Monday, April 30, 2012

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Saginaw resident goes from high school dropout to Delta College commencement speaker
MLive.com, Frankenlust Township, MI – April 26, 2012
Jovanna Jones jokes that when she was in high school, she didn’t even know what GPA stood for.  The Saginaw native bounced among three high schools, dropping out at one point, and never thought about attending college.

Event at Robertsdale High School allows students to bring awareness to program, give back to community
The Independent, Robertsdale, AL – April 29, 2012
Nationwide the decline in high school graduation rates has reached epidemic proportions.  A recent paper by the Alabama Training Institute at Auburn University at Montgomery cited a Southern Education Foundation study stating that nationwide, roughly 30 percent of the 1 million American students who begin the ninth grade each year don’t graduate.

Before East students can dance, they have to show up for class
Indianapolis Star, Des Moines, IA – April 27, 2012
Students must do more than pay for a ticket to get into East High School’s prom on Saturday.  They have to show up for class.

Juvenile Justice

Juvenile Justice System gives kids second chance
Shore News Today, Atlantic County, NJ – April 26, 2012
Increasing numbers of Atlantic County at-risk youth are turning their lives around by taking advantage of second chances afforded through the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative.  In the past, secured detention was the primary option for supervising youth offenders. With the implementation of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, a standardized risk assessment helps determine whether a youth is detained or placed into one of several alternative programs that may include treatment, counseling and education services, and community-based monitoring programs.

Ex-police chief calls for juvenile justice reform
The Daily Nonpareil, Lincoln, NB – April 26, 2012
Former Omaha Police Chief Thomas Warren called for reform of the state's juvenile justice system in response to a new study that found widespread racial disparities in how cases are handled.  "It's obvious there's gross disparities and over-representation of minorities in the juvenile justice system, as demonstrated by this report," Warren, now president of the Urban League of Nebraska, said Wednesday.

Foster Care

Former foster kids get connected to a better life
USA Today, Indiana – April 29, 2012
De'Jerica Michaels became pregnant at age 15, but friction at home became so tense that she left. She wound up in foster care, placed with a Noblesville family.  After seven months, she returned to live at home. That arrangement fell apart again, however, and Michaels wound up living briefly in five different foster homes.

$350,000 Grant Awarded to Study Foster Youth
UCR Today, Riverside, CA – April 26, 2012
A five-year, $350,000 grant from the William T. Grant Foundation will enable Tuppett Yates to continue on-going research on how youth emerging from foster care navigate young adulthood.

Teen Pregnancy

Planned Parenthood to promote curriculum to prevent teen pregnancy
MLive.com, Flint, MI – April 24, 2012
Planned Parenthood will participate in the 11th annual "National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy" on May 2.  As part of the day, Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan, it will educate more than 530 youth and 80 parents in the area on the importance of making healthy sexual choices through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative and Taking Pride in Prevention programs, according to a news release.

North Country Children’s Clinic; new grant assists teen pregnancy program Healthy Outcomes
ABC50, North Country, NY – April 24, 2012
A $20,000 grant has been awarded to the North Country Children’s Clinic, allowing for the continuation of programming supporting teen mothers during pregnancy.  The grant was awarded from the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation (MECF) for the North Country Children’s Clinic program Healthy Outcomes.

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