Youth Job Development Programs Miss the Mark

One misconception that many adults buy into concerning youth is the myth that they don’t care about their future or much of anything else for that matter. To the contrary, teens have a great deal of concern about where they stand in life and what opportunities are available to them. In many cases however, they find that the choices available and the methods used by services and organizations that are supposed to serve them fail to address the real issues that limit their life, freedom and future economic opportunity. This failure results in youth who resort to their own methods in order to fill the gap.

This perception of failure held by youth translates into fewer numbers returning to take advantage of the program services designed to offer education and jobs. Frustrated staff members, who diligently attempt to persuade teens to complete the process that will assist in job placement indicate, “They just don’t want to come back. They get the attitude of ‘what did the program really do for me?’”While youth believe their resistance in participating in these programs is justified, the adult society perceives this as a lack of appreciation that is rooted firmly in bad manners and a “what’s in it for me” mentality. However, according to youth focus group members, participation in the traditional educational system perpetuates a mentality of poverty. Their assessment of educational and workforce programs offered and funded by state and other governmental agencies, is that they promote mediocrity, minimally developing skills so that future underemployment is more likely to be within their scope than long term economic self-sufficiency. In other words, these methods just keep young people’s boats from sinking, they do little to get them to shore.

At a recent presentation to the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, I challenged the group to think about the investment individuals make in preparing “privileged” youth for future success and fulfillment. The resulting laundry list looked nothing like what we currently offer in traditional workforce and youth development programs. For one thing, the outlook of those investing individuals is significantly different from that projected by workforce programs. The term investment alone implicates an expected favorable return, whereas the term workforce brings to mind a mundane existence. Notice how two totally different words have the ability to project two completely different outlooks on life.

As practitioners, we have to focus on projecting a path that is clearer, brighter, and lasting. We can start by changing our name and the perception attached to it. Our program focus must paint a picture of optimism and future prosperity for our youth. When selecting a program name, we must ask the following questions: Do young people want to be members of the workforce, or do they want economic self-sufficiency? Do they want to be exploited labor, or do they want economic justice and fair play? Do they want youth development services, or do they want those services to remove the economic and social inequities that determine who gets the best school and who doesn’t? Who is in jail and who isn’t? Who runs the company and who works for them? We need a name that redirects our attention as well as our focus.

Repeatedly I declare that we don’t need an employer demand driven workforce system. We need an opportunity system powered by the demands of youth. What is it that interests them? What will benefit them more so that their future economic success is enhanced? Continuing to focus on developing an employer demand driven workforce system is undermining our ability to engage the youth we are entrusted to serve. The problem with the principles of youth development, however, is that it does not allow you to ask the question, “Why do we need these principles in the first place?”

As a youth worker with several years of experience, I have urged programs to stop candy-coating the issues and speak openly and plainly about the problems within the system. In the minds of youth, the terms “workforce and youth development” reduce our youth’s capital to something that we are crafting for another demographic -a demographic that is going nowhere.

Unfortunately as policymakers and practitioners, we seldom take a deeper look, mainly because we are unaware of our youths’ genuine concern about the state of their lives and where they are headed. The reality is that they are not as indifferent as we believe them to be. When prompted, youth participating in focus groups outlined what they believed to be the keys to a more successful and positive outcome. Surprisingly, these points mirror what we as parents want our youth to strive towards. Some of these points include:

• Credentialing
• Obtaining educational degrees
• Building of work experience
• Developing new skills
• Increasing social networks

With this information as ammunition, workforce development practitioners must change their name. We should no longer use the term workforce or labor anywhere in our vocabulary. The U.S Department of Labor must become the U.S. Department of Future Economic Opportunity, the State of Nevada’s Workforce Investment Board must become the State of Nevada’s Future Economic Opportunity Board, and U.S. Job Corps must become the U.S. Future Economic Opportunity Corps.

Policymakers and practitioners must recognize that any effort to do to others without addressing the underlying issues will be suspect and consistently rejected, and should therefore be scrapped. We can start off by sending a new message.

In my speeches I often state that we live in a world of reality TV. We give props over how radical people are willing to become for a date, a million dollars, or 50 pounds of weight loss, none of which are accomplishments that have any relevant meaning to our youth. I charge that we must concentrate on the relevant and become passionate about the things that are important to our youth. What do you think your young people will think when you get radical for them?

