Education
Obama Wades Into Issue of Raising Dropout Age
The New York Times – January 25, 2012
President Obama’s State of the Union call for every state to require students to stay in school until they turn 18 is Washington’s first direct involvement in an issue that many governors and state legislators have found tough to address.
Illinois may change high school dropout age
CBS 4, Illinois – January 28, 2012
Illinois parents, listen up. Soon your high schoolers may get extra help reaching their graduation goals. Lawmakers said raising the minimum dropout age could make a difference. Governor Pat Quinn said he's answering President Barack Obama's call to encourage high school students to get their diploma by the time they turn 18. They both said when kids aren't allowed to walk away from learning, they're more likely to graduate.
Principal on a mission to get dropouts back in school
Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas, NV – January 29, 2012
This is another in a yearlong series of stories tracking Clark County School District’s efforts to turn around five failing schools. Neddy Alvarez nervously eyes two parked police cruisers as she drives down Lorna Place in the central Las Vegas Valley.
Juvenile Justice
This house is going places
The State, South Carolina – January 24, 2012
Chants of “lift that house” echoed from the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice’s Broad River Road complex Monday morning as the agency closed the first chapter of its first Habitat House build. DJJ youth last month began framing the house inside the facility, and several hundred onlookers watched Monday as it was lifted over the fence en route to its permanent location in Richland County.
Department of Justice, MacArthur Foundation Provide $2 Million To Support Juvenile Justice Reform
The Sacramento Bee, Washington, DC – January 26, 2012
In a new private-public partnership, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation are jointly providing $2 million to support innovative and effective reforms in treatment and services for youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
State’s Juvenile Justice System Needs Overhaul, Says Chief Justice of Georgia’s Supreme Court
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, Georgia – January 25, 2012
At Wednesday’s annual State of the Judiciary Address, Georgia’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein urged lawmakers to overhaul the state’s juvenile justice system, asking legislators to support more rehabilitative services for youth as opposed to incarceration of juvenile offenders.
Foster Care
Children's Home Society launches work study program for foster care teens
Naples News, Florida – January 25, 2012
As part of their Independent Living Program, Children’s Home Society is partnering with Southwest Florida businesses to enable foster care teens to gain real work experience and important life skills as they prepare to join the work force and establish lives of their own.
Foster care transition produces results at Casa Valentina
The Miami Herald, Florida – January 27, 2012
"When I was your age . . .” Admit it. We’ve all said it to someone younger. It assumes a certain common experience. I remember being excited and nervous about going away to college — a transition shared by many. Those facing their 18th birthday in foster care have a very different experience. These children, because that’s really what they are, face their 18th birthday with the knowledge that on that day they will be on their own. As the new executive director of Casa Valentina, and a former supervising attorney for the Guardian Ad Litem Program, I have seen the disparity in my experience and that of these youth.
Teen Pregnancy
Diligent community efforts turn tide on teen pregnancy
Herald-Journal, South Carolina – January 29, 2012
Changing the trajectory of a community problem can leave a community feeling overwhelmed — tired, resigned, looking for something easier to tackle. The incremental nature of community change is as frustrating as it is inevitable. We become so accustomed to the way things are that we lose hope that they can ever be different. Occasionally, however, rapid and positive shifts occur.
Bryant calls for strategy to curb teen pregnancies
The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi – January 23, 2012
Gov. Phil Bryant is giving newly appointed Department of Human Services executive director Rickey Berry 30 days to come up with a plan to reduce teen pregnancy in Mississippi. Bryant is expected to make the announcement in today's State of the State address.
RI group unveils plan to reduce teen pregnancy
NBC 10, Rhode Island – January 25, 2012
A Rhode Island organization released a statewide plan Wednesday to reduce teen pregnancy. The Rhode Island Alliance, a statewide coalition, released details at the Rhode Island Department of Health, and followed with a panel discussion. Dr. Patricia Flanagan, Rhode Island Alliance chairwoman and chief of clinical affairs at Hasbro Children's Hospital, said one part of the plan is to focus more on 18- and 19-year-olds.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Community college graduations pushed; ECC programs touted
The Courier-News, Elgin, IL – January 20, 2012
Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon has released a report on the state of the state’s community colleges, and has proposed a number of reforms summing up her fact-finding tour of every community college in the state over the past year.
