000.
• Two additional full-time positions were added to OSSE in order to provide outreach and basic services to support homeless children and youth. Total: $200,000. 
• There was a modest increase in the DCPS Out-of-School Time Program to support afterschool and summer programming. Total: $8.4 million.
• Funding to support community based organizations providing expanded learning programming was held stable. Totals:
• Federal 21st Century Learning Center Grants. Total: $10 million
• Children Youth Investment Trust Corporation. Total: $3 million
• The community schools initiative received support. Total: $1 million 
• Peer health education program received investments. Total: $100,000. 

Workforce and Disconnected Youth

• The youth re-engagement center was approved. This will serve as a central point of re-connection to education and workforce development programming. Total: $473,000 and $349,000 of in-kind resources.
• A Career Pathways Coordinator was created and the Adult Career Pathways Task Force was funded. These initiatives will better connect and coordinate adult education and workforce development services. Total: $175,000. 
• Participants in SYEP will now be able to access free transportation for the first three weeks of the program (that is, until they receive their first pay check). Total: $731,000.
• While the Alternative Schools Subtitle does not include specifically appropriated funding, the change in policy amends the process of alternative school designation, thus allowing OSSE more flexibility in awarding alternative school statuses. This ends a policy that left many high-quality education programs undesignated and underfunded.
• Council restored a number of significant cuts to funding and services. Total: $300,000 to year-round youth employment services; $1.2 million to adult job training; $6 million to TANF job training services. 

While this list certainly is not comprehensive, it gives a pretty good rundown of where we can expect to see some increased services and supports across multiple agencies, as well as some modest changes in policy that will have positive impacts on youth and their providers. While all of our advocacy asks were not met, DC councilmembers and their staff know our issue areas well, setting us up for continued advocacy in the future.

Our member organizations and partners have been invaluable in this process. You have organized rallies, signed petitions, testified at hearings, and tweeted to your councilmembers. We cannot thank you enough! So take a second to absorb the wins that we all worked hard to accomplish.

Ok. Now back to work. FY16 Budget here we come!

The DCAYA staff would like to sincerely thank all of the organizations, community members, direct service professionals, and advocates who worked so hard this past budget season to help see these wins through. Thanks to your advocacy and direct service, young people in DC have a fighting chance to live healthy and productive adult lives. 

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook,SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

A Re-Engagement Center On the Horizon for DC Youth

Excitingly, Washington DC is on the verge of seizing an opportunity to re-engage its 7,000 school dropouts in education - joining some 15 other cities in this pursuit. The innovative D.C. Re-Engagement Center, which has been in the planning stages for the last several months, is slated to fully open in the fall of 2014.

Re-Engagement Centers fill a critical niche for disconnected youth ages 16-24 by providing a one-stop location for assessment of education status, referral to one or more school completion options, and support to re-enroll and stay enrolled. Centers also conduct outreach to find the young people who need opportunities to finish high school and move on with their education. The National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families has documented that centers in 13 cities supported re-enrollment of more than 6,000 youth and young adults over the past two school years. 73% of these youth stayed with their new school placement for at least a year or graduated with a credential.

The formula for launching a successful center is both straightforward and complex. The latter, in part because public policy concentrates on ensuring the success of students who remain in school, and only rarely focuses on the 25%+ who do not.

For a citywide Re-Engagement Center, the straightforward portion of the formula involves:

• Leadership and support from the top, from mayors, superintendents, foundation executives, and leaders of workforce agencies and community colleges, as well as a clearly designated lead implementation agency;
• Newly identified or re-programmed resources, often stemming from the per-pupil funds districts recoup once students re-enroll;
• A youth-friendly physical or virtual portal – for outreach to known dropouts, and to welcome dropouts looking for options;
•  Staff with an orientation toward youth development, capable of building strong relationships with youth who have the most updated information at their fingertips about the range of referral options for education and non-academic services for disengaged youth; and
•  A range of alternative school options at which former dropouts can complete their education and get launched toward next steps in schooling and employment.

The District is following the success formula to an “R” (for re-engagement). The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) commissioned a feasibility study to draw upon promising national practices and to situate plans in the local context. The Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) has stepped forward to serve as the lead agency. The Department of Employment Services (DOES) identified space for an initial physical hub location in its headquarters building in one of the highest-need neighborhoods in the city – thus co-locating education and workforce services. Together, DME, OSSE, and DOES are on their way to a well-functioning partnership. In addition, a working group of the Raise DC partnership that focuses on this population is actively exploring innovative virtual options to make it easy for tech-savvy dropouts to connect with re-engagement counselors and school options.

With so many pieces coming into place for scaled-up and purposeful re-engagement efforts in D.C., the future is bright indeed. District residents, youth advocates, and service providers can lend a hand to the project partners by sending young people to the Center once it opens. Innovators and education entrepreneurs can help tackle the forthcoming need for more high-quality school completion options, as current options will prove insufficient when re-engagement takes off.

And -- in a capital city where messaging is sometimes paramount -- launching the DC Re-Engagement Center will send a positive public message about the importance the District places on re-engagement. At the policy and institutional level, establishing a center represents a firm embrace of an “all students achieve” agenda, and affords an opportunity to maximize the return on investments made prior to the time that students dropped out.





Andrew Moore is the Senior Fellow at the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. The YEF Institute helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their community. 
  

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

From Dropout to College Graduate

Someone once told me in life that everything that happens to you in your success story happens to you because of the decisions you make. I do not know if these were words of wisdom I heard from a family member or a line from primetime news special. Not really understanding these “words of wisdom” in my younger years, I now know the effect that they can have on your life.

Like most young people in Southeast DC, whether they admit it or not, I grew up in a low-income household. My home was structured, but money for essentials in life got stretched most of the time. I grew up where many older kids did not have High School diplomas and dropping out and getting a job was a necessity. My family always pushed me to believe that the only way that you can make it in this world is by exposure. Since the age of eight, I was enrolled in various types of programs that allowed me to see life differently from the way it was viewed by some of my childhood friends.

By the time I had finished 8th grade, I wanted to explore and believed going to school was not the way that I wanted to spend my time. I dropped out and did not think twice about the words of wisdom that were planted deep into my brain not so long ago. I began selling candy out of a truck in places like Alexandria and Silver Spring. I charged seven dollars for a box of dollar store candy and asked for donations for a “made up cause” that I carried around on a flyer to get people to buy my candy. I made a $1.50 after my managers took their cut. The days would be long and hot and my managers were never at the pick-up location on time. It was the worst sometimes, but still I made money.

My family had given up on the idea of me doing anything great and started asking me to contribute to the house -- clean the house, run to the store, cook dinner, etc. I had to do something to earn my resting place. I became tired and annoyed with being confined to the same walls every day of my life. I was ready to break out. I set my sights on obtaining a G.E.D. and began studying for the test. After going to a few G.E.D. study groups, I noticed that I was more advanced than most people there. I decided re-enrolling in school to obtain a High School diploma was a better option.

After taking a placement test to enter ninth grade, I found a school that I fell in love with -- small classes and just the friendliest people I had ever met in DC. I got in! Maya Angelou Public Charter School changed my life. I felt like that child from some time ago returned eager to explore the outside world once again. After my test results came back, I learned that my reading ability was at an 11th grade level. Since I was entering school as a drop out, I had to double up on my English and my Math classes and finished my first year back in school with over a 3.6 GPA. The following year I was connected with one of the biggest blessings in my life, The College Success Foundation – DC. I spent an entire month away from the environment I knew – living in a dorm room at a local university with someone I never met before and trusting that everything would be alright. After meeting some new friends that I still have today, I made the decision to go to college. My decision was influenced by the College Success Foundation telling me that I was entitled to $50,000 in scholarship money. I applied to over 30 schools and got accepted to 19 colleges and universities across the United States. I decided to attend The William Paterson University of New Jersey and major in Public Relations. I will receive my Bachelor’s Degree this year. I also made the decision to give back to young men and women through volunteering with The College Success Foundation - DC.

Someone once told me in life that everything that happens to you in your success story happens to you because of the decisions you make. I made the decision to not be a statistic. The decision to succeed or not is not a hard one these days. I just think about the decisions that I made to become the determined, hardworking, and dedicated young man that I am today. My network of mentors and supporters always tell me that I am a success story, I always reply, “Don’t forget to say ‘in the making.’" – I have not decided that this is the end of my success story yet.

DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region would like to thank Cornell Lyons for sharing his story so we may best understand the experience of disconnected youth in Washington, DC. To learn more about disconnected youth in the District view the report Connecting Youth to Opportunity: Better Understanding the Needs of Disconnected Young People in Washington, DC.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

Where Does the Money Go?

