The Youth Policy Action Center’s (YPAC) co-founding partner, Mobilize.org, recently launched the second annual Democracy 2.0 Survey. The survey was designed by Millennials to find out what the Millennial Generation thinks about the economy, technology, democracy and their government. It also looks at the way you think about yourself in this democracy at the transition to a new government.
This national survey, Democracy 2.0: An Annual Survey of the Millennial Generation, is being taken by thousands of young Millennials on the ground and online across the nation. If you were born between 1978-2008, your response is very important as Mobilize.org begins their 2009 campaign to upgrade the way our democracy works to Democracy 2.0. If you were born prior to 1978, please pass this along to a Millennial friend, co-worker, child, or relative.
Go here for the survey:
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Starting Off on the Right Foot
Starting Off on the Right Foot
High School Career Academies Boost Earnings and Independence
It might be surprising to many, but today, only about one-fourth of Americans over age 18 have a college degree. Among young adults age 18-34, only 16 percent have a BA. Another 7 percent have an Associate’s degree.
As a nation, we do a very good job of instilling the value of college. We do less well in preparing our high schoolers (at home and in school) for the rigors of college. Go to nearly any high school today and you’ll find many students who see college in their future. However, the majority of those will be derailed along the way. Even among those who make it to a four-year college, only about one-half of those finish.
So what happens to those who don’t make it? In short, many flounder in low-wage jobs. Others sink. In 2000, 14 percent—3.7 million—of all young adults aged 18 to 24 were neither enrolled in school, employed, or in the military, nor had a high school degree or GED.
Young persons who flounder on the path to adulthood risk becoming disconnected from those “institutions” that shape our lives: work, school, and family. At-risk young adults who lack the credentials to land a decent job struggle to find employment, often giving up in discouragement. Without a job, they find it hard to start a family. Pretty soon, they are adrift.
But a new study by MDRC finds promise in high school career academies for preventing this drift. Career Academies are high school programs that, in addition to regular academics, offer students an option to specialize in a field, whether that be culinary arts, accounting, nursing, or others. Many high schools across the country offer these academies, right within the high school walls.
MDRC recently evaluated several career academies in a rigorous study that used the gold-standard of research designs, random assignment. Like drug trial studies, this study created a control group of students in the same high schools and compared them with those enrolled in the career academies on such things as average earnings after high school, intensity of work, and wages, higher education, single parenthood, marriage, and whether they were able to live on their own. The high schools were in pretty tough neighborhoods in inner cities. MDRC researchers followed students for eight years.
The results are pretty amazing.
Earnings for those who completed the program in a career academy earned about $2,100 ore per year than their classmates—or about $17,000 over eight years. Much of these earnings gains were driven by their ability to land secure jobs: they worked more months and longer hours each week than others. They also earned a higher hourly wage. And these earnings gains were not coming at the expense of post-high-school education or training. Those in career academies were just as likely to go on to some form of postsecondary school.
Young men—often most at risk for becoming disconnected—did particularly well. They earned about $30,000 more over eight years than their peers from the same high school.
These higher earnings and job stability may be one reason that more of those from career academies were also doing better on the home front. There is nothing like a solid wage and a steady job to make you feel secure in your future.
Eight years after high school, significantly more from career academies were married and fewer were single. More were custodial parents and fewer were single parents. And more were living independently from their parents.
Most social programs rarely see impacts this large.
High School Career Academies Boost Earnings and Independence
It might be surprising to many, but today, only about one-fourth of Americans over age 18 have a college degree. Among young adults age 18-34, only 16 percent have a BA. Another 7 percent have an Associate’s degree.
As a nation, we do a very good job of instilling the value of college. We do less well in preparing our high schoolers (at home and in school) for the rigors of college. Go to nearly any high school today and you’ll find many students who see college in their future. However, the majority of those will be derailed along the way. Even among those who make it to a four-year college, only about one-half of those finish.
So what happens to those who don’t make it? In short, many flounder in low-wage jobs. Others sink. In 2000, 14 percent—3.7 million—of all young adults aged 18 to 24 were neither enrolled in school, employed, or in the military, nor had a high school degree or GED.
Young persons who flounder on the path to adulthood risk becoming disconnected from those “institutions” that shape our lives: work, school, and family. At-risk young adults who lack the credentials to land a decent job struggle to find employment, often giving up in discouragement. Without a job, they find it hard to start a family. Pretty soon, they are adrift.
But a new study by MDRC finds promise in high school career academies for preventing this drift. Career Academies are high school programs that, in addition to regular academics, offer students an option to specialize in a field, whether that be culinary arts, accounting, nursing, or others. Many high schools across the country offer these academies, right within the high school walls.
MDRC recently evaluated several career academies in a rigorous study that used the gold-standard of research designs, random assignment. Like drug trial studies, this study created a control group of students in the same high schools and compared them with those enrolled in the career academies on such things as average earnings after high school, intensity of work, and wages, higher education, single parenthood, marriage, and whether they were able to live on their own. The high schools were in pretty tough neighborhoods in inner cities. MDRC researchers followed students for eight years.
