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Every Child, Every Promise:

Turning Failure Into Action

National Network of State Adolescent Health Coordinators

March 23, 2006

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The America’s Promise Alliance

• Largest public/private partnership for young people

• Created at the 1997 President’s Summit for America’s Future

• Retired General Colin L. Powell was the organization’s founding chairman and today Alma Powell serves as the chair

• Launched FirstFocus to strengthen voice for children and youth in federal policy and federal budget

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Every Child, Every Promise

• New report commissioned by America’s

Promise

• Measures the presence of 5 fundamental

resources or “Promises” in the lives of

America’s youth

– Caring adults

– Safe places

– Healthy start

– Effective education

– Opportunities to help others

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Every Child, Every Promise

• Three distinct, complementary studies:– The National Promise Study (Quantitative

measure of the presence of the 5 Promises in the lives of America’s youth)

– The Voices Study (Qualitative and quantitative look at perspective of young people)

– Investing in Our Young People (Return on Investment analysis by Dr. James Heckman and Flavio Cunha)

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Every Child, Every PromiseComprehensive look at the state of America’s Youth:• Giving us benchmark data to quantify the number of children

receiving the Five Promises;• Highlighting gaps in the delivery of the Five Promises;• Presenting outcome data in “user friendly” format: objective data

telling us how our children and youth are doing (e.g., school drop-out rate, juvenile violence data);

• Giving us the unique perspective of the young people themselves;

• Demonstrating the return on investment for investing in children’s support services.

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Power of the Promises

• Youth receiving at least 4 out of the 5 Promises are:

– Twice as likely to receive A’s

– Twice as likely to avoid violence

– 40% more likely to volunteer

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Power of the Promises

The Promises level the playing field

• Receiving at least 4 out of 5: – Reduced academic achievement gap between

white and minority students ages 12-17

– Nearly eliminated disparities in school attendance between white and minority youth ages 12 -17, and between 12-17 year olds from high-and-low-income families

– Nearly eliminated disparities in drug use between white and minority 12-17 year-olds

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A Majority of Children are

Lacking the Promises

• Two-thirds of America’s youth – 34 million children – are receiving three or fewer.

• African-American and Hispanic youth are half as likely to have enough of the Promises as white youth.

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Early Childhood Investment

is NOT Enough

• Research by Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman and economist Flavio Cunha found we must invest in youth throughout development for the greatest returns

• Early investment not followed with continual investment are not as productive as a balanced investment throughout the first two decades of life. – Balanced investment led to a 90% high school graduation

rate, compared to 40% without any additional investments

– Balanced investment also led to a 40% college attendance rate, compared to 5% without additional investments

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A Call to Action

We must act in an integrated manner

to ensure all youth are receiving the 5

Promises

– Child health: SCHIP Reauthorization

– No Child Left Behind: Dropout

prevention/Integrated Services for Young

People

– Comprehensive Youth Development

Legislation

– Approaches in States

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• Private health insurance coverage of children has decreased by 3.5% since 1997-1998, while public coverage has increased 6.4%.

• Number of uninsured children grew by almost 400,000 between 2004 and 2005

• Roughly two-thirds of the over 8 million children without health insurance are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid

SCHIP

Reauthorization

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Policy Recommendations:

• Defend current coverage of children from reductions or backsliding

• Expand outreach and enrollment

• Support wrap-around coverage for dental and other services in SCHIP at State option

SCHIP

Reauthorization

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• Approximately 25% of high school students

do not graduate on time

• Approximately 50% of African-American and

Hispanic students do not graduate on time

• By 2010, 10 million jobs could be left

unfulfilled because our workforce does not

have the skills to fill them

No Child Left Behind

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Policy Recommendations:

• Dropout prevention through integrated support services

• Prevent push outs and improve graduation through data, research and accountability

No Child Left Behind

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• Young people with 4 or 5 Promises are– Twice as likely to receive A’s– Twice as likely to avoid violence– 40% more likely to volunteer

• Communities can help families raise young people who are more likely to be successful by providing an array of quality opportunities (National Research Council/Institute of Medicine)

• Comprehensive programs have demonstrated positive impacts on young peopleExample: The Children’s Aid Society Carrera Adolescent

Pregnancy Prevention Program– Offers not just traditional sex education, but also tutoring,

SAT preparation, job skills, medical and dental care, sports and creative arts.

– A three-year evaluation of its 12 sites in poor neighborhoods nationwide found participants had one-third fewer pregnancies, and births, than those in the control group.

Comprehensive

Youth Development

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Policy Recommendation:

– Develop a program to provide

communities with incentives to support or

create public/private partnerships for

delivering comprehensive youth

development opportunities to young

people (similar to Younger Americans Act)

Comprehensive

Youth Development

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Some State Examples…

– Iowa’s Collaboration for Youth Development• www.icyd.org

– Kentucky’s Youth Policy Survey and Youth Coordination Act

• www.kychildnow.org

– Minnesota Alliance With Youth• www.mawy.org

Comprehensive

Youth Development

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Other Alliance resources…

– National League of Cities Platform for Strengthening Families and Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth

• www.nlc.org

– Alliance Regional Forums

• Houston (June 14-15)

• Nashville (July 31-August 1)

– 100 Best Communities for Young People

• www.americaspromise.org

Comprehensive

Youth Development

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• Other ideas in the room to share that provide increased comprehensive community-based

support for young people?

• From the perspective of State Adolescent Health

Coordinators, how can ECEP findings be applied to your work?

• What are possible opportunities for partnership?

Discussion

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For a full copy of

Every Child, Every Promise,

go to: www.AmericasPromise.org