With the intent to outline the funding streams that sustain reconnection opportunities for DC youth, the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates (DCAYA), in partnership with The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, releases “Connecting Youth to Opportunity: A Resource Map for the District’s Disconnected Youth Dollars.” The network of services navigated by disconnected youth is complex, with the District offering several programs and services across eight city agencies. The resource map is a tool for those seeking to utilize the District’s resources most effectively and to understand the complexities behind funding this unique, at-risk population. It is important to note that due to the budget process and ability to track actual vs. budgeted expenses, the roadmap is based on 2012 and 2013 budgets. However, we will be updating the roadmap annually to better provide tracking and trends on spending and access. So with that caveat,  what does this initial roadmap tell us about DC’s inventory of reconnection services? DCAYA has three key take-aways:

First, while cross agency coordination has improved to a degree, there still remains room for improvement. In order to capture the dynamic needs of youth and maximize investments in our public systems, agencies must collaborate to share services, expertise, and resources. One example, which is seen in the funding map, is the Pathways for Young Adults program. The Department of Employment Services (DOES) is partnering with the Community College of the District of Columbia (UDCC) to address the needs of disconnected youth by supplementing traditional occupational training with the chance to learn key life skills. Intentional partnerships between our workforce system and sister agencies is necessary if we are going to build a comprehensive and efficient workforce development system that youth can readily access and transition through as their needs evolve.

Second, the resource map also reveals a severe scarcity of year-round programming specific to disconnected young people. While as of 2012, just under $12,000,000 is spent on the six-week-long Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), less than $5,000,000 was slated for year-round workforce development training for out-of-school youth. Even though adult training programs are available for youth over 18, the rate at which youth access these programs is low, given their overrepresentation in our unemployment rate. Higher-need, less-skilled youth require modified programming that meets them where they’re at. We need to invest in year round training and job placement services that are designed to meet the unique needs of the disconnected youth population.

Third, and perhaps one of the most poignant pieces of the map, is the lack of local funding directed to youth who face the greatest risks of disconnection at key points of transition, like aging out of foster care, exiting the juvenile justice system, becoming young parents, or acclimating as first generation immigrations. We know these youth are especially vulnerable to disconnection and the resources and support they require are often a bit different and deeper than their peers. Yet, the District invests less than $1,500,000 in local dollars to these particularly high risk populations, while federal funds only account for $5,191,409 more.

In reviewing the resource roadmap and comparing various agency programs side-by-side, it is easy to see the startling reality of where the gaps and opportunities lie for disconnected youth. By understanding the various funding streams within our system of reconnection foundations, community advocates and policymakers can target future investments and strengthen our ability to intervene early and effectively. Join us in working with the Council to ensure that the 2015 budget includes strategic investments that connect youth to opportunities.

View "Connecting Youth to Opportunity: A Resource Map of the District's Disconnected Youth Dollars."  

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. This FY'15 budget season, Amy will be citing trends in disconnected youth funding to advocate for the support of a re-engagement center in conjunction with funding to grow capacity in alternative education programs.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

What It Takes to Connect Youth to Opportunities

Below is an excerpt from the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates Disconnected Youth One-Pager. Throughout the month of April, DCAYA will post blogs examining the effects of disconnection and proven methods to reconnect youth to workforce and educational opportunities. You can download a printable version of the one-pager to share with others here. 

BACKGROUND

Despite recent attempts to dramatically improve public education, “roughly three out of ten American high school students do not graduate in four years.”[i] Of those who do graduate, one-third are unprepared for college-level academics.[ii] Moreover, “recent evidence suggests that students who eventually drop out of school “are doing so in earlier grades and at lower skill levels – some even too low to be able to take the GED.”[iii] 

Several factors contribute to youth getting off track before achieving a high school diploma. A history of poor academic performance, chronic truancy, negative school “push-out” policies regarding suspension and expulsion, pressing responsibilities at home, and/or the need to earn an income, are all causes of disconnection. 

In 2010, the city already claimed more than 4,500 TANF recipients between the ages of 18 and 25 and that number is likely to be much higher today.[ix] If we do not address the needs of these young people now, we condemn them to a lifetime of hardship and instability and a reliance on government benefits.

