Youth development, youth success, service learning-Sacramento-YOUTH DEVELOPMENT NETWORK

Obstacles youth face in Sacramento Region

05/04/2010 05:02PM

What are the obstacles youth face in the Sacramento region?

The Sacramento region has a substantially higher child poverty rate at 23% than the statewide rate of 18%.• The percentage of students who have completed high school in the Central Valley has consistently been lower than the nationwide and statewide average at 84.8%
Child abuse rates are much higher throughout the Sacramento region that the rest of the state.
With a child maltreatment rate of 17.3 per 1,000 children, the Sacramento region has a higher child maltreatment rate than the state overall (12.2 per 1,000 children).
Although the rate of juvenile arrests for felonies and violent offenses has been declining slowly since 2000, the Central Valley still has a much higher juvenile arrest rate for drug- and alcohol-related offenses (11.2 per 1,000) than the state (9.5 per 1,000).
In 2005, there were 4,443 children in foster care in Sacramento.
In Sacramento County, approximately 375 foster youth will ‘age out’ of the foster care system this year (Sacramento County, 2008). Statewide, of those youth leaving foster care:
- 65% will leave without a place to stay
- 50% will be homeless within 18 months
- 50% or less will be employed 2.5 to 4 years after leaving foster care, and
- 38% will have maintained employment for at least one year
  
  (Source: Families and Children on the Move)
  
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Why Invest in Youth Development

05/04/2010 02:08PM

For the last 40 years, educators, politicians and community leaders havebeen trying to resolve the deep seeded issues facing our youth—academicfailure, drug use, teen pregnancy, juvenile crime, and lack ofworkforce readiness. These efforts have returned mixed topoor results.

Youth “problems” are often caused by underlyingissues that are widespread and chronic: persistent poverty, parents’ lack of family management skills,lack of supports and opportunities, and lack of clear standards in the community. As a result, many youth experience difficulties in school, have poor navigation and decision making skills, lack a sense of purpose and/or the ability to affect change.