This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

School turns dropouts, delinquents into college students
Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH – April 19, 2009
Allen Holland had barely tasted freedom when his cell phone rang that hot afternoon in August. The 17-year-old had just been released from juvenile detention, partial penalty for a gun possession charge two weeks earlier. The voice on the other end surprised the West Dayton youth. School was still weeks away, after all, but there it was: David White, his principal at Dayton Technology Design High School.

New Bradford County program puts at-risk students back on track
Bradford County Telegraph, Bradford, IA – April 20, 2009
A new at-risk program has been implemented at the career center, and, so far, it has produced some great results for students who otherwise would have ended up as high school drop outs. Known as the Academy of Academics, it is a performance-based program that allows students to graduate on time with a GED Exit Option diploma.

School districts shave dropout rates
Mail Tribune, Jackson County, OR – April 16, 2009
Nineteen-year-old Diana Blunkall dropped out of Eagle Point High School last year with only 3.5 credits to complete for graduation. "I decided to drop out because I was failing my classes horribly, and I was having family issues," Blunkall said. "I couldn't handle the stress." She went back to school this year after realizing her future would be limited if she didn't earn her diploma. She is now earning her 3.5 credits through a credit-retrieval program at Eagle Point's Connections Alternative School, while keeping up 20 to 30 hours of work at a White City pizza restaurant.

Juvenile Justice

Palm Beach County juveniles get to skip a night in jail if they turn themselves in
Palm Beach Post, West Palm Beach, FL – April 16, 2009
Juvenile offenders who have skipped court dates on minor charges can stop looking over their shoulders to see if the police are coming. Thanks to a new state program being tried in Palm Beach County, starting this weekend they can turn themselves in without having to sit in jail while waiting to see a judge.

Juvenile offenders program celebrated
Herald Times Reporter, Lakeshore, WI – April 18, 2009
Lakeshore CAP's Restorative Justice Program, funded by United Way, has celebrated its 1,000th case completion. The Restorative Justice Program, formerly called the Victim Offender Mediation Program, works with juveniles who have committed crimes, such as bomb threats, physical assault, theft, criminal damage to property and vandalism, to enable them to apologize in person to their victims.

School of Second Chances
The Washington Post, Arlington, VA – April 12, 2009
The six teenage boys, incarcerated at the District's Oak Hill juvenile detention facility in Laurel file into their classroom after lunch one late January afternoon. They are surprised to see strangers -- five women and two men -- sitting in the chairs that the boys typically occupy. The students find some empty seats and shrug out of their matching brown coats and mismatched scarves. They are curious about the visitors in a lean-back, fold-your-arms, prove-it kind of way. "I'm James Forman," begins a 40-something man. "I'm a professor at Georgetown Law School and -- "

Foster Care

I Am Now teaches life skills to those aged out of foster care
Carolina Peacemaker, Greensboro, NC – April 16, 2009
What Travis Burrell saw and heard on the 12 o’clock news about foster care was all too real for him. Kids who are aged out of foster care often don’t have a place to go to, some don’t have a driver’s license and some don’t even have their high school diploma. Burrell was once himself a foster child and after watching a program on foster care on 60 Minutes, he received confirmation from the Lord and he knew he had to do something.

Stimulus to pay for youth job program
The News-Enterprise, Elizabethtown, KY - April 20, 2009
The Lincoln Trail Workforce Investment Board this week announced an environmentally friendly summer jobs program funded by the federal economic stimulus package. The Green Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute — GEL-IN — is expected to give about 200 economically disadvantaged 18- to 24-year-olds not only a paycheck but also teach them things like computer skills, leadership and how to start a business.