Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Walk's goal: Get Des Moines dropouts back in class
Des Moines Register, Des Moines, IA – September 25, 2009
More than 100 high school dropouts have re-enrolled in the Des Moines district this fall, thanks to a new outreach initiative. District officials hope a community walk Saturday will bring back hundreds more who have dropped out in the past two years. "Even if we get one or two students back because of this, that's a success," said Bryce Amos, a Des Moines schools executive director. Des Moines continues to have a difficult time keeping students in school.

Washington Co. school dropout rate declines
The Herald-Mail, Washington County, MD – September 26, 2009
The dropout rate in Washington County Public Schools has declined steadily over the last decade. In 2000, 5.55 percent, or 339 seniors, dropped out of high school, according to statistics provided by the school system. That number fell to 110, or 1.56 percent, during the 2008-09 academic year. Carol Costello, the school system’s supervisor of alternative programs and student services, said intervention specialists at the middle- and high-school levels were responsible for a lot of the success.

New CCSF/SFUSD Partnership to Focus on Recovery of High School Dropouts
Mission Dispatch, San Francisco, CA – September 25, 2009
Gateway to College National Network announced Aug. 28 the launching of the Gateway to College program at City College of San Francisco. The first Gateway to College students started classes on Aug. 17 at the College’s Southeast Campus. City College received a $300,000 start-up grant from the Gateway to College National Network to create a unique San Francisco collaborative to provide greater service for high school dropouts. The City College program currently serves 50 students, and is expected to serve up to 300 through its first three years of operation.

Juvenile Justice

Big Brothers Big Sisters wins grant to mentor ex-youth offenders
San Antonio Business Journal, San Antonio, TX – September 25, 2009
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention will award Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Texas $625,000 in grant funding over the next three years to provide mentoring services to juvenile offenders being released from Texas Youth Commission facilities. The money will support Big Brothers Big Sisters’ “Second Chance Mentoring Project.”

Raise the age legislation offers hope for troubled youth
Hartford Public Schools Examiner, Hardford, CT – September 27, 2009
One bad move—destruction of property, a pocket full of marijuana, or a school fight could steal a youth’s future. Connecticut is only one of three states to try 16-year olds as adults. According to the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance statistics 95% of our youth are arrested for nonviolent, minor offenses. If convicted, they will serve time in an adult prison. One wrong decision could put a troubled 16-year old behind bars, tried in an adult court. Raise the Age reform worked to pass legislation in 2007 that will take effect January 1st, 2010 and place the 16-year old in the juvenile jurisdiction.

Benchmark report will guide juvenile system, Family Courts
Missourinet, Missouri – September 23, 2009
A new report confirms the experience of veteran juvenile officers and provides the information needed to insure juvenile programs actually keep kids from pursuing a life of crime. Deputy State Courts Administrator Gary Waint says this report is important to the state juvenile justice system and its Family Courts. "This is benchmark work that will begin to allow us now to trend how we're performing as a juvenile justice system," Waint says, "and inform the public about of it as well."

Supreme Court to consider juvenile 'lifers'
Chicago Tribune, Washington, DC – September 28, 2009
Joe Sullivan was 13 years old when he and two older boys broke into a home, where they robbed and raped an elderly woman. After a one-day trial in 1989, Sullivan was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole. Terrance Graham was 16 when he and two others robbed a restaurant. When he was arrested again a year later for a home break-in, a Florida judge said he was incorrigible. In 2005, Graham received a life term with no parole. According to Amnesty International, "The United States is the only country in the world that does not comply with the norm against imposing life-without-parole sentences on juveniles."

Foster Care

Foster kids get a hand setting out on their own
Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, FL – September 28, 2009
Alycia McKnight grew out of the foster care program at midnight on Jan. 10. Four days later, she launched into a world as an independent adult. It's a scary step for any 18-year-old but especially frightening for McKnight, who has no support from her biological parents. She began her new life with the help of several years of training from Lakeview's FamiliesFirst Network Road to Independent Living program and $650 to buy essentials to set up her first apartment. She stretched the money shopping at thrift stores.