School districts aim to keep drop-out rates low
Killeen Daily Herald, Killeen, TX – January 21, 2012
When Bobbie Reeders tells how many students graduated from her school so far this year, the pride in their achievements is apparent in her voice. "It was 42 at our winter graduation," said Reeders. "Last year, we had 219 total."
Program to help 5th-year seniors earn diplomas
The Columbia County News-Times, Columbia County, GA – January 22, 2012
A new program to help fifth-year Columbia County high school seniors get their diplomas more quickly starts Monday at the alternative school in Grovetown. Called Saving Our Students (S.O.S.), the program specifically targets seniors who would benefit from an alternative to the traditional high school setting.
Juvenile Justice
Illinois official urges juvenile justice reform
Evansville Courier & Press, Illinois – January 19, 2012
George Timberlake retired five years ago as an Illinois judge, and now he's convinced he was doing it all wrong. "I put kids in jail at a higher rate than almost anybody," he told the Henderson Rotary Club on Thursday. "I thought that was the right way to do things." But when he "turned around and looked at what I had been doing," he said, he came to the conclusion that "we were just greasing the skids" for youngsters' path downhill to adult prison.
New Juvenile Court Guidelines to Help Struggling Students
The San Fernando Valley Sun, Los Angles, CA – January 19, 2012
Los Angeles' Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash has issued new guidelines to eliminate fines and unnecessary court time for students who were late to school and for other minor offenses. The court will also direct students who miss school to seek out school- and community-based resources that are shown to improve academic achievement and get struggling students back on track.
Foster Care
New Bronx housing development offers fresh start to young adults exiting foster care
NY Daily News, New York – January 19, 2012
Steven Nunez never had a father, lost his mother when he was 10 years old and spent seven years in foster care. When he aged out of the New York City foster care system, he had nowhere to go, so he started sleeping on couches and the subway. But today the slim, upbeat 28-year-old college student and aspiring restaurateur boasts a shiny studio apartment with a kitchen that faces the rising sun and Tremont Park in the Bronx.
Colleges offer help to foster care youth
The Washington Times, New York, NY – January 20, 2012
A growing number of colleges around the country are providing special support services for students who have spent time in the American foster care system. Public colleges and universities in California are in the forefront of this movement and have piloted innovative programs designed to help former foster care youth succeed in their studies.
AB 12 offers support to foster youth after age 18
Turlock Journal, California – January 17, 2012
urlock high school student Miranda Scoles is one of the approximately 5,000 foster youth in California and 40 in Stanislaus County who turned 18 this year, automatically aging-out of the system. In the past, Scoles would have had to face the world without financial support or the help of a social worker. But thanks to the California Fostering Connections to Success Act (Assembly Bill 12), she will remain in foster care and receive services and support until age 20.
Teen Pregnancy
Fighting teen pregnancy in Minnesota
Twin Cities Daily Planet, Minnesota – January 19, 2012
Nine Hennepin and Ramsey County organizations will have some extra help fighting teen pregnancy in 2012, thanks to grants announced in December by the Ripley Memorial Foundation. The foundation has awarded a total of $59,500 to metro-area programs aimed at reducing teen birth rates in at-risk communities.
Report: Start educating kids early about their body, sex
Today’s THV Channel 11, Little Rock, AK – January 19, 2012
A new report released by sex advocates details when children should be taught about their bodies and how. The National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12 (http://on.kthv.com/wr5WZU) is presented by The Future of Sex Education, an initiative started by sex education advocates. According to FoSE, the goal of the report is "to provide clear, consistent and straightforward guidance on the essential minimum, core content for sexuality education that is age-appropriate for students in grades K-12.
Community college graduations pushed; ECC programs touted
The Courier-News, Elgin, IL – January 20, 2012
Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon has released a report on the state of the state’s community colleges, and has proposed a number of reforms summing up her fact-finding tour of every community college in the state over the past year.
School districts aim to keep drop-out rates low
Killeen Daily Herald, Killeen, TX – January 21, 2012
When Bobbie Reeders tells how many students graduated from her school so far this year, the pride in their achievements is apparent in her voice. "It was 42 at our winter graduation," said Reeders. "Last year, we had 219 total."
