LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Two years ago, Jefferson County had a burgeoning crisis – one that both damaged Louisville’s image as a “compassionate city” and posed a serious threat to the community’s future workforce.
The crisis – with roughly one in ten young adults in Metro Louisville sitting idle, both out of school and out of work – it has been estimated that taxpayers may have cost $ 15 billion over the lifetime of the “separated” youths.
And Louisville’s even grim stats for black youth – one in four had no connection – made the city a more sobering distinction: for young people struggling to find work or go back to school, Louisville had the worst racial gap in the country .
Yet for all of the damning statistics, mind-boggling cost estimates, and harrowing stories of the personal plight of young people, Jefferson County officials did not have a coordinated plan of attack to deal with the disjointed youth crisis.
In fact, they had no plan at all.
These findings became known to the public through a multi-part investigation by the Courier Journal published in December 2019 – a journalistic endeavor that took six months to report and that was published in collaboration with the Education Writer’s Association.
Detection: Louisville’s $ 15 billion problem: 17,000 young people have no school or job
Now The Courier Journal has more to report. And this time it’s good news.
Following the release of the series, the Louisville Metro Government invested $ 1 million in new funds (with an additional $ 1 million in the outstanding 2022 budget) under its 2021 budget to provide services to unrelated or “opportunity” youth such as some of the potential solutions highlighted in the Courier Journal coverage.
From an expanded youth development office to a new one-stop shop for young adults to find the services they need, much of the changes in the past few months have come with little fuss.
But they are already having an effect.
Here are five key changes triggered by Courier Journal reporting that you may have overlooked:
1. Virtual one-stop-shop for youth competitions
Last fall, Mayor Greg Fischer announced new leadership in the city’s youth development department, appointing Aishia Brown as the department’s new director and Billie Castle as youth development systems administrator. With a portion of the new $ 1 million funding, the Mahogany Department hired Mayfield to coordinate the department’s efforts.
In May of this year, her office launched the Network for Youth Development and Community Building, or Louisville Youth Network, a free contact point for young people with high potential.
Visiting the site can connect teens to a myriad of services including:
- Education and Personnel Development
- Child care and food aid
- Transport and accommodation
- Crisis management and peer support
- Budgeting and financial management
- Physical, mental and behavioral health
- Drug abuse treatment
The network is backed by the three organizations that have received much of the new $ 1 million funding for young opportunities: the Coalition Supporting Young Adults (CSYA), Louisville Urban League, and Goodwill Industries of Kentucky.
Background: Mayor Greg Fischer’s government seeks $ 1.5 million to aid Louisville’s disconnected youth
2. Long-term representation of interests receives first full-time manager
For about a decade, CSYA was at the forefront of Louisville’s talks about youthful prospects. But the voluntary cooperation between youth advocates and youth support organizations lacked the authority and financial means to bring about systemic change.
With $ 325,000 in new funding from the Louisville Metro and support from the Jewish Heritage Fund for Excellence and the Junior League of Louisville, CSYA is working to become a full-fledged nonprofit organization. The group hired its first executive director, Darryl Young Jr., in March. Brittany Brown has also been hired as CSYA’s network coordinator.
Among many other ongoing efforts, CSYA is now hosting virtual panels on topics young people face and is working with Family Scholar House to put LouieConnect kiosks in five undeserved locations across town.
Connected: Fischer rejects calls to defuse the police and proposes millions more to combat the increasing violence
3. Goodwill, Urban League takes on new roles
As recipients of the Louisville Metro funding, both Goodwill Industries of Kentucky and the Louisville Urban League are now also playing a vital role in Jefferson County’s efforts to reconnect youth with school and work.
With $ 300,000 in new funding, Goodwill now offers Peer Support Specialists to help youth in need of counseling get back to school or work. Goodwill, based at 909 E. Broadway, also leads the city’s efforts on transportation issues for young opportunities, including the Last Mile to Work cycling program, which provides a free bike and helmet to eligible teenagers ages 18 to 24 .
The Louisville Urban League, which received $ 325,000 from the city, has highlighted health barriers affecting young opportunities. The group, based on 1535 W. Broadway, is also responsible for connecting teenagers with “Empowerment Navigators” who help young people quickly become connected to the services they need.
By the end of May, these empowerment navigators had supported more than 30 young people, including seven who had previously worked in foster families or juvenile justice systems.
Opinion: The Mayor of Louisville says the city is committed to helping unrelated youth
4. JCPS is stepping up its reintegration efforts
Jefferson County Public Schools is responsible for adult education in the community, which includes helping people without high school diplomas to earn their GEDs.
The Courier Journal found that the district’s adult education department was in disarray and falling well below government-issued GED benchmarks.
The department, which has been under the new leadership of Ashley Janicki since mid-2019, has since hired two part-time retired administrators to help increase the number of students returning to education, with an emphasis on zip codes with the greatest need.
Since starting work in February, the new hires have connected 20 young adults to an educational path, JCPS said. The district also plans to take a more active role within CSYA and help create a comprehensive youth reintegration education plan across the county.
And by the end of the summer, the adult education department of the JCPS will move back to a newly renovated Ahrens Educational Resource Center, 546 S. First St. – an inner city location that is easily accessible for young people by public transport.
More: How the coronavirus pandemic multiplies the struggles for Louisville’s disconnected youth
JCPS also works with the local nonprofit Evolve502 to help keep young people from getting disconnected. With $ 15 million in scholarship funds now raised, Evolve502 can guarantee two years of fee-free post-secondary study to any student currently enrolled in a JCPS high school who meets the admission requirements.
5. Annual data, reporting on the horizon
Next on the agenda for the Louisville Youth Network is the establishment of a data center to provide officials with “a better understanding of the needs of the youth” so that the Louisville Metro government can set district-wide goals and priorities, according to a May progress report Office for Youth Promotion.
The data center will also produce an annual “Youth Equality Report” that “specifically highlights how we can ensure that youth receive equal access, services, resources and programs to help them achieve their lifelong goals,” the progress report reads.
Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren.
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/courier-journal-investigation-leads-to-changes-for-disconnected-youth/
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