The results are pretty amazing.
Earnings for those who completed the program in a career academy earned about $2,100 ore per year than their classmates—or about $17,000 over eight years. Much of these earnings gains were driven by their ability to land secure jobs: they worked more months and longer hours each week than others. They also earned a higher hourly wage. And these earnings gains were not coming at the expense of post-high-school education or training. Those in career academies were just as likely to go on to some form of postsecondary school.
Young men—often most at risk for becoming disconnected—did particularly well. They earned about $30,000 more over eight years than their peers from the same high school.
These higher earnings and job stability may be one reason that more of those from career academies were also doing better on the home front. There is nothing like a solid wage and a steady job to make you feel secure in your future.
Eight years after high school, significantly more from career academies were married and fewer were single. More were custodial parents and fewer were single parents. And more were living independently from their parents.
Most social programs rarely see impacts this large.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
C-Span Interview on Youth Vote
Network member Connie Flanagan and PhD student Amy Syvertsen recently discussed young adults and politics on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. Listen here.
Connie and Amy discussed recent findings on the youth vote, community service, and other forms of civic participation. The bad news is that conventional acts, like giving money to politicians, writing to your Congressman, are down among young adults. The good news is that community services is climbing. Another bit of good news is the strong uptick in voter registration among youth. Since 2004, we've seen steady gains in youth participation-- even in the 2006 midterm elections. In Pennsylvania, youth make up 9% of total registered voters, or 8.3 million potential voters.
The rise in community service could also be a good harbinger because the strongest predictor of voting and being involved is simply being there. Being in a 4H group or being on a college campus or in a church group sparks interest and "hooks" young adults. If other people are doing it, you pay attention and want to join in. Participation then becomes a habit.
One worrisome finding is the sharp divides in participation by education. Young people who do not go to college are far less likely to vote, volunteer, or be involved actively in their community.
You can read more of Connie's work here and here.
---B. Ray
Connie and Amy discussed recent findings on the youth vote, community service, and other forms of civic participation. The bad news is that conventional acts, like giving money to politicians, writing to your Congressman, are down among young adults. The good news is that community services is climbing. Another bit of good news is the strong uptick in voter registration among youth. Since 2004, we've seen steady gains in youth participation-- even in the 2006 midterm elections. In Pennsylvania, youth make up 9% of total registered voters, or 8.3 million potential voters.
The rise in community service could also be a good harbinger because the strongest predictor of voting and being involved is simply being there. Being in a 4H group or being on a college campus or in a church group sparks interest and "hooks" young adults. If other people are doing it, you pay attention and want to join in. Participation then becomes a habit.
One worrisome finding is the sharp divides in participation by education. Young people who do not go to college are far less likely to vote, volunteer, or be involved actively in their community.
You can read more of Connie's work here and here.
---B. Ray
Young Adults and Volunteering
“Volunteering absolutely makes a difference. Whether you're volunteering as a tutor at
school, or like me, as a Boy Scout leader, or whether you're volunteering to read to somebody in a nursing home, it affects people's lives. And it makes your life more
fulfilling. It makes you have a good feeling, which probably makes you a happier person, which probably makes you better to be around.”
Tom was a 29-year-old computer analyst living in St Paul when the Network interviewed him a few years ago. Although he holds a full-time job, three times a week he teaches swimming to youth at the community center in the neighborhood where he grew up. He also sits on the planning board of the local Boy Scouts organization, which meets once a week. Tom started volunteering for both these programs when he was 18.
Americans are a nation of volunteers, but some have raised concerns that young adults today aren’t doing their part. The “me” generation is too cynical, too isolated behind their computers, or too selfish to pitch in, some say. Others see their volunteering as just a way to pad resumes for college applications.
Solid numbers are hard to come by, but it appears that the skeptics are being challenged. Young adults who started volunteering in high school, often to fulfill their “service learning” requirement, are continuing to pitch in during college. Volunteering by college students is growing at twice the rate of all other volunteering, according to a recent report by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Obama campaign, and the Howard Dean campaign before it, have shown that youth do get involved in politics.
Yet, we still know relatively little about why young adults get involved, and more important, how—through which channels, which approaches speak to youth, and what keeps them interested. One thing is clear. Youth like Tom who start early in life are much more likely to become life-time volunteers. What is less clear is how institutions and organizations can hook that interest early and sustain it.
The Network recently opened the topic up for discussion at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research on Adolescence. Psychologists from Germany, Chile, Switzerland, and the United States spent the morning discussing how and why young adults volunteer, its effects on their well-being, and how the field can work to better understand their efforts and the benefits of civic participation both to society and to individuals.