Program to help 5th-year seniors earn diplomas
The Columbia County News-Times, Columbia County, GA – January 22, 2012
A new program to help fifth-year Columbia County high school seniors get their diplomas more quickly starts Monday at the alternative school in Grovetown. Called Saving Our Students (S.O.S.), the program specifically targets seniors who would benefit from an alternative to the traditional high school setting.
Juvenile Justice
Illinois official urges juvenile justice reform
Evansville Courier & Press, Illinois – January 19, 2012
George Timberlake retired five years ago as an Illinois judge, and now he's convinced he was doing it all wrong. "I put kids in jail at a higher rate than almost anybody," he told the Henderson Rotary Club on Thursday. "I thought that was the right way to do things." But when he "turned around and looked at what I had been doing," he said, he came to the conclusion that "we were just greasing the skids" for youngsters' path downhill to adult prison.
New Juvenile Court Guidelines to Help Struggling Students
The San Fernando Valley Sun, Los Angles, CA – January 19, 2012
Los Angeles' Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash has issued new guidelines to eliminate fines and unnecessary court time for students who were late to school and for other minor offenses. The court will also direct students who miss school to seek out school- and community-based resources that are shown to improve academic achievement and get struggling students back on track.
Foster Care
New Bronx housing development offers fresh start to young adults exiting foster care
NY Daily News, New York – January 19, 2012
Steven Nunez never had a father, lost his mother when he was 10 years old and spent seven years in foster care. When he aged out of the New York City foster care system, he had nowhere to go, so he started sleeping on couches and the subway. But today the slim, upbeat 28-year-old college student and aspiring restaurateur boasts a shiny studio apartment with a kitchen that faces the rising sun and Tremont Park in the Bronx.
Colleges offer help to foster care youth
The Washington Times, New York, NY – January 20, 2012
A growing number of colleges around the country are providing special support services for students who have spent time in the American foster care system. Public colleges and universities in California are in the forefront of this movement and have piloted innovative programs designed to help former foster care youth succeed in their studies.
AB 12 offers support to foster youth after age 18
Turlock Journal, California – January 17, 2012
urlock high school student Miranda Scoles is one of the approximately 5,000 foster youth in California and 40 in Stanislaus County who turned 18 this year, automatically aging-out of the system. In the past, Scoles would have had to face the world without financial support or the help of a social worker. But thanks to the California Fostering Connections to Success Act (Assembly Bill 12), she will remain in foster care and receive services and support until age 20.
Teen Pregnancy
Fighting teen pregnancy in Minnesota
Twin Cities Daily Planet, Minnesota – January 19, 2012
Nine Hennepin and Ramsey County organizations will have some extra help fighting teen pregnancy in 2012, thanks to grants announced in December by the Ripley Memorial Foundation. The foundation has awarded a total of $59,500 to metro-area programs aimed at reducing teen birth rates in at-risk communities.
Report: Start educating kids early about their body, sex
Today’s THV Channel 11, Little Rock, AK – January 19, 2012
A new report released by sex advocates details when children should be taught about their bodies and how. The National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12 (http://on.kthv.com/wr5WZU) is presented by The Future of Sex Education, an initiative started by sex education advocates. According to FoSE, the goal of the report is "to provide clear, consistent and straightforward guidance on the essential minimum, core content for sexuality education that is age-appropriate for students in grades K-12.
Monday, January 16, 2012
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Washington Foundation gives $450,000 grant to help Montana's 'Graduation Matters' campaign
Great Falls Tribune, Montana – January 11, 2012
Montana's Office of Public Instruction got a big boost to its "Graduation Matters" initiative thanks to a $450,000 grant from a private foundation. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation announced Wednesday that OPI will be given the grant over three years to support a statewide network of locally designed, community-driven efforts to increase the number of Montana students who graduate from high school and to reduce the dropout rate.
LAUSD program gives students alternative way to graduate
Contra Costa Times, Reseda, CA – January 13, 2012
Devon Leonard was missing. The teen hadn't shown up on the first day of classes at Panorama High School. Days went by, and still no one named Devon appeared in the seats of English composition or U.S. government classes.