Stimulus funds to help older foster children
Lebanon Daily News, Lebanon County, PA – September 21, 2009
Lebanon County will receive $190,000 in economic-stimulus money to help older foster children make the transition to independent living. The money will go to the county's Community Action Partnership, which provides human-services programs through the state Department of Public Welfare. Phyllis Holtry, director of CAP, said the money will be used to help 18-year-olds who are "aging out" of foster care learn to live independently and provide for themselves.

Monday, September 21, 2009

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Modesto volunteers push staying in school
The Modesto Bee, Modesto, CA – September 20, 2009
More than 125 volunteers took to the streets of south and west Modesto on Saturday morning in the city's first education walk. Splitting up into small groups, volunteers knocked on several hundred doors. Organizers hoped the person-to-person Diploma in Every Hand Walk would motivate youth to stay in school and graduate high school.

School Drop-outs Get Home Visits
KBTX.com, College Station, TX – September 17, 2009
Community volunteers spoke with 50 students and their parents during the second "Stay In School Blitz". Since 2007, Bryan and College Station and Texas A&M employees, have teamed up with Bryan Independent School District employees. Some of the volunteers are part of the Bryan/College Station Family Solutions, which is the organization that jump started the blitz in October 2007. Thursday volunteers loaded buses and visited several Bryan neighborhoods to encourage middle and high school drop-outs not to give up on their education. Students who decide to go back to school attend Flexible High School in Bryan. For many students going back to school is a life-changing experience.

A solution to a tough problem
The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, MA – September 21, 2009
Kerry Chemelowski never attended a regular high school, but the city resident can now call himself a graduate. Thanks to a federal grant, area school dropouts have a new option to help them get the equivalent of a high school diploma and a foot in the door for a job or college.

Juvenile Justice

Why Reforming the Juvenile-Justice System Is So Hard
Time, New York, NY – September 16, 2009
Among the kids, it was known as Rug Burn City, a reference to the injuries they sustained when guards at the Gossett juvenile prison in upstate New York routinely pinned young offenders face down on the carpeted floor. The restraints were supposed to be an infrequent last resort, but according to a damning recent Justice Department report, they ended up being used regularly as part of a culture of intimidation and control, sometimes for the slightest infractions, such as speaking out of turn, slamming doors and not properly making a bed. It may not be easy, but reform advocates like Gladys Carrion, who took over as commissioner of the state's nearly $4 billion Office of Children and Family Services at the start of 2007, think they know what the broader solution is: changing the culture of a juvenile-justice system that currently uses a correctional model — detaining youth in facilities with varying degrees of security up to prison-like settings — to one more focused on treating the traumas at the root of their bad behavior.

Rick Braziel: The time to act is before the dropout gets arrested
The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA – September 21, 2009
Classrooms around Sacramento are coming back to life as the summer winds down and a new school year begins. As parents, we all have big goals for our children, and a good education is the foundation needed to realize many of those dreams. Beyond the fiscal impact, studies have shown that increasing graduation rates by 10 percentage points would prevent 22 homicides and more than 1,100 aggravated assaults in Sacramento County each year. The importance of a high school education cannot be overstated. Fortunately, a lot can be done to bring dropout rates down. First, kids who start school ready to learn are much less likely to fall behind and off track.

Choice bus teaches importance of staying in school
Rockingham News, Rockingham County, VA – September 21, 2009
Monique is 19 years old. Her home consists of a hard, cold cot and a toilet/sink combo. She’s told when she can sleep and when she can eat, and last week, local middle and high school students had the opportunity to briefly step inside her world. Monique is a real-life prisoner whose story is featured in the Choice Bus program, a reality check program that gives students an inside look at the consequences they could face if they quit school.

Foster Care

Reinventing the McMansion
Time - September 28, 2009
What do we do with our McMansions now? The housing market may be showing signs of life, but it's mostly limited to modest homes. The 4,000-, 5,000- and 6,000-square-footers — the ones that dot the landscape of countless American suburbs, replete with vaulted foyers and Palladian windows — are still finding precious few takers. But maybe that's O.K., because the Great McMansion Repurposing has begun. In Idaho, the nonprofit Housing Company is looking for a 4,000- or 5,000-sq.-ft. house to turn into a home for kids aging out of foster care.