For programs interested in adopting the YDRF youth engagement system, contact us at 301-216-2566

America has a Youth Engagement Dilemma

 

The cry for more youth program opportunities can be heard clear across America. Each year, advocates point out the growing needs of youth and young adults and the lack of programs and services to meet those needs. I, too, am guilty. My call of foul at the 250,000 federally funded program slots for the 5.4 million out-of-school youth is a staple of my presentations to policymakers across the U.S.

“How can we expect any progress in reducing gang violence and youth unemployment, or expect to quell the dropout rate if we only have enough program slots to serve 3% of the 14-21 year old eligible population!” Many echo my outcry, and I usually continue by addressing the real crux of the problem. “We don’t have a gang problem in the United States; we have a youth opportunity problem!” I have touted this cry from boardrooms in Seattle to the hoods in South Florida, always receiving a response of thunderous applause.

Despite the strong audience affirmation, I still find myself walking away and feeling as though something is missing. Why? Many of us were part of the movement to bring positive youth development to youth workforce programs across the U.S., making sure we serve youth differently than adults, and taking into account their developmental needs, assets, and the different stages of their development. Surely there is no disputing the fact that there is a need for more programs and opportunities for young people to grow into healthy, positive adults. So, what is lacking? Where is the breakdown?

Despite our best efforts at incorporating positive youth development we forgot one thing: incorporating youth. The sad reality is that many of our youth development and youth workforce programs struggle to get youth in the doors. Yes, I know this is a subject that we do not like to discuss. However, it is a subject that must be raised in the research and policy agenda in order to reach a viable solution. Of the millions of youth who desperately need education and workforce development in their lives, few are turning to the programs and services that can lead to better lives and opportunities. Those that do come often don’t stay. In this fact lies our advocacy paradox. How can we ask for more money when we can’t reach the kids with the money we have? The “ask” is not to serve more kids but to invest in strategies to reach the kids we have. Advocating for more resources in a system that cannot engage the youth it is intended to serve will eventually blow up in our face.

Now I know a few of you are crying foul. However, it is my experience that a few of you who cry foul are able to offer youth $300 or more every two weeks for attending. In fact, engagement has translated to money, at least for some. For others, it is obtained through sophisticated creaming strategies that, for the most part, has programs turning away from the youth who need the services most.

School Accountability: What about us?

If the educational system is forced to be more accountable, so should youth development and workforce programs. Let me break it down like a fraction – No Child Left Behind is exposing the incredible achievement gap that currently exists within the United States. The National Governors Association recommendation for states to recalculate dropout rates has exposed a national travesty: 50% of African-American and Latino youth drop out of high school.

The exposure doesn’t stop there however. The Beginning Post-secondary Students Longitudinal Study reported that only 31% of students who entered community college in 1995-1996 with the intention of earning a degree or certificate had met their goal six years later. For African-American and Latino students the rate is much lower.

As if that weren’t enough of a factor, Congress is trying to rescind 65 million of WIA funds partly because of unspent funds. While there are many excuses for why funds are unspent, the reality is that many programs have no youth to spend them on. It seems that despite the weeding out of those who are not serious, along with those who constantly whine or refuse to work with adjudicated youth, or youth in the foster care system, programs still can’t get it right. Once again, the question hangs out there—why?

Why?

Perhaps the most important program element is engagement. At YDRF, we believe in the Performance Formula: Performance is the function of Recruitment x Engagement (Pfx Rec x Eng). Without effective and consistent engagement efforts, programs can never meet expected outcomes. The primary challenge youth service providers face in implementing effective engagement strategies is to stop blaming engagement difficulties on young people’s deficiencies, but instead recognize that it is the deficiencies of the programs themselves. Building a youth engagement system in much different from incorporating positive youth development principles into program design.

A youth engagement system is a commitment to a set of principles and practices sustained by policy and sufficient resources, dedicated to creating an authentic and culturally competent service delivery system where young people feel valued as stakeholders and are compelled to invest in active and meaningful participation towards mutual goals. In short, we need a youth driven workforce preparation system, not an employer driven one– time and statistics have proven that’s not working!

In order to do this, organizations need to build and strengthen the routes (and in some cases open them) for young people to be fully engaged in the decisions, opportunities and challenges affecting their communities. One of the largest miscalculations that youth employment programs make is to attempt to provide services to the at-risk populations without first developing an intimate understanding of what truly motivates and interests this special group.

