This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

At Risk Task Force seeks community participation
Banner Graphic, Greencastle, IN – May 4, 2009
Six of every 100 teenage girls gave birth in 2006. In that same year, 4.27 million babies were born. 6,400 of those were born to moms under the age of 15 and 89,000 of that 4.27 million were babies born to Indiana teenagers. These were statistics presented by Dr. Veronica Dorsch at a task force meeting of concerned community members to discuss at risk behaviors of teenagers in Putnam County. This group grew out of a Wellness Committee put together at North Putnam schools earlier this year.

Nashville seeks solutions to school dropout problem
Tennessean, Nashville, TN – May 2, 2009
More non-traditional schools offering Web-based learning or after-hours courses are needed to address Metro Nashville's dropout problem, a top adviser for Mayor Karl Dean said Friday. Danielle Mezera, director of the mayor's office of children and youth, spoke to the Education Writers Association about how Dean has addressed the graduation rate. Mezera said Dean's office is exploring ideas about how to open schools during off-hours and how to offer Web-based coursework in libraries around the city.

Schools work to keep students from dropping out
Le Mars Daily Sentinel, Plymouth County, IA – May 1, 2009
Two Plymouth County school districts experienced higher student dropout rates during the 2007-08 school year than in previous years. Larry Johnson, principal at Le Mars Community High School, isn't sure why 13 students in grades 9-12 dropped out last year, but he has some theories. "We feel one dropout is too many," he said. "We try to keep it down as low as we can and work as hard as we can." One way LCS officials do that is by offering students who may not be doing well in a traditional classroom setting the opportunity to attend the district's Alternative High School.

Juvenile Justice

Youth Summit helps kids turn their lives around
Yuma Sun, Yuma County, AZ – May 2, 2009
Yuma County has between 475 to 500 juveniles on probation, and the Justice Center believes these troubled youth have simply made poor choices, and can still turn their lives around. That is the idea behind the Third Annual Youth Summit, held for 100 kids on probation at the University of Phoenix Saturday, where motivational speakers shared their life experiences to provide inspiration.

Students honored for anti-violence essays
The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT – May 2, 2009
The Utah Board of Juvenile Justice will honor 11 middle school students at the Governor's Mansion on Thursday for anti-violence essays they wrote as part of Utah's annual Do the Write Thing Challenge. More than 770 Utah seventh- and eighth-grade students submitted essays about how violence has affected their lives and what they can do to prevent violence in their communities.

Foster Care

Panera Bread owners offer jobs to foster kids
Orlando Sentinel, Central Florida – May 4, 2009
A local couple who run Panera Bread franchises hope to give foster kids some experience in the work world. The Foundation for Foster Children, a Central Florida nonprofit organization, has announced a partnership with Panera franchises owned by Annette and Gavin Ford of Winter Park. The Fords are hiring young people to work in their restaurants.

New Village on Jacksonville's Southside to raise foster teens
The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL – May 4, 2009
A village is rising on Jacksonville's Southside, one that will be able to salvage at any one time the lives of 40 young people, ages 16 to 21, to help make them responsible, productive young adults. They are the young people who in most cases are destined to be underemployed if employed at all, stand a good chance of being incarcerated or homeless, become substance abusers, collect food stamps at 11 times the normal rate and, if a female, have a child out of wedlock before the age of 18 and a second baby by age 21.