Disconnected Youth - MDC
Disconnected Youthin the Research Triangle Region:An Ominous Problem Hidden in Plain SightA Report to The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline FoundationBy MDC, Inc., August 2008
IntroductionIIn September 2006, the North CarolinaGlaxoSmithKline Foundation commissioned MDC, Inc. ofChapel Hill to analyze the problem of “disconnected youth” in theResearch Triangle region, determine the current state of theregion’s responses to the challenge, and recommend steps todeepen and accelerate action on the issue.The research process was multifaceted.depth of concern and quality of responseMDC staff conducted background researchamong Triangle leaders. We surveyed moreon the factors that are correlated withthan 100 front-line community-based or-youth disconnection, drawing heavily on aganizations that consider service to disad-number of recent national studies producedvantaged youth an important part of theirin response to growing national concernmission, receiving responses from 53 orga-about the issue. We conducted interviewsnizations and substantive responses fromwith over two dozen key informants in localmore than 30. We scanned the nation forand county government, public schools,innovative examples of community, neigh-community-based organizations, and theborhood, and agency strategies to addressbusiness and faith community to gauge thethe challenge of disconnected youth.
The resulting report contains:able leaders and funders in the region to putallowed us to sharpen our portrait of discon- A working definition and an analyticdisconnected youth on a secure pathway tonected youth. The generous and perceptiveframework for exploring the issue ofproductive adulthood. Different readers mayadvice of Adria Steinberg and Lucretiadisconnected youth;gravitate toward different points of leverageMurphy at Jobs for the Future in Bostonand intervention. The size and seriousness ofshortened our learning curve and widenedyouth in the Triangle – who they are andthe problem creates an opportunity for lead-our perspective. Peter Edelman of thewhere they live;ership across a wide continuum of action.Georgetown University Law Center enriched A data-based portrait of disconnected A strategy matrix for assessing the region’sour thinking with his passionate and probingcurrent efforts to remediate and preventMany people contributed to the develop-analysis of disconnected black men and hisyouth disconnection, based on nationalment of this report. MDC is grateful for theviews on public policy. Bonnie Gordon, Richardresearch on necessary interventions andsupport and guidance of the staff and direc-Hart, Verna Lalbeharrie, Mirinda Kossoff, andpromising strategies;tors of the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKlineDaniel Bowes of MDC gave critical feedbackFoundation in making this study possible. Weat important times. Thank you all. Recommendations for program and policyaction, including specific opportunitiesare also indebted to the many communityfor the philanthropic and business commu-practitioners, elected and appointed officials,David Dodsonnities, particularly the North Carolinaand colleagues in the research and advocacyFerrel GuilloryGlaxoSmithKline Foundation.communities who shared their insights andJoan Lipsitzideas so generously with us. Their interest inNoah RaperWe have chosen to focus the report on theand commitment to helping disconnectedChristina Rauschquestion “what actions can lead to progressyoung people reorient their lives offers hopeon the issue of disconnected youth?” Accord-that we can make progress on a problem thatingly, MDC presents a menu of opportuni-costs us all dearly. John Quinterno of Southties based on promising ideas in place in theby North Strategies in Chapel Hill providedTriangle and across the nation that will en-an indispensable analysis of recent data thatFor MDC, Inc.
