White House Office on Children and Youth Presented

White House Office on Children and Youth Presented to: Kennedy School February 4, 2009

Overview • The need • The proposal • The models • The progress © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

The need • The White House Task Force for Disadvantaged Youth identified 339 programs to serve children and youth administered across 12 departments • “The complexity of the problems faced by disadvantaged youth is matched only by the complexity of the traditional Federal response to those problems. Both are confusing, complicated, and costly. ” © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

Status Quo Education Health & Food • Public Schools • • ESEA, Title I • • School Lunch & Breakfast • • Head Start • IDEA • • After-School Programs • Textbook Funding • • Tests & Achievement • • Teacher Issues • • GED • Medi-Cal – EPSDT • • TANF Healthy Families Parent • GAIN, CAL Learn, Expansion Cal WORKS, etc. • Child Health & Disability Program • Expanded Access Primary Care • Trauma Case Funding Co-payments for ER Services • Child Lead Poisoning Prevention Program HIV/AIDS Prevention & • Education • Breast Cancer Screening • Food Stamps • WIC Mom © The Dad Forum for Youth Investment 2008 Child & Family Services Social Services 9 year old Child Care – CCDBG, SSBG, Cal WORKS Child Care, etc. After-School Programs – 21 st Century Learning Centers, etc. Promoting Safe & Stable Families Child Abuse & Neglect Programs Foster Care – Transition, Independent Living, Housing, etc. Adoption Assistance, Adoption Opportunities 5 year old Baby 1 1/2 Mental Health & Probation • School-Based MH Services for Medi. Cal Kids • Probation Officers in Schools • Cardenas-Schiff Legislation • Health Care Through Probation • Mental Health Evaluations • Juvenile Halls Boyfriend in trouble Children’s Services in LA County SOURCE: Margaret Mom’s sister Dunkle

The problem • No overall strategic plan • No overarching benchmarks and public accountability • No integrated approach to program quality • No high level youth voice © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

The proposal

White House Office on Children and Youth • Develop and oversee National Youth • • © The Strategy Oversee National Child and Youth Development Council House the National Youth Advisory Board Fund parallel state efforts $50 M/year ($40 to states) Forum for Youth Investment 2008

National Youth Strategy • Overarching goals and performance measures • Reports • Child and youth report card (indicators of well being) • Program availability (quality and quantity of youth services) • Child and youth budget (spending) • All disaggregated by age, race, gender, geographic distribution, population density, SES, etc. ) • Strategic plan (program and budget priorities) • Youth views and perspectives © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

National Child and Youth Development Council • Membership • Chaired by the President • All relevant Secretaries • 2 State Children’s Cabinet Directors • 3 NGO leaders • Duties • Assist in the development and implementation of the National Youth Strategy • Solicit advice from the National Youth Advisory Board © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

National Youth Advisory Board • 14 -24 year olds • Advise the President and senior government officials • Work in partnership with state and local youth advisory boards to solicit views from young people across the country • Prepare written input into each section of the National Youth Strategy © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

State funding • $40 M • State Youth Services Coordinating Entities and State Youth Advisory Boards • To develop and implement state versions of the National Youth Strategy • To empower State Youth Advisory Boards in the development and implementation of the strategy © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

The Models

Domestic Models • 24 members of State Children’s Cabinets and Councils Network • 12 members of State Youth Councils Network © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

Commonwealth of Nations’ Youth Charter • • © The (1) Form a national youth policy as a framework for all agencies and organizations; (2) Form a national action plan to achieve the policy; (3) Nominate a lead agency in government responsible for coordinating youth matters across government; (4) Create government machinery to achieve a coordinated and holistic government response (e. g. , inter-Ministerial committee); (5) Establish consultative and participatory mechanisms with young men and women; (6) Establish a youth affairs collaborative mechanism among government, non -government organizations, communities and youth; (7) Create an annual gender disaggregated youth budget, including the total contribution of government toward youth across all ministries; (8) Develop capacity-building mechanisms within the fields of training, development, professional networking and research. Forum for Youth Investment 2008

The Progress

Legislative Progress • In 2005, the House of Representatives passed the Federal Youth Coordination Act (FYCA; H. R. 856) by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 353 to 62 • It was later incorporated into the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (PL 109 -365) as Title VIII • First time funding for its implementation was included in the House FY 09 Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations bill • FYCA is up for reauthorization and has been introduced by Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) as H. R. 7004 © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

Executive branch progress • Web site: www. whitehouseofficeonchildrenandyouth. org • Letter to Obama signed by more than 90 of the country's leading child and youth organizations, more than 300 state and local government agencies and non-government organizations, and more than 1000 highly involved individuals signed on. • Outreach to transition team members • Continued outreach to senior administration officials © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008

For more information Thaddeus Ferber Program Director The Forum for Youth Investment thaddeus@forumfyi. org www. whitehouseofficeonchildrenandyouth. org www. forumfyi. org © The Forum for Youth Investment 2008