In The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives on High School Dropouts, Bill Gates tells us the most reported reason why youth are dropping out of school. They are bored with education! Sounds like something we could have figured out on our own, right? Probably, however that is only part of the story. What Mr. Microsoft failed to tell us is that they are not bored with education; they are just bored with the education and job training we subject them to. Youth are literally handing us the manual to how to help them become successful, but is anyone reading the pages? Not only is it time to realize that up until this point, the method used to increase youth engagement is not just flawed, it’s broken. If we want to make a change, it is we that must make changes, using their lead as a path to getting it right.

For programs interested in adopting the YDRF youth engagement system, contact us at 301-216-2566

 

The Alarming Drop-Out Rate – this time it is community college

With all the fanfare around the high school dropout crisis, it is easy to overlook the other failing efforts of another institution where American students are not faring all too well – community colleges.

According to the Beginning Post-secondary Students Longitudinal Study, only 31 percent of students who entered community college in 1995-1996 with the intention of earning a degree or certificate had met their goal six years later. The situation is worse for students with non-traditional high school diplomas. In fact, unreleased research states that approximately less than 10% of African American males with a GED who enter community college complete their course of study within six years.

Often deemed the pathway to economic opportunity for vulnerable youth, community colleges are touted as the “golden ticket” to high growth/high paying jobs for millions of economically and academically disadvantaged young adults. However, evidence of success is lacking, and millions of youth now refer to this so-called golden opportunity as the “high school” after high school, a tag that speaks volumes about the system’s inability to keep youth engaged. Characterized by large class sizes, distance learning systems, and computerized educational networks, most community colleges lack the basic elements of youth development that produce gains for vulnerable young adults—access to positive, caring adults, small learning communities, culturally competent instruction, and intensive services and supports.

With such a low completion rate, a rate well below that for even the worse high school, is this option really a boondoggle for America’s vulnerable young person, especially those of low income? After all, a large part of the demographics of those attending community college tends to be those students who do not have the monetary resources to attend large universities, or the luxury of a lifestyle that allows for long and involved courses of study. Therefore the ramifications of participating in the programs offered by community colleges is often that students tend to utilize a large portion of the grants, student loans, and other government funds that are available to them with very little educational return. They receive training that they are almost guaranteed not to complete, and that fails to secure employment that yields income sufficient enough to support a lifestyle beyond repaying their education debts. Given this fact, is the touting of these post-secondary educational opportunities as a viable means of economic stability really a promotion of the economic inequality that we were trying to address in the first place.

In accessing the failures of these programs, it is also critical to pull out the variables within the small ratio of success, in order to determine where the post-secondary programs are actually missing the mark. A method of comparison and contrast will likely uncover painful truths, but will serve greatly in uncovering a remedy that will better serve the disconnected young adult population. For example, what is the completion rate of out-of-school youth from WIA funded programs compared to those who did not receive any services at all? What are the characteristics of the successful 31% who completed their course of studies? How can these characteristics be replicated in order to increase overall positive outcomes? These are the questions that must be asked and answered if we are to move progressively toward effective solutions that will encompass not only a select group of students, but rather the student population as a whole. We must face the negatives with an aggressive approach, determining if and where more assistance is needed within the education system itself, and what that assistance should involve. We must also ensure that in our efforts to improve the numbers, we are not substituting quality for quantity. The results that determine effective change must be measured in terms of successful long-term outcomes versus high completion rates that yield temporary monetary gains.

Programs such as The Guardian Scholars Program in Orange County California holds much promise and should be closely studied. The Guardian Scholars Program is a comprehensive program of financial aid, life coaching, mentoring, housing and personalized attention for youth in foster care. It enables emancipated foster youth to successfully engage in attending a college, university or vocational school. Self-reported data boast a 70% retention rate for students enrolled in the program.

In a society highly concentrated on making sure no child is left behind, it is extremely important to point vulnerable youth down the path that is going to provide these lasting success options. Part of the task in effectively accomplishing this is to change the mindset of these youth, and restore their faith in the system of education. As it stands right now, we cannot ask them to have this faith when they see the failure rates of their peers within the post-secondary structure reach proportions of 70 – 90%. The reasons behind such poor completion vary tremendously. Some students are grossly unprepared, while others are there for the social aspects of meeting members of the opposite sex. However, the majority are plagued with the incidental crisis of financial hardships and family responsibility. Regardless of the category, the end result remains that today’s education turnout continues to drop considerably, creating a dismal outlook for those students who would otherwise take the plunge of furthering their education in hopes of a successful end result. If this negative imagery is not combated and ultimately reversed, the percentages of failure will continue to grow, making laughable the notion of “no child left behind.” Since the failure of the education system is no laughing matter, it is imperative that we develop concrete solutions to reduce the number of students who slip through the cracks. Oops, I mean craters.