This issue is at a crisis level in DC. Young people who lack educational credentials and work experience are less likely to become self-sufficient adults, and in many cases these young people already have children of their own, exacerbating the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

• In 2012-2013 only 64% of the city’s young people graduated high school within four years[iv] and college completion rates remained well below the national average.[v]
• District youth struggled to find entry-level employment opportunities which serve as important foundations for lifelong success. Only 25% of 16–19 year olds and 68% of 20–24 year olds were currently working or actively seeking work in 2012.[vi]
• Over 14,000 young people in the District (ages of 16 - 24) were able to be categorized as “disconnected youth”-meaning they were neither enrolled in school nor were they employed.[vii]
• In a 2013 DCAYA survey, 60% of disconnected youth were trying to re-engage in school or had in the past, suggesting that they will make many attempts to get back on track. [viii]

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

• Follow the example of cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago by consolidating access to information and services for disconnected youth at a re-engagement center in the District. In providing a “one-stop-shop,” disconnected youth gain access to well-trained staff that provides the latest information on educational programming options and workforce development training. At the same point of entry, disconnected youth can also be guided to the long-term, wrap-around services necessary to sustain reconnection including housing supports, childcare, and income or food assistance. 

• Expand the capacity of non-traditional, alternative education and workforce development programs. Considering that the compounded factors that lead a youth to disconnect are likely to re-emerge in a traditional school or work environment, it’s critical to offer programming that prioritizes the incorporation of real-world context and a pathway towards long-term success. By continuing to undertake research efforts to ascertain where to build capacity within existing programs, while also soliciting the opinions of youth to determine their needs, policymakers will continue to “scale-up” successful programming within the system of reconnection. 

• Improve data sharing between systems that young people disconnect from and programs currently serving disconnected youth. As the current system exists, youth might plug into programs in their efforts to reconnect, but very little of the information gathered on services and outcomes is shared system-wide. This leaves an information gap on “who” these youth are, what subpopulations are most high-risk for disconnection, and what programmatic approaches should be implemented system-wide as best practices. 

• Support efforts that focus on long-term engagement and success. In order to sustain youth re-engagement, it’s important to support efforts that give youth the opportunity to “bridge” from one level of service to the next in their pursuit of long-term success. In connecting organizations and service providers to each other’s work, a comprehensive system of re-engagement emerges, and a clear path forward insulates youth from further disconnection. 

• Establish formal mechanisms to solicit the opinions of youth. In addition to a commitment to collect outcomes data, the opinions of youth must be solicited to effectively tailor programming to their dynamic needs. The input of youth will inform program improvement, solidify best practices, and demonstrate how to replicate efforts across the system of re-engagement. 

• Create a comprehensive system of disconnected youth service provision. A sustained and successful re-engagement effort hinges on communication and adaptability between the many programs, agencies, and organizations that serve disconnected youth. By agreeing to comparable indicators of success, establishing a network of referrals and shared resources, and sharing data about the dynamic population they serve, these entities will hone their understanding and ability to meet disconnected youth where they are.

RESOURCES

[i] Youth Transitions Funders Group, Closing the Graduation Gap: A Superintendent’s Guide for Planning Multiple Pathways to Graduation.
[ii] Bridgeland, J., DiIulio, J., & Morison, K. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises, LLC, www.civicenterprises.net.
[iii] Youth Transitions Funders Group, Ibid; Unfulfilled Promise: The Dimensions and Characteristics of Philadelphia’s Dropout Crisis, 2000-2005. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Youth Network, The Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, www.projectuturn.net; Planty, M., Provasnik, S., & Daniel, B. (2007). High School Coursetaking: Findings from the Condition of Education 2007. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, nces.ed.gov
[iv] Office of the State Superintendent for Education. “Official Graduation Rates SY 2012-2013 “http://osse.dc.gov/publication/2012-2013-adjusted-cohort-graduation-rate”
[v] TAG Data
[vi] Raise DC Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011 Local Area Unemployment Statistics,www.bls.gov/lau/ptable14full11.pdf. Accessed 04/20/13 at http://raisedc.net/pdfs/DME-003-ReportCard2.0.pdf.
[vii] American Community Survey, 2009
[viii] DCAYA, 2013. Connecting Youth to Opportunity. Retrieved from DCAYA website: http://www.dc-aya.org/sites/default/files/content/Connecting%20Youth%20to%20Opportunity_Final%20Report.pdf
[ix] DC Deptartment of Human Services, Income Maintenance Administration, Automated Client Eligibility Determination System, TAN,F Recipient Adults by Sex and Age - FY 2011 

DC Alliance of Youth Advocates released a report in the Fall of 2013, "Connecting Youth to Opportunity." Youth focus groups and surveys were conducted to ask young people about the challenges they face leading to disconnection and the barriers preventing them from reconnecting. The full report can be found on the DCAYA website.

 For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.