Monday, September 14, 2009

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Area effort aims to halt drift into dropout ranks
The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO - September 11, 2009
When people gather this month to contemplate the area toll from so many high school dropouts, they are going to meet Vanessa Camacho. The 20-year-old embodies so many of the complexities that make understanding and numbering dropouts a vexing problem. Camacho was drifting away from school long before anyone counted her as lost. And, like many dropouts, she is just one step away from pulling herself out of their ranks. In a series of public forums, Kansas City’s Youth Advocacy Office is using grant funding from the national America’s Promise Alliance to build toward an area summit on dropout prevention.

Polk Program Gives Drop-Outs Another Try for Diploma
The Ledger, Lakeland, FL - September 13, 2009
A new program by the Polk County School District is working to get high school dropouts to drop back in. The Drop Back In Academies, owned and operated by the private company Alternatives Unlimited Inc., give students who have dropped out or are at-risk of dropping out of traditional schools a chance to still earn their high school diploma.

School officials drop in on dropouts
El Paso Times, El Paso, TX – September 13, 2009
Denise Reyes was stunned speechless when Operation Outreach came calling Saturday morning. Her mother was caught off guard and in her pajamas. Reyes, 17, was a little overwhelmed when the mayor, the school district superintendent, some district employees, five television cameramen and four reporters showed up on her doorstep. She was one of 80 school dropouts who were targeted Saturday by Operation Outreach, an effort to get young people back into the classroom to finish their high-school educations.

Juvenile Justice

Juvenile justice department project in Anderson about 'more than a bench'
Independent Mail, Anderson, SC – September 12, 2009
Brittany Allewine was 5 when her father was killed. “He was electrocuted when a machine he was working on touched an overhead power line,” said Allewine, now 16, on Saturday. “So, I guess I know a little bit about what hard times are. Losing my Daddy was hard.” Allewine was one of about 20 young people who participated Saturday in a service project of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice office in Anderson County. The project included the building and placing of two benches at bus stops in Anderson County and the coordination of a clothes closet for those in need of free clothes.

DJJ puts youngsters to work
The Index-Journal, Greenwood, SC – September 13, 2009
There are lessons to be learned through volunteerism and giving back to the community. It’s a lesson young people across the state learned on Saturday, as the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice put on a statewide service project called "Restoring Carolina Through Youth Service.” In Greenwood, youth participated in a food drive at the Food Lion on South Main Street, collecting canned goods and other food items, which will be donated to the Food Bank.

Forum to focus on at-risk girls
The Republican, Springfield, MA – September 8, 2009
Educators, social workers, service providers and anyone who interacts with at-risk girls are invited to the fifth annual "Through Her Eyes: The Experience of Girls and the Juvenile Justice System" conference. The event, with a theme this year of "Empowering Girls Through Social Change," focuses on how to best meet the needs of female juvenile offenders in Western Massachusetts. It's scheduled to take place Oct. 8 at the MassMutual Center.

Foster Care

'Uncle Roger's' tutoring program improves foster children's skills
DesMoines Register, Des Moines, IA – September 12, 2009
Elisha Hobbs graduated from a Des Moines high school with a 3.5 grade-point average. But her reading skills were at a fifth-grade level and her math skills were even lower, according to tests by a private tutor. The holes in Hobbs' education were discovered by a Des Moines activist who is investing thousands of dollars of his own money to pay for professional tutoring in reading, writing and math so foster teens like Hobbs can go to college if they choose.

Lawyers sought to help Southwest Florida children
News-Press, Florida – September 11, 2009
In Florida courts for abused and neglected children, attorneys represent the Department of Children and Families, the Guardian ad Litem, and parents, but rarely is one there just for the child. Judge James Seals, who presides over Lee County’s dependency court, and Alicia Guerra, supervising attorney for the local guardian program, which provides court advocates for children, are trying to recruit pro-bono lawyers for children with complex legal issues and teenagers aging out of foster care. “There are certain times where children do need to have a lawyer, and no one’s available,” Seals said. “The state does not provide lawyers for children like they do for parents.”