Back to School

It’s a phrase you’ve heard before, parents, educators, and politicians, and other adults tout it, with the intent of emphasizing continued education in order to get somewhere in life. They may mean well, but the reality is that millions of youth are not returning to school.

Where are all these kids? It’s a question that every adult in every community should be asking, yet less than a quarter of the general voting population even recognizes that the dropout rate is a major concern for today’s youth. Arguably the largest problem facing education today, but decidedly the most overlooked problem within the education system, the dropout rate isn’t remotely receiving the amount of attention it warrants. While lack of funding and parental involvement, along with a severe shortage of quality teachers are issues that need to be addressed, children actually have to be in school for those problems to be a factor. Concerns regarding the education system should be all encompassing and that is currently not the case. How can it be when over 80% of voters feel it’s not their problem?

The public decision makers have completely disassociated themselves from the problem of school dropouts because they feel it does not directly affect them—a cold and callus stance to take, not to mention an extremely inaccurate one. The epidemic of out of school youth reaches deep into the heart of every community in America, however those with blinders on prefer to compartmentalize the problem, assessing it to those youth afflicted by living in inner cities, subjected to bad parenting, or the overwhelming influence of hip-hop. Admittedly, there are a portion of youth whose situations may fit these categories and they suffer as a result of them, however every child does not fit the ready made blame molds that society would like to store them in so that they can ease their collective conscious.

It is estimated that 50% of African-American and Latino youth do not complete the twelfth grade, a percentage that is extremely staggering, and one that very few people actually know or seem to care about. What is even more disturbing is that today’s youth are leaving schools at an earlier and earlier age. It is reported that nearly half of all dropouts leave school by the tenth grade, and a shocking 20% throw in the towel by the 8th grade.

Dropout reasons today vary, with the majority of youth citing the following as factors that prompt them to exit the halls of a learning institution:

1. They don’t like school – Trivial as it may sound, young adults need a motivation that outweighs the frustration that is often felt when school doesn’t make sense to them. If there isn’t some sort of connection, something that validates the necessity of attending school, many youth see it as a waste of time with no real benefit.
2. Inability to get along with teachers or other students – Social skills are extremely vital in ensuring success in school but not only for students, for teachers as well. Teachers who assume that students need to adopt the cultural and values of the school without paying attention to valuing the culture and values of the youth can expect only a small degree of success. In these environments, students who feel disrespected, dismissed and devalued often elect to remove themselves from the situation that they find uncomfortable—thus one cut class becomes three, which becomes a day, until eventually going to school is not an option.
3. Failing grades or inability to keep up with course work – Poor grades with little to no explanation as to where they are making their mistakes serves as a discouraging factor for many youth. Without constant encouragement and avenues for support they adopt the attitude that since they aren’t doing well anyway, they may as well not be there.
4. Feeling unsafe – With violence rates among youth climbing, several youth opt to not even show up to their classes as opposed to being engaged in a physical confrontation.
5. Support of family – A trend that was often a necessity in the 50’s and 60’s seems to have reappeared in the millennium. Students often feel the pressure of budgetary constraints within their families and feel compelled to leave school in order to contribute. Additionally teen pregnancies account for this dropout factor.

Instead of addressing the problems head on, the political community has optioned for an easy way out. Instead of eliminating the real weapon of mass destruction – the lack of quality education, they build missiles. Instead of addressing the real threat to national security – the lack of opportunity, they build prisons. It always seems apparent that when government does not know how to deal with a problem, they run from a problem. For military intelligence must tell them that the United States cannot police the world while their own backyard is burning. The real world of our youth usually exceeds the imagination of most mainstream decision makers. What most decision makers call ghettos; young adults call home.

