On the Road to Adulthood: A Databook about Teens and Young Adults in DC

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Abstract

Many young people in the District of Columbia are failing to make a successful transition to adulthood. Their challenges include poor preparation for the high-skills labor market and long-standing health problems. Recent District government efforts have centered around school reform and early childhood, but these areas are not sufficient to improve the well-being of older youth. This report provides comprehensive data indicators and analysis on the state of older youth (age 12-24) in the District and examines the role of area nonprofits that work with young people, their families, and neighborhoods.

Introduction

The problems facing children and youth in the District of Columbia have never been more pressing than they are today. Poverty among families with children remains stubbornly high, and many young people live in families supported by a single parent. Youth violence and gang participation have become a growing concern in recent years. Young people are becoming sexually active at early ages, exposing them to risks of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. And the District's public education system, which ranks among the poorest performing urban school systems nationwide, has been plagued with inadequately maintained facilities and low student achievement.

The poor education of the District's children has emerged as a key area of concern, and Mayor Adrian Fenty has made public school reform a priority for his administration. The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), along with other District departments that focus on education, have changed significantly in Mayor Fenty's first term in office. Most notably, the D.C. Council passed the District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007, which, among other things, established DCPS as an agency under the mayor and transformed the former D.C. Board of Education into the D.C. State Board of Education; created and reorganized the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, the Office of Public Education Facilities. Modernization (OPFM), and the State Education Office (now called the Office of the State Superintendent of Education); and appointed a new DCPS chancellor to overhaul the public school system.

In addition, to tackle the broader issues affecting young people, Mayor Fenty's administration has built a mechanism to review how at-risk children and youth are served in D.C. The District of Columbia Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007 created the Interagency Collaboration and Services Integration Commission (ICSIC), headed by the Office of the Deputy Major for Education. ICSIC consists of 26 District agencies from education, public safety, justice, health, and human services; its overarching purpose is to create a forum where agencies can collaborate and coordinate to improve the lives of children and youth. ICSIC plans to use data to track how agencies are serving at-risk children and share resources to create cross-agency programs. ICSIC also intends to pilot early intervention initiatives with schools and other agencies.

ICSIC has six citywide goals for children and youth:

• Children Are Ready for School
• Children and Youth Live in Healthy, Stable, and Supportive Families
• Children and Youth Succeed in School
• Children and Youth Are Healthy and Practice Healthy Behaviors
• Children and Youth Are Engaged in Meaningful Activities
• Youth Make a Successful Transition to Adulthood

According to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, ICSIC has started implementing new programs to improve the lives of children. It has created an interagency memorandum of understanding for data sharing, implemented an interagency process for vetting out-of-school-time programs in DCPS schools, developed and piloted a school preparedness assessment, and increased the number of year-round youth employment slots for older youth.

While the progress made by ICSIC and the initial public school reforms have been laudable, these efforts have focused primarily on young school-age children. The District's older youth, who also deserve the city's focused attention, have been left out of many of these initiatives.

(End of excerpt. The entire report is available in PDF format.)

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