Monday, October 17, 2011

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Hispanic agency targets high school dropouts
Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, NY – October 12, 2011
Kids need support in school and at home to reduce the dropout rate of Hispanic high school students. Bernice Rodriguez-Morton, president of the Association of Hispanics to Obtain Resources, said family involvement and early intervention are key factors that can help reduce the dropout rate.

Education program for high school drop-outs launched
Petoskey News, Petoskey, MI – October 12, 2011
A federally funded program to pay at-risk youth to educate themselves is in the works in northwest Lower Michigan. The YouthBuild program of Northwest Michigan Works! is intended to serve high school drop-outs with social or economic disadvantages by helping them achieve a GED and additional career training.

Grant helps KACV-TV tackle high school dropout crisis
Connect Amarillo, Amarillo, TX – October 12, 2011
One in five adults in Amarillo does not have a high school diploma.  That's a fact KACV-TV  is now working to change.  Earlier in the summer, KACV received one of 41 nationwide American Graduate Community Engagement Grants to help raise awareness about what some would call the "dropout crisis".

Juvenile Justice

Young Offenders Get Second Chance
LakeElsinore-Wildomar Patch, Lake Elsinore, CA – October 16, 2011
The Elsinore Valley Youth Court Diversion Program gives young offenders a second chance to learn from their mistakes before their cases are referred to the Juvenile Court System.

Results instead of revenge: A new plan for juvenile justice
Vanderbilt University News – October 13, 2011
The struggle against juvenile crime may come down to one simple question, says a Vanderbilt University researcher: Do we want revenge or do we want results?  If we want results, says Christopher Slobogin, the Milton Underwood Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, we should dramatically reform the system to stress community-based treatment over incarceration.

Foster Care

New Law Protects Foster Children From Identity Theft
Fox News, Providence, RI – October 9, 2011
Dee Saint Franc left the Rhode Island foster care system eager to start life on her own. But when she tried sign up for cable and Internet at Verizon, she learned that breaking free from her past wouldn't be easy.

Program helps foster kids take next step
9News, Kusa, CO – October 9, 2011
It's a tough time for people out of work to find a job, regardless of age. Though some, particularly adults in their 20's and 30's are living with their parents when they can't pay the bills, that isn't an option for most kids who grew up in the Foster system. That's where Forward Steps can help.

Teen Pregnancy

Teen pregnancy rate down in Milwaukee
WHBL, Milwaukee, WI – October 12, 2011
Fewer kids are having kids in Milwaukee for the second year in a row.  City officials said almost 36 of every 1,000-teenagers had babies last year. That’s 5.6-less than in 2009 – when a similar drop was reported.  The teen birth rate was as high as 52-per-thousand in 2006, and it brought Milwaukee some unwanted national attention.  Three years ago, the city and its United Way joined forces to attack the problem.

DC Leaders Focus on Teen Pregnancy
MyFoxDC, Washington, DC – October 11, 2011
Did you know 60 percent of all pregnancies in the District are not planned? And public officials say many of those are involving teenagers in D.C.

'Put pregnancy on pause,' event urges Spartanburg teenagers
GoUpstate, Spartanburg County, SC – October 16, 2011
For 57.3 seconds, teens and college students paused in place as screens ticked off the time. The seconds represented the number of infants, 573, born in 2009 to teens ages 15 through 19, in Spartanburg County.  That was just one statistic revealed at an event called PAUSE for a PURPOSE.

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