With the apparent lack of opportunities to continue their education, the question then becomes, where do they go? While only a few youth are at some point encouraged to return to the school system, millions more wind up pounding the pavement in either a job search or idle activity. Considering the immense difficulty in securing employment that exists for Americans with college degrees, suffice to say that youth who have less than a tenth grade education require some sort of assisted training program in order to survive. The existence of such programs however does not come close to supporting the demand for job training. With only 250,000 federally funded job training slots and even fewer state and privately funded programs, more youth are slipping through the proverbial cracks than any citizen should be comfortable with accepting. Still acceptance is exactly what occurs when actions to initiate and support programs that train dropouts do not take place. Ignorance is not bliss, and that statement applies to youth who have exited the school system as well as the adult citizens who do not take the time to become informed of the severity of this epidemic. Every non-high school graduate affects the conditions of every community in America—an attitude that must be adopted, spread, and acted upon. Businesses suffer because there are no qualified successors to make critical decisions. When businesses suffer, the economy suffers, because each folded business takes with it the opportunity for more jobs and revenue—and so the cycle continues. That being said, it is completely ludicrous to conclude that this problem falls solely and squarely on the shoulders of those who have children and those who are responsible for educating them. To the contrary, the concern belongs to every individual in every city. Ensuring the proper education and productivity of our youth ensures that our entire economic structure and way of life continues to evolve and grow in a manner that supports us all.

Though every effort must be made to encourage youth to remain in or return to school, the reality is that there will be millions who do not exercise either option. These individuals must not be overlooked or condemned to a life on the streets, which is the inevitable destination if citizens do not become informed or get involved. Involvement takes on many facets and can include some of the following methods:

• Become vocal in your community – Organize members of your community. Recognize the issue and consider ideas to provide training to youth, possibly mentoring or other programs which will teach valuable job skills.
• Use politics to challenge leadership – Voices with volume are seldom ignored. Create a forum that allows concerned citizens to address local community leaders. Present the problem and possible solutions, and then press for answers and results. Be persistent, change is not overnight and local government will often try to “wait out” the problem, hoping interest will diminish. Keeping the issues at the forefront forces action or embarrassment, and since no politician wants to be embarrassed, action is the only other recourse.
• Enlist the help of local businesses – Talk to local business owners about the possibility of on the job training for youth, or ask them to support the efforts of a program that will provide training.
• Become a mentor – Sharing your life experiences and the importance of education in all aspects of life can be the difference in whether a youth returns to school, or at least opts to strive for enhanced learning.

Ultimately, the future of our society lies in the success of our youth. By keeping this in mind, there is no possible way to sit idly and watch them deteriorate. Get involved and stay involved. If a mind truly is a terrible thing to waste, what are you waiting for?

The Real Reason for the Drop-Out Crisis – Part 1

How many times have you witnessed a young person throw away their life or freedom over the concept of disrespect? Once, twice, too many times to feel comfortable reading this article? So what do you think young people will do to their educational opportunities when they are so called “disrespected” in the classroom? Drop-out!

Like other youth service workers, I have witnessed many young adults throw away educational opportunities because, in their reality, the institutions that were entrusted to help them build self-esteem, actually tore it apart.

Despite the fanfare around the drop-out crisis, I am sure no one will want to talk about this issue – how our educational and workforce systems disrespects the cultural capital of young adults. In fact, in some schools, a young person’s cultural capital is visibly attacked: Hats are burned, shirts are banned, and music, well, that’s another story.

Former Harvard Professor Pedro Noguera explains the dilemma this way:”It is imperative that efforts to help black youth be guided by ongoing attempts at understanding the cultural forms they produce, and the ways in which they respond and adapt to their social and cultural environment. Without such an understanding, efforts to influence the attitude and behaviors of African-American males will most likely fail to capture their imagination and be ignored.”

And being ignored they are. A recent report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reported that the national drop-out rate stands at around 33%. For inner city, poor black and Latino youth, it stands at around 50%. With 50% of urban youth failing to graduate from high school, we need to look past hip- hop and parents as the culprits. It is important to understand that being youth culturally competent isn’t the same as being “multi-cultural.” Youth cultural competence is about consciously and strategically using positive peer pressure, youth involvement and youth popular culture to produce positive outcomes for youth. While many schools are willing to focus on the fact that smaller schools, better paid teachers and smaller class sizes will help improve student achievement, very few acknowledge the role that YCC can play in increasing student engagement, and consequently, the standards that schools are so blindingly pursuing.

Youth Cultural Competence (YCC) is not a one-day workshop,; rather YCC is a strategic and measurable effort to increase a schools ability to relate to youth through two of its greatest resources: youth involvement and positive peer influence. Youth Cultural Competence is a revolution in empowering youth programs because it organizes programs to look at their most valuable asset – youth. YCC is not a program; YCC is an entirely new method for connecting with youth, utilizing youth in the quest to produce educational gains for students and schools alike. In our work around the country, we are witness to a number of programs that want youth cultural competence without placing the true effort and resources behind making YCC possible.

