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.