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Facts at a Glance
- In many US cities, high-school graduation rates among disadvantaged children are below 50%.1
- Every day in the US, 750 children begin living in poverty, five teens die from homicide and four teens commit suicide.2
- Four Hundred babies are born daily to teens between 15 and 17 – the highest teen childbearing rate in the industrialised world.3
- One-third of eighth graders test below basic math levels and one-quarter below basic reading levels. 4
The Situation in Brief
More money is spent on treating the consequences of social problems (e.g., building prisons) than on preventing them (e.g., building schools). These misguided priorities have made for little improvement in the lives of disadvantaged children. High school graduation rates for African American boys have stagnated at a rate of 43%, and the incidence of juvenile asthma and obesity has climbed to alarming proportions.
Many service providers find it hard to attract the funds needed to respond effectively to the challenges facing our children. Moreover, the youth field as a whole, including programmes operating at the federal, state and local levels, is not well-coordinated, resulting in funding that is spread too thin or redundant, and programme results that go unmeasured.
Disadvantaged Children & Youth Programme Goals
The goals of the Disadvantaged Children & Youth Programme in the United States are as follows:
- Assist a relatively small number of proven or promising organisations increase the reach and quality of their programmes – including those that offer after-school, weekend and summer programmes; children’s preventive health care services; and mentoring and other family services for children aged 8 to 16.
- Help youth service providers do their work more effectively. To do this, we support organisations that provide a range of expertise to service providers to help them improve operations, strengthen programme measurement and results, and better co-ordinate information and resources.
- Support national advocacy efforts to engage policy makers and the public on tax and budget issues relating to children and families; and strengthen other advocacy organisations pushing for more public and private funding, and for better policies for children.
Disadvantaged Children & Youth Resources
The After-School Corporation, www.tascorp.org
American Youth Policy Forum, www.aypf.org
Chapin Hall, www.chapinhall.org
Child Trends, www.childtrends.org
Children NOW, www.childrennow.org
John Gardner Center, www.gardnercenter.stanford.edu
Kids Count, www.aecf.org/kidscount
National Institute on Out of School Time, www.niost.org
National Youth Development Information Center, www.nassembly.org/nydic
Promising Practices in After School, www.afterschool.org
The Urban Institute, www.urban.org
Footnotes
1, Source: “Who Graduates? Who Doesn’t? A Statistical Portrait of Public High School Graduation, Class of 2001,” Christopher B. Swanson, Urban Institute, 2004
2, Source: 2004 Kids Count Data Book, p. 32
3, Source: 2004 Kids Count Data Book, p. 32, 39
4, Source: 2004 Kids Count Data Book, p. 50