DSS worker excels to help others in foster care
The Sun News, Chester, SC – September 8, 2009
Kiki Hopkins doesn't just tell kids and young parents at Chester County's Department of Social Services what can be done to succeed. She lived it herself. Long before Ki'Juana "Kiki" Madry Hopkins worked at DSS helping kids as a child protection case worker, she was one of the children in DSS foster care. When her name was Kiki Madry, and she was a seventh-grader in the 1980s, her mother went to jail after drug problems. Kiki, youngest of three kids, and her older sister lived in foster homes and group homes. Now, Kiki is a college graduate working on her master's degree. She helps kids in the same office where she once was a name in a case file in the community of Chester.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Communities in Schools battles dropout epidemic
Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX – September 2, 2009
Back to school — three words that conjure memories of anxious moments about a new teacher, football games, crowded lunch rooms and hallways crowded with jostling students. At Communities In Schools Houston (CIS), back to school has a much deeper meaning. Placed on school campuses throughout Houston, dedicated CIS staff and volunteers work with children at the greatest risk of dropping out of school in order to remove obstacles to learning. Some kids face daunting challenges such as having an incarcerated parent or teen pregnancies, while other kids might just need a little extra support in school or a positive adult role model.

Taco Bell Raises $1.8 Million to Fund Teen Programs at Boys & Girls Clubs
Reuters, Irvine, CA – September 2, 2009
Taco Bell raised $1.8 million in a one-day nationwide fundraiser held in April to benefit Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and their key partner and beneficiary, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. More than 2 million customers visited Taco Bell restaurants on April 23rd to participate in the fundraiser. Franchisees and company-owned restaurants pledged 15 percent of the day's gross sales to help further the Foundation's mission of raising awareness for the graduation crisis, and supporting programs at Boys & Girls Clubs designed to help at-risk teens. The money pledged from the fundraiser will help enhance and expand the national Keystone initiative, the largest and most dynamic teen program within Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Keystone Clubs help young people ages 14-18 become productive citizens and leaders by focusing on three key areas: Academic Success, Career Exploration and Community Service. Since 1995, Taco Bell Foundation for Teens estimates its programs have helped more than 500,000 teens stay in school and on the path to graduation.

Juvenile Justice

Justice Department Announces $129 Million in Awards to Support Youth Mentoring
Reuters, Washington, DC – September 2, 2009
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today announced more than $129 million in Recovery Act and Fiscal Year 2009 funds have been awarded for mentoring services to help prevent at-risk youth from becoming involved in delinquency. The grants will also preserve and create jobs throughout the United States. "The Recovery Act has allowed us to invest further in the future of today's youth by providing mentoring opportunities to help children reach their full potential," said Attorney General Holder. "These grants will help steer young people away from criminal activities by providing them with healthy life alternatives, positive role models and direct contact with caring adults."

Kids, Courts and Schools Conference looks at ways to help at-risk youth
Mt. Vernon Register-News, Mt. Vernon, IL – September 3, 2009
As cuts in funding may have reduced the money for programs that help at-risk youth, what didn’t get reduced are the number of youth that need intervention and the programs. The 16th Annual Kids, Courts and Schools Conference will target ways to prevent juvenile delinquency and ways to help troubled teens become responsible adults. The conference will be held Oct. 1 at Rend Lake Resort & Conference Center at the Wayne Fitzgerald Park in Whittington.

"Step Up" Program Helps Students Get Back On Track
ABC Alaska News, Anchorage, AK – September 4, 2009
Known for its high drop out rates, the City of Anchorage has developed a program aimed at keeping students in school, as well as on track. This year, ASD has teamed up with Juvenile Justice and the city to develop the program called “Step Up”. Instead of going to a correctional facility or continuation program, “Step Up” gives students another chance to stay motivated towards school and earn credits, eventually working there way back into the Anchorage School District.


Foster Care

From DSS custody to DSS worker, this Chester lady comes full circle
Herald Online, Chester, SC – September 6, 2009
Kiki Hopkins doesn't just tell kids and young parents at Chester County's Department of Social Services what can be done to succeed. She lived it herself. Long before Ki'Juana “Kiki” Madry Hopkins worked at DSS helping kids as a child protection case worker, she was one of the children in DSS foster care. When her name was Kiki Madry, and she was a seventh-grader in the 1980s, her mother went to jail after drug problems. Kiki, youngest of three kids, and her older sister lived in foster homes and group homes. Now, Kiki is a college graduate working on her master's degree.

