Aspen Forum for Community Solutions has identified 21 communities who are working together for opportunity youth. These communities will receive funding and support to expand their efforts to reconnect youth and young adults. What are these communities doing? They:
            1. Collaborate for impact
            2. Build effective programs and pathways
            3. Use data to guide decision and assess impact
            4. Leverage funding to support and sustain innovation
            5. Develop supportive policies.
Read more about how community wide partnerships and initiative can come together for opportunity youth...

One key to thriving in a competitive global economy is a properly skilled workforce that can innovate, create new products and services, and bring them to market quickly and efficiently. America remains a leader in innovation, but its workforce is falling behind. Education and workforce development systems have not kept pace with the demands of the 21st century, and we all bear the costs of this failure. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2012 report on the skills gap reviews the issues and solutions discussed at regional forums of business and community leaders. Full Report

As jobs that require only high school or less have disappeared, postsecondary education and training on the job and in schools have become the gateways to the middle class. Most postsecondary education and training discussions focus on the baccalaureate pathway, but there has been an increasing interest in so-called “middle jobs.” These are jobs that require education and training beyond high school but less than a
Bachelor’s degree, and secure middle-class earnings.

A recent report by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce lists high wage "middle" occupations and the five major pathways at the subbaccalaureate level that are most often required for entry: employer-based training, industry-based certifications, apprenticeships, postsecondary certificates, and Associate’s degrees. 

Read more about these occupations and training options...

The White House Council for Community Solutions issues their final report on strategies to address the needs of opportunity youth. The recommendations address: cross-sector community collaborations, shared national responsibility and accountability, engaging youth as leaders in the solution and building on-ramps to employment.

The Council details the need for national and community level solutions. The most critical:
  * Integrated services and wraparound supports in workforce and education systems 
  * Alternative education and employment pathways
  * Advanced credentialing opportunities

Read the complete report..

Social Impact Research, the research division of Root Cause, releases an issue brief outlining the potential positive impact of re-engaing out of school and work youth in education, training and the workforce. According to research, effective investments in "disengaged youth" could reverse staggering individual and societal costs:

           $ 306,906         Lifetime cost of one high school dropout to the government
           $ 65.8 billion     Potential earnings loss of disengaged youth

Preparing disengaged youth for and connecting them to meaningful work experience can, according to the brief:
1. Encourage youth to re-engage with school
2. Develop academic persistence and career aspirations
3. Enable youth to gain valuable transferable job skills 
4. Reduce risky and deviant behaviors such as criminal activity, drug use, pregnancy, and violence
5. Reduce isolation for youth
6. Increase their self-awareness, resilience, hopefulness, and ability to cope with traumatic experience

For more information on the costs of disengaged youth, the barriers experienced by at-risk youth, and the qualities of effective programs...

            Social Issue Report: Youth Career Development

A report commissioned by the White House Council for Community Solutions outlines the economic impact of the approximately 6.7 million 16-24 year olds considered "opportunity youth", those not in school and underemployed. 

"These youth are disproportionately male and from minority groups, but substantial rates are found for all youth groups. Opportunity youth may have dropped out of high school or college and been unable to find work; may have been involved in the criminal justice system; may have mental or health conditions that have inhibited their activities; or may have care-giving responsibilities in their families. Some opportunity youth are ‘chronic’: they have never been in school or work after the age of 16. Others are ‘under-attached’: despite some schooling and some work experience beyond 16, these youth have not progressed through college or secured a stable attachment to the labor market. We estimate a chronic opportunity youth population of 3.4 million and an under-attached opportunity youth population of 3.3 million. Both groups are failing to build an economic foundation for adult independence."

The report details the economic burden of opportunity youth including lost earnings, lost tax payments, crime, health costs, welfare support payments, and other losses in productivity and economic growth. In 2011 dollars, the report estimates that:

Each opportunity youth imposes a social burden of $51,350 per year they are disconnected and after each opportunity youth reaches 25, he or she will subsequently impose a future lifetime burden of $699,770.

These estimates support the compelling economic and social argument for workforce and educational supports for struggling young people. For more information on the cost calculations and the barriers that put these youth at risk, see  The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth