This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Boston Center Helps Dropouts Get Back On Track
WBUR 90.0, Boston, MA – September 25, 2012
The start of a new academic year is often a painful reminder for the 1,100 or so students who drop out of high school in Boston every year.  Dropouts cite three main reasons for leaving: they fall too far behind, have problems with school, or have overwhelming personal obstacles. But the Boston Public Schools’ Re-Engagement Center in Roxbury is now clearing a path back to their diploma.

AU program works to cut high school dropout rate
Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika, AL – September 25, 2012
It was celebration of achievements as well as an investment in their futures as members of Auburn University’s Truman Pierce Institute shared the results of their Building Individual Capacity for Success program at the Auburn Alumni Center on Tuesday.

District officials go door-to-door encouraging dropouts to return to school
WISTV Channel 10, Orangeburg County, SC – September 29, 2012
Cynthia Wilson is in charge of Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5.  She spent Saturday making house calls.  She was looking for her high school students who have not shown up to class this school year.  "We're interested in Kadijah coming back to school," Wilson told a mother. "She hasn't returned yet. We want her to come back so that she can finish her education and graduate."

Juvenile Justice

Gov. Brown signs bill giving juveniles 2nd chance
KSWT News 13, Sacramento, CA – September 30, 2012
Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday announced signing a bill that could one day bring the release of some criminals who were sentenced as juveniles to life in prison.  There are 309 inmates serving life-without-parole sentences in California for murders committed when they were younger than 18.

Youth Justice Awareness Month Returns
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange – September 27, 2012
Four years after a Missouri mother started a homemade campaign about the judicial system that led to her son’s suicide in prison, more than half of the states are hosting events aimed at increasing awareness of the treatment of youth in adult courts, jails and prisons.

Bill would cut sentences of juvenile murderers in Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania – September 27, 2012
The state House of Representatives is considering a bill that would dramatically reduce sentences for some juveniles convicted of murder as the state moves to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Foster Care

Learning the Value of Money, From Inside the Foster Care System
Huffington Post - September 28, 2012
The financial crisis may have at least one silver lining. A new survey by TD Ameritrade shows that young people who watched their parents deal with the difficult economy have taken the value of money to heart: Three in four young people said they think saving money is important, and four in 10 said they have a budget, which they follow closely.

Open houses seek to fill gaps in foster-care system
The Republic, Arizona – September 29, 2012
Courtney Hofstede was a homeless 23-year-old when she got connected with Open Table, a non-profit that helps teens aging out of the foster-care system transition into the real world. Nearly one in four foster kids will become homeless after transitioning out of the system, according to Open Table officials.

Teen Pregnancy

Task force: Curbing teen pregnancy is community effort
The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi – September 28, 2012
It’s not easy to be a kid who takes a stand against getting pregnant as a teenager, Gov. Phil Bryant says.  “Imagine going into a high school as a student and saying you want to get a group together to talk about teenage pregnancy,” Bryant said today. “Imagine the peer pressure you’d get. You might not be able to get in the popular girl group.”  But that’s exactly what Bryant wants to happen with high school members of his task force Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi.

NYC Schools Offer Morning-After Pill - What It Means for Latina Teen Pregnancy
ABC News, New York, NY – September 24, 2012
For the past year, New York City schools have tested a pilot program that provides Plan B, or the "morning-after pill," free of cost to teenage girls without parental consent in 13 high schools across the city. The program has had a particular impact on Latina students -- many of the pilot schools are located in areas with high Latino populations, including Queens and the Bronx.