Mentors help foster children
Herald Tribune, Sarasota, FL – September 3, 2009
The always-expanding Next Step program has helped teenagers like Mercades Kennedy, 18, enter adulthood with its mentoring and tutoring services. "It was wonderful," Kennedy says of the experience transitioning out of foster care. "I couldn't wait to get my own place and not have people over me trying to make decisions." Mentor groups consist of mental health, legal, financial, education or business professionals who are available as a support system for two years.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Newark school offers alternative path to learning
Newark Live, Newark, NJ – September 1, 2009
Urban Academy, an alternative high school that opens here this week, has no tests, no grades and few textbooks. But that's not what interested Dario McNeil, 16, one of the incoming students. He's excited about the internship that's a required part of the curriculum. "I like hands-on. That's how you learn," McNeil said. "They are offering something I cannot get out of regular high school."

A Path To College for High School Dropouts
KCBS, San Francisco, CA – August 28, 2009
Students who don’t finish high school are being given a second chance at education through a new program at City College of San Francisco. The community college is one of 24 institutions across the nation participating in the Gateway to College Program funded with seed money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

U-46 superintendent writes to dropouts
Daily Herald, Elgin, IL – August 27, 2009
After a successful campaign last year, Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres has mailed off another round of letters to high school dropouts. The 44 letters, sent to students across the district 17 or younger who notified their schools they would not be returning this fall, point to the benefits of a high school diploma.

Juvenile Justice

Ind. expert: Arrests more likely for black youth
Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis, IN – August 27, 2009
Juvenile justice experts said Thursday that the racial disparity in young offenders in Indiana is alarming and cited new data that shows black youth are far more likely to be placed in detention centers than whites when arrested for similar offenses. About 200 judges, social workers and other experts from Indiana and other states gathered in Indianapolis to discuss how to handle the state's racial disparities in the arrest and prosecution of juveniles. The meeting was an outgrowth of a state commission's report in October about youth services in the state.

Teen offenders find a future in Missouri
CNN.com, Missouri – August 27, 2009
Getting arrested for stealing cars after his 16th birthday may be the best thing that ever happened to Terrence Barkley. It got him out of gangs and headed to college. While in one of Missouri's juvenile facilities, Barkley became editor of its student newspaper, captain of the football team and made the honor roll. "I wanted something different for myself or I'd end up in Kansas City doing nothing. I knew I could do something," said Barkley, who is the first in his family to go to college. Now he's a sophomore studying criminal justice at the University of Central Missouri.

Foster Care

Local leaders make foster care a top priority
KNDO, Yakima, WA – August 28, 2009
Community leaders are trying to keep more foster children out of prison and focused on school and brighter futures. The Casey Family Programs is investing $8.3 million in Washington to help make sure foster families are providing the best care for children and leading them in the right direction. Last year, more than 7,000 children entered into the foster care system. According to state studies, 25 percent of those kids will become incarcerated by the age of 18 and many will never finish school.

Project Prevention to Visit Detroit to Help Addicts
South West News Herald, Illinois – August 28, 2009
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a series of bills Tuesday designed to enhance and improve child welfare services in Illinois. These bills, Quinn said, enable the Department of Children and Family Services to better support families in need, strengthen relationships between parents and children, and build better futures for youth transitioning from state care to adult independence.

Program helps foster teens transition to adulthood
Times-Georgian, Douglas County, GA - August 26, 2009
“Independent living” is usually a term associated with senior adults. However, Georgia’s Independent Living Program (ILP) is a program to help foster children make a successful transition to adulthood. Joyce Atwell, Region 17 Independent Living coordinator, and Gina Kuykendall, GHK Public Relations, spoke about ILP at the noon lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Douglas County. Region 17 includes Cobb, Douglas and Cherokee counties. ILP serves teens ages 14-21 who have been placed in foster care, youth who have been adopted after the age of 14, youth in custody of Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) for a minimum of six months and a ward of the state on or after the 14th birthday, youth with open welfare placement cases as well as open delinquency case, youth in DFCS custody up to 18 years of age and developmentally disabled youths. The program is part of the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) and is funded by federal and state dollars.