Young adults connect to adults who respect their youth culture. Rhodes scholar Jay MacLeod suggests in his book, “Ain’t No Makin’ It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood,” that those who work with youth “need not have a black belt in karate, place a premium on machismo, swear in class, or have working-class roots like most students. However, they must be prepared to validate the identities that their students have taken on as part of growing up.”

How do schools validate the identities of youth with whom they work? The answer is “most don’t.” Young adults identify themselves as skaters, rappers, hustlers, and krumpers quicker than they claim allegiance to their Italian, African or Latino roots. Most youth can tell you more about Method Man than Marcus Garvey. Yet, schools still throw ethnic food nights and ignore the importance of events that celebrate the diversity of interests among the youth they serve.

Most civil rights groups would demand diversity training for a school system run by whites for African American students, especially if there was not one African American on faculty, not one thing about the African American experience in the curriculum, and not one African American hero and shero on the wall. Yet, everyday we visit schools where there is not one young person on staff; nothing about the “youth cultural” experience in the curriculum; and not one youth hero and shero on the wall. To some degree, can we say that schools need some diversity training?

In B.C. Howard’s book “In Learning to Persist, Persisting to Learn,” he writes, “Many black youth develop negative attitudes and behavior patterns regarding education when schools fail to affirm the values and norms of their culture. In fact, when black youth sense disapproval of their style of academic assertiveness, their energy might be channeled into aggressiveness against the academic environment.” And this form of academic assertiveness is very clearly displayed in their choice to “drop -out.”

A youth culturally competent education system is the answer. We must learn ways to validate the identities that students have taken on as part of growing up and use those identifies to promote the importance of education and work. We must look past the baggy pants and colored hair and connect with our children based on their interests, ideas, , aspirations and cultural capital. Educators who marginalize youth culture, confirm everything that youth culture rages against.

Part Two: Ten Ways Schools Disrespect Youth: Coming Next Issue

Is Hip-Hop Keeping It Real for Our Youth?

The Hip-Hop industry, and the music world, has fallen into the worst sales slump in at least a decade. Despite the “bling bling” on your television, The Recording Industry Association of America reports that the shipment of music products fell 10.3% in 2001, costing Hip-Hop record companies, producers, distributors, artists, fashion designers, and other Hip-Hop heads millions of dollars in lost earnings. The industry’s suffering is intense, but if you’ve got millions to lose, than you’ve got millions. The Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop aren’t so lucky.

Who are They?

They are the 16-24 year old members of the Hip-Hop Nation who desperately need options beyond the streets. They are the subject of almost every Hip-Hop track from gangster rap to the party remix. They are the one’s who invented keeping it real, who live keeping it real on the streets of cities like the Bronx, South Central, Detroit, B-More, the District, and Miami. The Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop love Hip-Hop not because Hip-Hop loves them, but because Hip-Hop is them- it is their struggle to survive in a world of violence, drugs, gangs, broken families, and poverty and still find a way to keep their head up. They are the young people who were not provided the support necessary to complete the twelfth grade or to engage the labor market. Currently, there are approximately 5.2 million Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop who are out-of-school, unemployed, underemployed, and/or incarcerated. These young people’s sad stories have built a two billion dollar global, Hip-Hop culture; yet, each year, both society and the Hip-Hop industry lose a potential supply of revenue of over 88 billion dollars in the wages that these youth fail to earn. The sharp rise in youth unemployment, the persistent joblessness among young African American men, the broad impact of the current recession, and the overwhelming lack of youth programs and services have contributed to making both the challenges and the needs of the Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop greater than ever before. Indeed:

Although more than 2083 youth ages 14-19 drop out of school each day, government training programs can serve less that 2% of this population (US Department of Labor, 2001).

Current government and private programs supporting this population are on the chopping block., The Youth Opportunity Program, which serves young people in the highest poverty areas in America, will receive an 80% reduction in funding, cutting services for approximately 24,000 youth.

Since the economy has turned sour, the unemployment rate for 14-21 year old youth of color has accounted for over 70% of the total job loss among all adults in the United States over the past twelve months (Northeastern University, 2002).

The number of youth of color in poverty is expected to grow by at least 30% in the next ten years (Johns Hopkins University, 1998).

