Reconnecting Youth

American Institutes for Research. (2019). Opportunity Youth Research Agenda. Washington, DC: Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs. Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. The American Psychologist, 55(5), 469-480. Borges Martins, E., Elder, J., Lewis, K., & Burd-Sharps, S. (2009). Goals for ...

Federal Initiatives The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is a community-based program that leads, trains, and mentors young people between the ages of 16 and 18 who are unemployed and have left school, so that they may become productive citizens in America's future. Results from a three year evaluation showed that ChalleNGe participants are more ...

Engaging opportunity youth and former opportunity youth as leaders in research and programming provides many benefits. First, this type of engagement can connect opportunity youth with more experience in developing their leadership skills, while also making positive connections with adults. Second, involving opportunity youth as leaders can help inform development ...

A significant way that opportunity youth can be engaged in their communities is through the workforce. Engagement in the workforce, including apprenticeships, not only benefits the youth individually but also their community. Youth disconnect from the workforce is a complex issue, however there are several practical strategies that can be ...

For all individuals, education is an important aspect to being able to gain and maintain employment and to being able to support oneself, and potentially one’s family. Opportunity youth are much less likely to earn a high school or college diploma than their connected peers.[1] Disconnected youth are nine times ...

The previous section on the prevalence of opportunity youth highlighted that certain groups of youth and young adults face a greater risk of becoming disconnected from work and school. This section explores why some groups are more vulnerable than others and more likely to become disconnected (risk factors), while also ...

This section on prevalence reviews data from before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also provide up-to-date data related to opportunity youth as it becomes available. Find information on current youth employment data during the pandemic. It is important to understand who has been considered at risk of becoming ...