Proficiency-based learning gaining popularity for its focus on knowledge
Statesman Journal, Redmond, OR – January 15, 2012
It doesn't take long to see that Redmond Proficiency Academy isn't your typical high school. Students freely come and go from the three-story office building in downtown Redmond, just north of Bend. Some attend morning classes, others opt for afternoon or a mix of both when they build their schedules, similar to the way college students pick their classes. The freedom allows students to work jobs, stay on top of homework or even develop independent classes based on interests.
Juvenile Justice
Boys & Girls Clubs receives $600k+ to help juvenile offenders
Ventura County Star, Ventura County, CA – January 10, 2012
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme aims to reduce repeat crimes among juvenile offenders in Ventura County by merging two pilot projects into a new program. The nonprofit received $609,232 from the Department of Justice to create RAMP, a Reentry Aftercare Mentoring Program, which will provide mentoring to incarcerated teens in the group’s Juvenile Justice Facility program so they are prepared to reenter the community and avoid committing further crimes.
Drug court, arts program giving kids a chance at a clean slate
The Herald, Washington – January 15, 2012
The molten glass came alive as it was pulled from the red-hot furnace on the end of a steel pole, oozing like honey from a hive. For a couple of hours, the kids explored words and art. What brought them there didn't matter. They were connecting with two adults who patiently opened doors for them to step through.
Foster Care
New state law gives foster youth time to bloom
The San Francisco Examiner, California – January 8, 2012
Timajae Evans spent his teenage years in foster care, moving from one group home to another. When he aged out of the system at 19, he had to grow up fast. Evans, now 20, lives by himself in a Daly City apartment. He is taking general studies courses at City College of San Francisco and hopes to become an auto mechanic.
Children Shelter of the Upstate helping young women go to college
Go Upstate, Spartanburg, SC – January 10, 2012
The Children Shelter of the Upstate has launched a program to help those overcoming difficult pasts work toward brighter futures. The transitional living program is for young women who have “aged out” of the foster care system and want to pursue higher education.
Teen Pregnancy
Conn. high school clinic to offer condoms, birth control pills
MSNBC, New London, CT – January, 12, 2012
The health center at New London High School already diagnoses and treats sexually transmitted diseases and provides pregnancy tests. Soon, it will also be handing out birth control. Supt. Nicholas Fischer told the Day that providing contraceptives in the school would help address the high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease among New London teens.
Coalitions of interest
Prevention Action, Chicago, IL – January 11, 2012
"The aim of the first therapeutic session,” child psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott has suggested, “must always be to get a second one.” It is a sentiment that anyone working in difficult neighbourhoods with reluctant clients, where the main problem is not so much arousing interest and commitment but maintaining it, will be all too familiar with. Barbara Goldberg and her colleagues were faced with this very challenge when they were charged with implementing a teenage pregnancy prevention program in a tough district of Chicago. Cynics warned them that while most young people would probably listen, they would soon drift away. The project was part of the wider FOCUS (Families in Our Community United for Success) program designed to build relationships between young people, parents, schools, community members and professionals to encourage healthy choices about sexual activity.
Washington Foundation gives $450,000 grant to help Montana's 'Graduation Matters' campaign
Great Falls Tribune, Montana – January 11, 2012
Montana's Office of Public Instruction got a big boost to its "Graduation Matters" initiative thanks to a $450,000 grant from a private foundation. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation announced Wednesday that OPI will be given the grant over three years to support a statewide network of locally designed, community-driven efforts to increase the number of Montana students who graduate from high school and to reduce the dropout rate.
LAUSD program gives students alternative way to graduate
Contra Costa Times, Reseda, CA – January 13, 2012
Devon Leonard was missing. The teen hadn't shown up on the first day of classes at Panorama High School. Days went by, and still no one named Devon appeared in the seats of English composition or U.S. government classes.
Proficiency-based learning gaining popularity for its focus on knowledge
Statesman Journal, Redmond, OR – January 15, 2012
It doesn't take long to see that Redmond Proficiency Academy isn't your typical high school. Students freely come and go from the three-story office building in downtown Redmond, just north of Bend. Some attend morning classes, others opt for afternoon or a mix of both when they build their schedules, similar to the way college students pick their classes. The freedom allows students to work jobs, stay on top of homework or even develop independent classes based on interests.
