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Disconnected Youth Tools and Resources
The State of City Leadership for Children and Families: Innovations and Trends Around Youth in Transition
The State of City Leadership for Children and Families is a groundbreaking new report from NLC's Institute for Youth, Education, and Families that identifies the nation's most cutting-edge city strategies to help children and families thrive.
This chapter highlights the broad range of innovations and trends in municipal leadership around supporting youth in transition.
Download the Youth in Transition chapter »
 
Municipal Action Guide to Help Cities Support Foster Youth Transitions (2009)
The YEF Institute, with support from the the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, has published a new Municipal Action Guide on "Supporting Foster Youth Transitions to Adulthood."
The guide highlights strategies for helping young people successfully transition from the foster care system and improving access to housing, education, employment, health, and other services. It also outlines key action steps local leaders can take to support youth in transition and highlights examples of successful city programs.
Download the Municipal Action Guide »
Beyond City Limits: Cross-System Collaboration to Reengage Disconnected Youth (2007)
This report highlights eight cities - Albany, N.Y., Baltimore, Boston, Corpus Christi, Texas, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose - in which municipal leaders are collaborating across public systems on behalf of disconnected youth.
The report highlights leadership keys that have been important in each of these cities and summarizes several key ingredients for success: the importance of mayoral leadership, the need for an effective coordinating body, and accountability structures and the use of data to ensure results.
Download the Report »
 Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth (2006)
This American Youth Policy Forum report provides background on the high school dropout problem and describes in-depth what twelve communities are doing to reconnect dropouts to education and employment training. It also includes descriptions of major national program models serving out-of-school youth.
Individual case studies highlight promising approaches in the following communities: Dayton, Ohio; Louisville; Austin; Salt Lake City; Portland, Ore.; Oakland; Trenton; Baltimore; Tucson; Camden, N.J.; Milwaukee; and Philadelphia.
Download the Report »
 Action Kit for Municipal Leaders on Reengaging Disconnected Youth (2005)
This action kit highlights steps city officials can take to help young people who are not connected to school, work, or caring adults.
The kit explains why municipal leaders should focus on the needs of disconnected youth, frames the problem and key issues, offers tips for getting started, and recommends some steps that cities can take to promote educational achievement, develop stronger workforce connections, support youth in transition from the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and build a citywide system of support.
Download the Action Kit »
The Alternative Pathways Project: A Framework for Dropout Reduction and Recovery (2005)
This project, launched in early 2005, builds upon investments in the Alternative High School Initiative to expand the range of model schools for vulnerable youth, and outlines critical elements for school districts developing educational pathways for struggling students and those who have dropped out of school. The Framework highlights policies and practices that push children out of school, suggests strategies for overcoming barriers to re-enrollment, and gives direction for expanding effective educational alternatives.
Download the Report »
InstaPoll on Youth Curfews (2005)
This 2005 NLC poll of local officials in 436 cities provides data on how many cities enforce youth curfews, and their views on the effectiveness of curfews in fighting juvenile crime, truancy, and gang violence. The poll also offers a comparison with survey results from 2003, 2001, and 1999.
View the InstaPoll »
Trends in Black Male Joblessness and Year-Round Idleness: An Employment Crisis Ignored (2004)
This study by the Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies provides an overview of the long-term deterioration in the labor market position of black teens and young adults.
Download the Report »
 Connecting Vulnerable Youth: A Municipal Leaders Guide (2003)
The YEF Institute, in cooperation with the Academy for Educational Development's Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, produced this publication to provide an in-depth look into the roles municipal leaders play in the lives of disconnected youth and to give an overview of effective approaches and promising strategies.
The report poses seven questions that municipal officials can ask in their communities to jumpstart local initiatives and offers promising examples from Albany, N.Y., Baltimore, and Sylacauga, Ala.
Download the Report »
 Leaving Young Workers Behind (2003)
This report presents conclusions from research on youth employment in the U.S. labor force conducted by Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies in 2003.
The report highlights several troubling reserach findings: how young Americans were hit hardest by the 2001-03 economic downturn, how over the long term young men are facing falling earnings, how joblessness and underemployment are widespread among young adults, how growing numbers of young immigrants pose additional challenges, and how fewer high school students are able to gain a foothold in the job market.
Download the Report »
Connected by 25: Improving The Life Chances of the Country's Most Vulnerable 14-24 Year Olds (2003)
This report by Michael Wald and Tia Martinez of Stanford University published by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation identifies four groups of youth who are at the highest risk of long-term unemployment, incarceration, and social disconnection. It discusses a number of policy directions for helping these youth make successful transitions into adulthood.
Download the Report »
 Nation's Cities Weekly Articles
NLC's Nation's Cities Weekly newspaper regularly features articles on how municipal leaders are reengaging disconnected youth.
View the Nation's Cities Weekly Archives for Articles About Disconnected Youth »
Audioconference Transcripts
The YEF Institute's monthly audioconference series features talk-show style discussions between Institute staff, national experts, and city leaders to highlight best practices in a broad range of program areas. The Institute makes transcripts of these calls available for local officials who are unable to dial into the calls.
- The Road Home: City Strategies to Support Homeless Youth (November 17, 2009) »
- Leveraging Economic Recovery Resources to Reengage Disconnected Youth (March 4, 2009) »
- Staying Connected: What Cities Can Do to Ensure Successful Youth Transitions From Foster Care (March 20, 2008) »
- Dropout Recovery: What Cities Can Do To Get Students Back on Track (March 22, 2007) »
- Key Steps for Cities: Using Strategic Assessment to Serve Disconnected Youth (January 31, 2007) »
- Keeping Young People Safe: Effective Mayor-Law Enforcement Partnerships (November 16, 2006) »
- Reengaging Disconnected Youth: Municipal Leadership and Public System Collaboration (October 25, 2006) »
- Engaging City Governments in Supporting Foster Youth Transition (July 27, 2006) »
- Strategies that Work for Our Disconnected Youth (February 23, 2006) »
- Young, Out of School, and Out of Work: City Responses to Disconnected Youth (December 18, 2003) »
- Cities Paving the Way for Vulnerable and Out-of-School Youth (November 20, 2002) »
Implementation of the Economic Recovery Act: The Summer Youth Employment Program 
This webcast was hosted by the National League of Cities in partnership with the Department of Labor on May 26, 2009 to discuss the provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the Summer Youth Employment Program and the role cities can plan in the successful implementation of the summer jobs program.
View the Webcast »
Dropout Recovery as a Local Economic Development Strategy Webcast
This webcast is of a forum co-sponsored by the YEF Institute and the American Youth Policy Forum on Sept. 8, 2006 features the efforts of Montgomery County, Ohio, and Baltimore, Md., to reconnect out-of-school youth to education and employment training.
View the Webcast »
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