Defining the ChallengeThe vast majority of American youth make apacesetter for the South in so many arenas, issuccessful transition to adulthood. Yet a stag-not immune from these troubling trends.gering 2.8 million young people—10 percentof youth and young adults between the agesOn a continuum of youth outcomes run-of 16 and 24—are neither in school or work-ning from “thriving and poised for successfuling, placing them at high risk of subsequentadulthood” on one end to “chronically alien-economic and social hardship. Nowhere inated and distressed” on another, disconnect-America is the concentration of these “dis-ed youth and youth at high risk of falling intoconnected” young people greater than indisconnection occupy a broad middle ground.the South. According to research by MichaelSome young people stumble temporarilyWald and Tia Martinez (2003), while thebut manage to overcome weak performanceSouth is home to approximately 35 percentin school or unsupportive living situationsof all 18 to 24 year olds, it accounts for 47through resilience and with the help of caringpercent of disconnected young men and 43adults and responsive community programs.percent of disconnected young women. WaldThey are the fortunate ones. Further alongand Martinez further conclude that the Souththe continuum are those for whom school,has more disconnected young adults than thefamily, and community provide much moreNortheast and West combined, with nearly 61tenuous and erratic support. These youngpercent of the nation’s disconnected African-people are much more vulnerable to theAmerican males living in the region. Sadly,downward pull of disconnection. If they suc-the Research Triangle region, a progressivecumb, life prospects can become bleak with-2 Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Omnious Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
out deep, concerted efforts to place them onThese youth may also be involved in thehave recently begun to focus fresh attentionthe path to constructive adulthood. Still fur-criminal justice system.on rising levels of gang participation andviolence in Durham and Wake counties. Thisther along the continuum are young peoplewho have made bad choices, paid the conse-Our analysis also takes into account youthconcern is timely and necessary. Yet gangquences, but wish to turn their lives aroundwho are highly vulnerable to disconnectionviolence is in fact an extreme expression of abefore a life of anti-social behavior becomesunless preventative measures are taken.much more pervasive issue: the high numberthe norm. America, North Carolina, and theThese young people may be:of disconnected youth living and languish-Triangle have significant numbers of youth in Struggling in school, regularly performinging in our communities. If gang violence is aeach category. As degrees of disconnectionvary, so should the responses and solutions.below grade level“front-and-center” pathology, the problem ofdisconnected youth is a tragedy “hidden in Poorly oriented to and prepared for theplain sight.”legitimate labor marketIn analyzing the challenge and framing the Living in high-poverty families, often head-solution, MDC chose to define “disconnecteded by a single parentyouth” as young people aged 16-241 who are: In or exiting foster care Not in school or lacking a high-school At-risk of sanction by the criminal justicedegreesystem. Not working or connected to the legitimatelabor market Lacking strong connections to caring adultsand community supports.1Youth disconnection is sometimes linkedwith—but is not synonymous with—gang violence. Concerned Triangle community leadersThe age range of 16-24 was selected to align with national organizations such as American Youth Policy Forum. However, data analysis included age 15.A Report to The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation 3
The High Cost of Youth DisconnectionYouth disconnection is like a disease thatominously, 16 percent of all young men agedbecomes more serious if ignored or untreat-18 to 24 who lack a high school degree ored. The eventual costs and consequencesGeneral Educational Development certificateare high both for youth themselves and for(GED) are estimated to be in prison or onsociety as a whole. Young people who failparole at any given time. The correspondingto complete high school earn lower wagesfigure for African-American males is 30 per-and are much more likely to become long-cent, higher than the proportion of Africanterm unemployed than their more educatedAmerican males in higher education (Waldpeers. In 2006, the median weekly wage forand Martinez, 2003).high school dropouts 25 and older was 419;for holders of an associate’s degree, 721.The economic cost of low educational attain-According to Wald and Martinez (2003),ment and youth disconnection grows greaterin 2000, a period of low unemployment,when considered against the background ofbarely more than 50 percent of high schooldemographic change. The nation, the South,dropouts were employed, contrasted withNorth Carolina, and the Triangle are entering93 percent of adults holding an associate’sa period during which a growing proportiondegree or better. Between 1997 and 2001,of our prime age workers will come fromover a quarter of high school dropouts wereAfrican-American and Latino ranks. Theseunemployed for a year or longer. Even moreare precisely the demographic groups that4 Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Omnious Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