Juvenile Justice
Boys & Girls Clubs receives $600k+ to help juvenile offenders
Ventura County Star, Ventura County, CA – January 10, 2012
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme aims to reduce repeat crimes among juvenile offenders in Ventura County by merging two pilot projects into a new program. The nonprofit received $609,232 from the Department of Justice to create RAMP, a Reentry Aftercare Mentoring Program, which will provide mentoring to incarcerated teens in the group’s Juvenile Justice Facility program so they are prepared to reenter the community and avoid committing further crimes.
Drug court, arts program giving kids a chance at a clean slate
The Herald, Washington – January 15, 2012
The molten glass came alive as it was pulled from the red-hot furnace on the end of a steel pole, oozing like honey from a hive. For a couple of hours, the kids explored words and art. What brought them there didn't matter. They were connecting with two adults who patiently opened doors for them to step through.
Foster Care
New state law gives foster youth time to bloom
The San Francisco Examiner, California – January 8, 2012
Timajae Evans spent his teenage years in foster care, moving from one group home to another. When he aged out of the system at 19, he had to grow up fast. Evans, now 20, lives by himself in a Daly City apartment. He is taking general studies courses at City College of San Francisco and hopes to become an auto mechanic.
Children Shelter of the Upstate helping young women go to college
Go Upstate, Spartanburg, SC – January 10, 2012
The Children Shelter of the Upstate has launched a program to help those overcoming difficult pasts work toward brighter futures. The transitional living program is for young women who have “aged out” of the foster care system and want to pursue higher education.
Teen Pregnancy
Conn. high school clinic to offer condoms, birth control pills
MSNBC, New London, CT – January, 12, 2012
The health center at New London High School already diagnoses and treats sexually transmitted diseases and provides pregnancy tests. Soon, it will also be handing out birth control. Supt. Nicholas Fischer told the Day that providing contraceptives in the school would help address the high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease among New London teens.
Coalitions of interest
Prevention Action, Chicago, IL – January 11, 2012
"The aim of the first therapeutic session,” child psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott has suggested, “must always be to get a second one.” It is a sentiment that anyone working in difficult neighbourhoods with reluctant clients, where the main problem is not so much arousing interest and commitment but maintaining it, will be all too familiar with. Barbara Goldberg and her colleagues were faced with this very challenge when they were charged with implementing a teenage pregnancy prevention program in a tough district of Chicago. Cynics warned them that while most young people would probably listen, they would soon drift away. The project was part of the wider FOCUS (Families in Our Community United for Success) program designed to build relationships between young people, parents, schools, community members and professionals to encourage healthy choices about sexual activity.
Monday, January 09, 2012
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
YouthBuild Petoskey seeks to put high school dropouts back on right track
Petoskey News, Petoskey, MI - January 6, 2012
In a back room, in an unmarked building, on the industrial side of Standish Avenue in Petoskey, eight students are sitting around a table learning math. The eight students are the first class of the YouthBuild Program, a work skills and GED program for high school dropouts that launched in Petoskey in the fall to give young adults the chance to finish their education and learn a trade.
Grant To Help Las Cruces Increase Graduation Rates
NBC9, Las Cruces, NM - January 3, 2012
A new grant for students in New Mexico is aiming to bridge the gap between students, potential workers and businesses. New Mexico is currently rated 48th in the nation with the highest high school dropout rates, and that makes it hard for employers to find qualified workers.
United Way of Northwest Connecticut joins national mentoring effort
The Register Citizen, Connecticut - January 7, 2012
The United Way of Northwest Connecticut has joined United Way Worldwide’s Million Mentors Challenge! United Way has set out a challenge to help cut the high school dropout number in half by 2018.
Juvenile Justice
Bill would keep kids out of criminal justice system
Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky - January 8, 2012
In 2009 and 2010, at least 748 Kentucky children younger than 11 had complaints filed against them for offenses that included being out of control, minor injury assaults and criminal mischief. Sixty-three of them were ages 5, 6, and 7, according to a 2011 Herald-Leader analysis of state records. Eight of those children were 5 years old. But state Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, last week introduced House Bill 143, which would prohibit children 10 or younger from being charged with a criminal offense.