“I think volunteering can be frustrating at times. People don't appreciate what you're doing,” said Tom. “But I think it's meaningful, especially if you're working with young people like I do. You make their lives, hopefully, one little bit better each week. And it makes your community better.”
In an existential sense, being a part of something bigger gives us meaning, it helps to shape our ideas of who we are and how we fit into the world. The need to matter remains central to the human condition. Perhaps modern society—paradoxically more connected technologically than ever before—is piquing our need as humans to matter and stand up and be counted. Down with anomie, up with people. After a few decades of rising materialism, disenchantment, distrust, and misanthropy among young adults, perhaps the reaction has begun.
school, or like me, as a Boy Scout leader, or whether you're volunteering to read to somebody in a nursing home, it affects people's lives. And it makes your life more
fulfilling. It makes you have a good feeling, which probably makes you a happier person, which probably makes you better to be around.”
Tom was a 29-year-old computer analyst living in St Paul when the Network interviewed him a few years ago. Although he holds a full-time job, three times a week he teaches swimming to youth at the community center in the neighborhood where he grew up. He also sits on the planning board of the local Boy Scouts organization, which meets once a week. Tom started volunteering for both these programs when he was 18.
Americans are a nation of volunteers, but some have raised concerns that young adults today aren’t doing their part. The “me” generation is too cynical, too isolated behind their computers, or too selfish to pitch in, some say. Others see their volunteering as just a way to pad resumes for college applications.
Solid numbers are hard to come by, but it appears that the skeptics are being challenged. Young adults who started volunteering in high school, often to fulfill their “service learning” requirement, are continuing to pitch in during college. Volunteering by college students is growing at twice the rate of all other volunteering, according to a recent report by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Obama campaign, and the Howard Dean campaign before it, have shown that youth do get involved in politics.
Yet, we still know relatively little about why young adults get involved, and more important, how—through which channels, which approaches speak to youth, and what keeps them interested. One thing is clear. Youth like Tom who start early in life are much more likely to become life-time volunteers. What is less clear is how institutions and organizations can hook that interest early and sustain it.
The Network recently opened the topic up for discussion at the biennial meetings of the Society for Research on Adolescence. Psychologists from Germany, Chile, Switzerland, and the United States spent the morning discussing how and why young adults volunteer, its effects on their well-being, and how the field can work to better understand their efforts and the benefits of civic participation both to society and to individuals.
“I think volunteering can be frustrating at times. People don't appreciate what you're doing,” said Tom. “But I think it's meaningful, especially if you're working with young people like I do. You make their lives, hopefully, one little bit better each week. And it makes your community better.”
In an existential sense, being a part of something bigger gives us meaning, it helps to shape our ideas of who we are and how we fit into the world. The need to matter remains central to the human condition. Perhaps modern society—paradoxically more connected technologically than ever before—is piquing our need as humans to matter and stand up and be counted. Down with anomie, up with people. After a few decades of rising materialism, disenchantment, distrust, and misanthropy among young adults, perhaps the reaction has begun.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Youth Vote-- Will They?
I sat talking politics with a friend last night and he was certain that all the excitement among young adults about politics (mainly following Obama) would all fizzle in the end. “They talk a good game but they don’t get off their duffs and vote,” he said.
A couple of recent studies by CIRCLE, a research group studying civic participation, might signal a shift.
In the mid-term elections in 2006, turnout among 18-29-year-olds increased for the second major election in a row, growing to approximately 24 percent, up at least 2 points over 2002 levels,
“Young people led the way in this election. While voter turnout overall grew only slightly, youth turnout rose substantially,” said Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE. “Young voters have witnessed the largest increase in support of Democratic congressional candidates since 2000—nine percentage points. Their shift in voting behavior and their increased turnout clearly had an effect on the 2006 election results.” [go here for the full report]
In another study by CIRCLE, college students are apparently “hungry for political conversation that is authentic, involves diverse views and is free of manipulation and ‘spin,’” The report follows up on a 1993 study published that found students considered politics “irrelevant” to their lives and they saw little purpose in actively participating in politics.
So, what do you think. Will young adults vote?
A couple of recent studies by CIRCLE, a research group studying civic participation, might signal a shift.
In the mid-term elections in 2006, turnout among 18-29-year-olds increased for the second major election in a row, growing to approximately 24 percent, up at least 2 points over 2002 levels,
“Young people led the way in this election. While voter turnout overall grew only slightly, youth turnout rose substantially,” said Peter Levine, director of CIRCLE. “Young voters have witnessed the largest increase in support of Democratic congressional candidates since 2000—nine percentage points. Their shift in voting behavior and their increased turnout clearly had an effect on the 2006 election results.” [go here for the full report]
In another study by CIRCLE, college students are apparently “hungry for political conversation that is authentic, involves diverse views and is free of manipulation and ‘spin,’” The report follows up on a 1993 study published that found students considered politics “irrelevant” to their lives and they saw little purpose in actively participating in politics.
So, what do you think. Will young adults vote?
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