While Napster, CD burners, and MP3 players have all been cited for the decline in record sales, it seems clear that the lack of opportunities for the Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop also plays a role. Without the purchasing power of the Hip-Hop Generation, and perhaps more importantly, without the emotional support and energy of the streets, Hip-Hop may quickly become the fad everyone once thought it to be.

Recycling that Matters

Now, more than ever, it’s time for the Hip-Hop community to reclaim the Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop and help them to transform themselves into the true players, dreamers, and lovers that they long to be. As Hip-Hop has long been the voice of the suffering of young people in the inner city, it must now rise to the challenge and make the case for government, community, and corporate investment in unemployed, undereducated and disconnected youth. The Youth Development and Research Fund presents the following three recommendations to the Hip-Hop Industry:

1. Support the “The Campaign for Youth” – a national group of youth advocates invested in improving options and the lives of the Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop through:
   1. Media assistance. Lend of the services of your media relations firms to help us tell this story to the American public.
   2. Fundraising. The Campaign for Youth needs support. The Capmpaign needs 500,000 to cover costs associated with this advocacy effort and underwrite a national PR campaign. The Campaign’s goal is to secure 14 billion dollars in investments each year for this population equal to the cost of what it takes to operate one Aircraft carrier. The two non-profits leading the Campaign: YouthBuild, USA; and The National Youth Employment Coalition were listed as the Best Charities in the U.S. in 2002 by Worth magazine.
   3. Spokesperson. Assist the Campaign in identifying a National spokesperson for the campaign. This person should have credibility with a broad group of constituents.
   4. Be more active at reaching out to youth through personal appearances, positive lyrics, and PSAs that provide good information to young people about how to place themselves on a pathway to long-term success.
   5. Adopt a local programs, drop a few more positive hints, mentor a young person in need of a strong adult role model, help fund programs and services.
   6. Produce more uplifting and inspiring music with a message that will promote the life, freedom and future economic opportunity of youth; not the bad information that takes away from it.
   7. Call YDRF to find out about other ways to get involved.

While many in the hip-hop community do something for the community. We are not moved. It is far less than what their vast resources allow them to do. It is time for the hip-hop industry to move past vanity charity. If they truly want to claim the streets; it time they pay their dues to the streets. The Disposable Heroes of Hip-Hop are not disposable. For many of us, they are our past. For all of us, they are our future. It’s time for the Hip-Hop Nation to stand up in unity against disposing our Hip-Hop Heroes and take the necessary steps to ensure that these young people have options beyond the streets.

Are Youth Services Professionals “Keeping It Real” or “Makin’ It” Right?” What YDRF recommends to “Make It Right” for Millions.

While many so-called leaders are jumping behind the rhetoric “leave no child is left behind,” hundreds of thousands of youth and young adults are still struggling to find a place for themselves in society. The biggest threat to homeland security is the lack of quality educations. The new weapon of mass destruction is unemployment. And no matter how much policy makers and legislators try to deceive us, the crisis abroad can no way compare to the crisis in the streets of America.

Here’s what is going on:

• More than half of the young people in the twenty largest school districts never complete the twelfth grade.
• For every ten students who do start high school, fewer than three will complete a Bachelor’s degree.

Only 11% of high school drop-outs are employed full time.

• Nine out of ten of the approximately 11,000 youth in adult facilities have, at best, a ninth grade education.

Only 2% of GED Holders complete four or more years of postsecondary education.

A recent national survey of registered voters conducted by YDRF and polling firm Lake, Snell, and Perry shows that for most Americans, supporting youth who need support to complete the 12th grade is not a major concern. Additionally, voters’ feedback demonstrates that they are not truly informed about the vast number of youth who find themselves in these positions, the reasons behind their struggles, and/or the array of challenges and opportunities confronting these young people. Unfortunately, despite vast public and political ignorance regarding these youth, the economic costs of not providing all youth with the support they need to complete their education is severe. Eighteen percent of white, 40% of African American and 18% of Hispanic youth who don’t complete the 12th grade are unemployed and the recent economic downswing has impacted these youth more than any other single demographic group. At the same time, government investment in services for these young people is at an all-time low and further budget cuts in employment and training and alternative educational programming have already been announced. Dr. Andy Sum of Northeastern University states that for the 5.2 million out-of-school youth in the U.S.; the Federal government only provides 200,000 training slots to connect these youth to jobs and education. It seems clear, then, that while the political and public dialogue surrounding “leave no child behind” has never been greater, millions of youth are being undervalued by society and overlooked by policy makers.