Gov. Jerry Brown calls for historic shuttering of state's notorious youth prison system
Mercury News, California - January 7, 2012
Following years of failed attempts to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and improve public safety, California's once-sprawling youth prison system may soon shut its gates for good. If the Legislature approves the plan Gov. Jerry Brown released Thursday as part of his budget blueprint, California could become the first state to entirely eliminate its prisons for youthful offenders, juvenile crime experts say. The responsibility for jailing all youths would shift to local governments.
Foster Care
Program Provides Resources to Teens in Foster Care
KIIITV, Texas - January 5, 2012
With the New Year comes new opportunities. A local group of volunteers is spreading that message to local teenagers in foster care. The program is called Foster Youth Life Investment Partners, or FYLIP. It helps young adults who "age out" of the conventional foster care program...giving them the tools to survive on their own.
Giving children a chance at happiness
The Springfield News-Leader, Southwest Missouri - January 7, 2012
CASA of Southwest Missouri is a private, nonprofit organization that recruits, trains and supports community volunteers who assist the court in protecting the best interests of abused and neglected children in southwest Missouri. CASA volunteers are asked to make a commitment to stay with each case they assume until the case closes through reunification with the family, adoption or "aging out" of the system.
SMCOE Liaisons Help Foster Youth Succeed
Burlingame Patch, San Mateo County, CA - January 6, 2012
Renee Vorrises and Dorothy Burge, foster youth educational liaisons at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), see their primary role as supporting communication and collaboration to help foster youths succeed in school.
Teen Pregnancy
Parenting classes set for LCHS
The Lincoln Journal, Inc., Hamlin, WV - January 8, 2012
The latest effort to deal with the high number of teenage pregnancies in Lincoln County will see the launch of classes for pregnant teens and parenting teens at Lincoln County High School over the coming weeks.
Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gain
The New York Times, Washington, DC - January 6, 2012
Elementary- and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings, according to a new study that tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years.
Monday, January 02, 2012
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
With A Job, Life Improves For 9th Grade Dropout
NPR, Pennsylvania - December 27, 2011
This morning, we have an update on a story we first heard this past summer, as NPR aired a series about high school dropouts. In that series we heard from Kenny Buchanan. The 44-year-old dropped out when he was in the 9th grade. We met him not long after he got his GED in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
2012 Kentucky Legislative Preview | Dropout bill and charter schools to return
The Courier-Journal, Frankfort, KY - December 29, 2011
With Kentucky’s student dropout rate hovering around 3 percent, Gov. Steve Beshear, lawmakers and education officials all expect raising the dropout age to remain a key issue in the 2012 legislative session.
BCC offers second chance to high school dropouts
South Coast Today, Bristol, MA – December 29, 2011
Bristol Community College will open admission to the first Gateway to College class in January to give local high school dropouts a second chance to earn their high school diploma this spring.
Juvenile Justice
Everychild Gives $1 Million to Juvenile Justice Center
Palisadian-Post, Los Angeles, CA – December 29, 2011
Centinela Youth Services, Inc. has been named the recipient of the $1 million 2012 Everychild Foundation grant. The funds will launch and sustain a restorative justice center across the street from three Los Angeles juvenile courts over a three-year period.
Lawmakers prepare for busy year beneath Gold Dome
Reporter Newspapers, Georgia – December 29, 2011
Sandy Springs legislators will be busy when they return to the Gold Dome on Jan. 9 for the start of the General Assembly. Rep. Wendall Willard, R-Sandy Springs, said one of his priorities for the session is to reform the state’s juvenile justice system.
Foster Care
Healing Native Spirits in MN Long-Term Foster Care
Public News Service, Minneapolis, MN – December 29, 2011
A unique program in south Minneapolis is finding success helping American Indian boys in long-term foster care. The director of the Healing Spirit program for boys, Kirk Crow Shoe, says the group home they operate takes in teens with a history of running away, skipping school and runs-ins with police. Many have been placed in multiple foster-care situations without success.