Figure 1experience the highest rates of youth disconnection. In the coming decades, 80 percentof new jobs will require education beyondhigh school. By failing to reverse the growingtide of disconnected youth, we undercut ourability to field a competitive workforce in ahigh-skill, knowledge-driven economy.Finally, the social costs that attend persistent and growing youth disconnection, whilehard to calculate, are nevertheless corrosive. Healthy communities thrive on socialcohesion. Divided communities struggle todevelop. Significant pools of disconnectedyoung people, like those now developing insome Triangle localities, will ultimately tarnish the appeal of our region and invalidateour claims to be “world class.”A Report to The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation 5
A Vision for Youth SuccessWWhat should a thriving, ambitious, andresourceful region like the Triangle offer its youth? What shouldbe our animating vision for all young people?Making progress on youth disconnection in(Connell, Gambone, and Smith, 2003). Thethe Triangle begs the issue of what the regionpositive youth development framework sug-aspires to for its young people. MDC’s analysisgests that communities should establish a settherefore begins with a question:of long-term goals for youth, establish milestones to measure their developmental prog-What should a thriving, ambitious, and re-ress, define the community supports requiredsourceful region like the Triangle offer itsfor youth success, and reform communityyouth? What should be our animating visionpolicy and practice to create a supportivefor all young people?community. Drawing on this approach, MDChas developed a vision for youth success inThe field of positive youth development offersthe Triangle against which we assess the cur-a constructive way to approach an answerrent situation that disconnected youth face:6 Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Omnious Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
We want all youth in the Triangle to become A strong, well-aligned K-16 education Dense networks of community supportscapable and contributing adults. They shouldsystem that provides students with anthat allow youth to develop all the dimen-be educated to the standards required toappropriate blend of challenge and support.sions of their lives (physical, social, creative,make their way successfully in a competitive,The system should include vigorous alterna-spiritual).knowledge-driven economy. They should betive and second-chance options for youthskilled at caring for their own health and safe-who do not succeed in traditional settingsWith this vision and framework for a system ofty and at maintaining constructive relation- Support drop-out recovery programs thatships with others. They should advance theare aligned with students’ interests andterns of youth outcomes in the Triangle regioncommon good and exercise the basic respon-reflect the demands of the economyreveals how far we are from the ideal and whatsibilities of citizenship and have opportunitiesto contribute to the broader community. Inshort, all our youth should be socially andeconomically productive and skillful atnavigating the opportunities and challenges of adolescence and young adulthood.What will it take for this vision to be realizedin the Triangle? Minimally, we should ensureall youth finish high school or its equivalentprepared for post-secondary education; haveworkplace experience that positions themto secure value-adding, living-wage work asadults; exhibit healthy and responsible personal and interpersonal behavior; and acquirethe skills to contribute to the community. Foryouth to meet these expectations, societyneeds to develop a coordinated system of Deep opportunities for youth to becomeprepared for living wage work and careersyouth services as a lens, an analysis of pat-efforts we should take to further prevent andremediate youth disconnection.WWe want all youth in the Triangle to becomecapable and contributing adults. They should be educated to thestandards required to make their way successfully in a competitive,knowledge-driven economy. They should be skilled at caringfor their own health and safety and at maintaining constructiverelationships with others. They should advance the common goodand exercise the basic responsibilities of citizenship and haveopportunities to contribute to the broader community. In short,all our youth should be socially and economically productive andskillful at navigating the opportunities and challenges ofadolescence and young adulthood.fundamental building blocks:A Report to The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation 7
Who and Where are the Triangle’sDisconnected Youth?Rates of youth disconnection vary widelyRace and Poverty: Nearly 50 percent of thehigher rates of poverty make Durham’s youthacross the Triangle. In 2005, Wake Countyyouth population in Durham County isparticularly prone to disconnection.had nearly 52 percent2 of the 15-24 popula-either African American or Latino, comparedtion in the region; Durham, 18 percent; andwith 31 percent in Wake, 41 percent in Frank-A fall 2007 report of the Jack Kent CookeOrange, 13 percent. Person, Johnston, Frank-lin, 33 percent in Person, and 28 percent inFoundation underscores the power of pov-lin, and Chatham Counties account for theChatham, which has the highest percentageerty to frustrate educational success and per-balance. Yet the factors that contribute toof Latino youth in the region. The estimatedsistence, even for high-achieving students:disconnection do not track population dis-youth poverty rate in the Durham MSA wastribution. Youth in the Durham Metropolitan29 percent in 2005, far outstripping theStatistical Area (MSA—Durham, Orange,Raleigh MSA at 19 percent. Durham’s rates ofincome high achievers are off to a badPerson, and Chatham counties) and in Dur-youth poverty exceed both North Carolinastart. Only 28 percent of students in theham County in particular have higher rates(23 percent) and the US (19 percent) and atop quarter of their first grade class areof poverty and unemployment and a lowerhigh concentration of Durham’s poor youthfrom lower-income families, while 72 per-four-year graduation rate–all factors relatedlive in neighborhoods of extreme poverty andcent come from higher-income families.to higher rates of disconnection.unemployment which reinforce the challenge From first to fifth grade, nearly half of the2 Even before they enter first grade, lower-of staying on a sound developmental path.lower-income students in the top 25 percentThe combination of racial demographics andof their class in reading fell out of this rank.All data are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey unless otherwise noted.8 Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Omnious Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
In high school, one quarter of the lower-income students who ranked in the top 25Figure 2percent of their class in eighth grade mathfell out of this top ranking by twelfth grade. In both cases, upper-income studentsmaintain their places in the top quartile ofachievement at significantly higher ratesthan lower-income students.Educational Attainment and Persistence:Among the Triangle counties with the largest population of young people, retentionrates are highest in the Chapel Hill-Carrboroand Wake County systems and significantlylower in Durham and Orange county publicschools.3 The U.S. Census Bureau’s AmericanCommunity Survey estimates that nearly 10percent of Durham County youth betweenthe ages of 15 and 17 were not enrolled inschool in 2005, compared with 3 percent inWake County and 6 percent in North Carolina overall. Wake and Durham counties hadapproximately the same number of out-ofschool adolescents—800—in 2004-5, butWake County’s population of 15 to 17 yearolds is three times that of Durham, makingthe incidence of out-of-school youth in Durham a much more pronounced problem.A Report to The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation 9
Labor Market Connection: Youth unemployment rates are dramatically higher in theFigure 3Durham MSA than in Raleigh. For the 16-19age group the 2005 unemployment rate wasestimated at 31 percent in the Durham MSAcompared with 14 percent in Raleigh. For the20-24 age cohort the gap was 13 percentin Durham versus 9 percent in Raleigh.4 Forboth age cohorts, the rate of youth unemployment in the Durham MSA was higherthan both the North Carolina and the U.S.average. Most recently, May 2008 U.S. youthunemployment was 18.7 percent5 (comparedto an overall unemployment rate of 5.5percent), which underscores the difficultythat all young people, particularly those whomay not have completed their education,face in the modern economy. The figures forthe Durham MSA may reflect the additionalhardships that African-American and Latinoyouth, particularly under-educated and poorly skilled youth, face in the labor market.6Younger teenagers often have higher rates of unemployment than older teens due to their involvement in school. However, this does not mean that all youth will naturally “ageout of” high unemployment. Disconnected youth by definition often interrupt education prematurely, becoming ill equipped for many jobs and more likely to experience ahigher unemployment rate as an adult (Wald and Martinez).5Civilian non-institutional population ages 16-19. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008.6The poverty and unemployment statistics cited here are calculated using the 2006 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimates are projectionsbased upon a small survey sample. There may be a significant degree of error associated with some of these projections.410 Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Omnious Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
Violent Crime: Rates for violent crimeamong youth 16-19 in Durham and PersonFigure 4Counties are particularly high (6.6 and 9.7incidents per 1000 respectively), well exceeding the North Carolina and Triangle averages (5.2 and 3.6 per 1000). Property crimeamong youth 16-19 is also higher in Durhamthan elsewhere in the region (23 versus 18percent). Both Durham County and the region show lower rates of property crime foryouth 16-19 than North Carolina as a whole.Surprisingly, Person County leads the regionin the prevalence of violent crime and property crime for youth 15-19 and 19-24. Theconnection between criminal behavior andinterrupted education is logical and clear.According to one Durham County districtcourt judge, approximately half of the adultswho show up in criminal court there are highschool dropouts.A Report
percent of disconnected young men and 43 percent of disconnected young women. Wald and Martinez further conclude that the South has more disconnected young adults than the Northeast and West combined, with nearly 61 percent of the nation’s disconnected African-American males living in the r
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Feb 07, 2008 · Pathways for Youth considers all youth, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable youth, particularly those who are disconnected from school, work, or family. The consequences are serious for both individuals and society as a whole, as young people who are disconnected cost th
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