HARTFORD, CT – Youth advocates, nonprofit leaders, and elected officials made an argument Thursday for greater investment from the state in line with recommendations detailed in the 119K Commission’s recent report to help disconnected youth.
The call to action occurred at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, where dozens of youth and the organizers of the programs that support them gathered to show how disconnected young people can be empowered to find success through caring, targeted action.
Jim Boucher, chief strategic officer at Capital Workforce Partners, said that the important steps were ensuring that young people had places to go where they could immediately receive assistance and guidance.
“We really have focused on no more waiting lists for young people [for critical social services],” Boucher said. “We’re looking at the need for employment, youth workforce programs and supports, things like apprenticeship, dual enrollment programs, quality jobs, and we’re really investing our time to ensure that there’s action taken, so there are no more waiting lists for workforce programs that we’re building innovative pilots, and the need for a greater local-regional collaboration, data sharing, career navigation, and a directory of services accessible to youth and assuring that capacity building is happening for organizations.”
Several of the young people who have been supported by programs targeted at reducing disconnection spoke about their experiences.
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