York County reduces need for foster care
York Dispatch, York County, PA – December 26, 2011
In just two years, York County has reduced the number of children in foster care by nearly 50 percent. Deb Chronister, director of the county's Office of Children, Youth and Families, applauds the county's efforts over the past year to dramatically cut down on the number of children entering the foster care system. "Too many of these young adults end up 'aging out' of the foster care system without the support of a permanent family to help them cope with the often stressful transition to adulthood," said Joan Benso, president and chief executive officer of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, speaking of foster care statewide.
Teen Pregnancy
Teen moms have a friend in St. Louis high school
St. Louis Today, St. Louis, MO – December 27, 2011
ucked away from the raucous hallways of Vashon High School are four isolated classrooms.
Inside one, an infant boy sleeps. In another, a pair of 1-year-olds color on yellow construction paper. In a different room, four 2-year-olds listen as their teacher reads a story.
County’s teen pregnancy rate drops by 22%
The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC – December 29, 2011
Durham County’s teen pregnancy rate plummeted 22 percent in 2010, according to data released by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina this month. The decline was driven by decreases in pregnancies across the board, the most significant of which was a 48 percent drop among Latina teenagers, which in recent years have posted the highest rates.
With A Job, Life Improves For 9th Grade Dropout
NPR, Pennsylvania - December 27, 2011
This morning, we have an update on a story we first heard this past summer, as NPR aired a series about high school dropouts. In that series we heard from Kenny Buchanan. The 44-year-old dropped out when he was in the 9th grade. We met him not long after he got his GED in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
2012 Kentucky Legislative Preview | Dropout bill and charter schools to return
The Courier-Journal, Frankfort, KY - December 29, 2011
With Kentucky’s student dropout rate hovering around 3 percent, Gov. Steve Beshear, lawmakers and education officials all expect raising the dropout age to remain a key issue in the 2012 legislative session.
BCC offers second chance to high school dropouts
South Coast Today, Bristol, MA – December 29, 2011
Bristol Community College will open admission to the first Gateway to College class in January to give local high school dropouts a second chance to earn their high school diploma this spring.
Juvenile Justice
Everychild Gives $1 Million to Juvenile Justice Center
Palisadian-Post, Los Angeles, CA – December 29, 2011
Centinela Youth Services, Inc. has been named the recipient of the $1 million 2012 Everychild Foundation grant. The funds will launch and sustain a restorative justice center across the street from three Los Angeles juvenile courts over a three-year period.
Lawmakers prepare for busy year beneath Gold Dome
Reporter Newspapers, Georgia – December 29, 2011
Sandy Springs legislators will be busy when they return to the Gold Dome on Jan. 9 for the start of the General Assembly. Rep. Wendall Willard, R-Sandy Springs, said one of his priorities for the session is to reform the state’s juvenile justice system.
Foster Care
Healing Native Spirits in MN Long-Term Foster Care
Public News Service, Minneapolis, MN – December 29, 2011
A unique program in south Minneapolis is finding success helping American Indian boys in long-term foster care. The director of the Healing Spirit program for boys, Kirk Crow Shoe, says the group home they operate takes in teens with a history of running away, skipping school and runs-ins with police. Many have been placed in multiple foster-care situations without success.
York County reduces need for foster care
York Dispatch, York County, PA – December 26, 2011
In just two years, York County has reduced the number of children in foster care by nearly 50 percent. Deb Chronister, director of the county's Office of Children, Youth and Families, applauds the county's efforts over the past year to dramatically cut down on the number of children entering the foster care system. "Too many of these young adults end up 'aging out' of the foster care system without the support of a permanent family to help them cope with the often stressful transition to adulthood," said Joan Benso, president and chief executive officer of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, speaking of foster care statewide.
Teen Pregnancy
Teen moms have a friend in St. Louis high school
St. Louis Today, St. Louis, MO – December 27, 2011
ucked away from the raucous hallways of Vashon High School are four isolated classrooms.
Inside one, an infant boy sleeps. In another, a pair of 1-year-olds color on yellow construction paper. In a different room, four 2-year-olds listen as their teacher reads a story.
County’s teen pregnancy rate drops by 22%
The Herald-Sun, Durham, NC – December 29, 2011
Durham County’s teen pregnancy rate plummeted 22 percent in 2010, according to data released by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina this month. The decline was driven by decreases in pregnancies across the board, the most significant of which was a 48 percent drop among Latina teenagers, which in recent years have posted the highest rates.
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