Public Opinion

With the support of the Mott Foundation and through the assistance of national polling firm Lake, Snell, and Perry, YDRF developed and fielded a national survey to registered voters to garner their opinions on “out-of-school youth” and providing this population with high quality educational opportunities. A series of focus groups in field houses across the country helped YDRF to prepare the survey and provided in-depth accounts from the public regarding their feelings on “out-of-school” youth and supporting this population in their educational efforts. Based on the findings of the survey and focus groups, YDRF has learned that four essential steps must be taken in order to ensure that advocacy messages on behalf of this population will be well received:

1. Youth advocates must change the nature and the way out-of-school youth are described and tell their stories.

• Polling data and the focus groups revealed that advocates for youth who did not complete the 12th grade must be careful about the language that they use when describing this population. The public has a very negative perception of the term “dropout,” viewing dropouts similarly to delinquent youth. At the same time, the public felt the term “out-of-school youth” was vague and misleading and could refer to youth in a variety of situations such as taking a semester off from college. Youth advocates must find a term such as “youth who were not provided the support needed to complete the twelfth grade”or “youth who need options beyond the streets” that is clear, concise, and that shifts the “blame” away from young people themselves.
• Seventy-three percent of voters attributed students dropping out to environmental factors and reported that they were more sympathetic to these kinds of challenges. The primary causes adults cited were peer pressure at 18% and problems at home at 17%. This viewpoint is encouraging because it demonstrates that the majority of voters don’t place the blame for dropping out squarely on youth such as involved with drugs and alcohol” (5 %) or “academically poor” (3%). As a result, youth advocates should encourage young people, when telling their stories, to not focus on their own deficits or poor choices, but on the environmental challenges and “bad hand” they were dealt from the start.

1. More effort must be placed in educating the public and policy makers about the issues that surround the widespread lack of support needed for many young people to complete the 12th grade.

• Only 6% of voters list high dropout rates as the biggest problem facing education today. In contrast, 24% cite the lack of funding, 22% a lack of parental involvement, and 18% poor quality teachers. When asked specifically about whether youth dropping out is a large problem, 86% of voters think it’s a big problem; yet, less than one-third of voters express personal concern. The implication is that voters don’t realize the severity of the dropout problem and feel they have little personal connection to this social plight. While voters understand that the high dropout rate is a significant problem, advocacy campaigns must work to provide voters with a compelling reason to care about “out-of-school youth” and their educational progress. Advocates must show voters that youth who did not receive the support needed to complete the 12th grade is not simply an “inner city” or “bad parent” problem, but can affect middle class American families with strong values.
• Voters rated GED programs, Job Training programs, and alternative education at an 80% approval rating or better. When asked to assess what happens to students who dropout, however, only 9% felt that youth would eventually “make it,” while 50% said youth would be economically challenged and 22% said youth would be engaged in criminal activity. Perhaps one clue to resolving this disconnect comes from the finding that only 22% of voters felt they knew “a lot” about educational programs for out-of-school youth. Youth advocates must strive to educate the public and policy makers about the vast need for services and the lack of resources confronting most programs, and must highlight youth success stories.

1. Clear and measurable policy options must be offered which holds state governments accountable and which pushes for family strengthening.

• Seventy-six percent of all voters cited parents as the number one or number two group most responsible for youth dropping out. In a distant second ranked students at 50% and teachers at 36%. This finding suggests that youth advocates should pursue public and political support for resource allocation to programs and policies that promote family strengthening and parental skills as a pathway to achieving youth development outcomes.
• When looking at combined responses, nearly every demographic group looks to the state government to ensure the support need for all young people to complete the 12th grade or receive other high quality education opportunities. While its clear that work needs to be done on the federal, state, and local levels, youth advocates may want to focus the brunt of their efforts on the state level.

1. Hip-Hop Must be Used as a Tool to Influence Youth and Society

• Eighty-seven percent of all voters felt that hip-hop has a strong influence on youth.

This finding suggest that youth advocates find a way to utilize the power of hip-hop music and culture to reach youth with positive messages and information about opportunities and supports. Moreover, youth advocates must find a way to use hip-hop to change public perception and ill will to out-of-school, unemployed youth.

We would love to hear about what you are doing in each of these areas: Please e-mail us at ed@ydrf.com.