Some College, No Degree

By Katie Thomas, Project Associate

In today’s economy, postsecondary education is now more important than ever before, while at the same time being more expensive than ever before. However, today’s blog is not about highlighting the importance of higher educational attainment or about how it is a key contributor to an individual’s lifetime earnings and wellbeing, among various other factors. It’s also not about the increase in tuition expenses and college costs – I’ll save that for another day. It’s about the most expensive education – the one that doesn’t lead to a degree.

Of all the data that we analyze when examining a community’s workforce, the one indicator that always concerns me is the educational attainment of the population with some college, no degree. It’s a vague indicator about that portion of the population’s educational level, which leaves me frustrated and yearning for more information. Are those individuals still currently pursuing higher education? Did they attend a postsecondary institution to get training in an occupation that requires a certificate, and therefore they don’t need a degree for their career field? Or, is it that they dropped out of college? 

The last question is the one that worries me the most. Not only do I fear that they may have enrolled in higher education and dropped out, I worry about what that cost them. While it’s true that individuals drop out for a variety of reasons, whether it’s a personal reason, a financial constraint, or another reason, I worry about the student loans that they may have accrued during their time attending postsecondary institutions and about those individuals possibly defaulting on them because their education did not lead to that higher paying, higher quality job that they had imagined when they first enrolled. As the costs to attend college continue to increase, the importance of ensuring that individuals are adequately prepared to succeed at the university-level and that they receive a quality education continues to grow.

This week the U.S. Department of Education released “Fact Sheet: Focusing Higher Education on Student Success.” It reported the graduation rates (percentage of students that earn a four-year degree within six years or less) and the student loan default rate by state, and also separated the data based on public; private, non-profit; and private, for-profit colleges. Among many things, the report highlighted the growing importance of ensuring that schools are providing meaningful, high-quality degrees and education. 

Nationally, the graduation rate for students attending a four-year institution in 2013 was 55 percent, while the default rate was 12 percent. However, the graduation rates and default rates varied by state and by the type of institution. Here in Georgia, at private, for-profit colleges, the graduation rate was a mere 16 percent, while the default rate was nearly one-quarter of the cohort analyzed. That means that of the individuals in Georgia that attended a private, for-profit college and who entered repayment on their federal student loans in the 2010 fiscal year, 23 percent had defaulted by 2013. In Georgia overall, the graduation rate was 45 percent for public, private, and for-profit colleges combined, and they had a cohort default rate of 13 percent. 

When an individual takes that step and commits to increasing their education, they should be properly prepared, as well as assured that they will be receiving a valuable education that will afford them quality, future employment opportunities. Individuals working in education and career advisement need to be aware of these issues and to properly educate and prepare individuals for their career paths and future educational endeavors. Individuals that are the first person in their family to attend college, especially, are often those that least understand the whole process of attending a postsecondary institution – loan applications, interest rates, employment opportunities for specific majors, future earning potentials, etc. 

Not all degrees are equal and not all colleges provide the same quality education. Looking at the educational attainment of a community alone does not show the whole picture. Individuals on the ground in the community must try to figure out who the people are that have some college, no degree and if there is a disconnect in the information, quality, or affordability of higher education in their region. Not only will this aid those individuals in improving their prosperity and wellbeing, it will also improve the wealth of the region by having a higher quality workforce that can support future economic opportunities.

Mapping State Workforce Trends

By Ranada Robinson, Research Manager

I love maps because they are an easy way to illustrate data points. Lately, I’ve been very interested in various data indicators we use at Market Street to evaluate workforce strengths and weaknesses. Here are a few state data maps using 2013 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data that reveal some interesting findings. 

Because workforce sustainability is an emerging issue in the United States because of the impending retirements of Baby Boomers, in many communities, we take a look at the ratio of young professionals (25-44) to experienced professionals and those nearing retirement (45-64) to determine if there are currently enough young professionals to eventually replace those who retire. In some instances, we also take a look at these dynamics by occupation and/or business sector. In the following map, the states most at risk of not having a sustainable workforce are shown in yellow: Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. In these states, there are roughly only three young professionals for every four experienced professionals. The three states with the most sustainable workforces (highest levels of workers in the young professionals age range compared to those in experienced professionals) are Washington, D.C., Utah, and Texas. In D.C., the ratio is 1.62, meaning that there are nearly ten young professionals for every six experienced professional. 

Workforce Age Ratio, 2013 

In terms of migration, the population of communities is dependent on two factors: natural change (birth minus deaths) and net migration (in-migration minus out-migration). The demographics of residents moving in and out of states can significantly affect the workforce, particularly when net migration outpaces natural change. The next two maps illustrate the levels of educational attainment of residents moving into respective states. States (and communities) that can attract talent with higher educational attainment while also retaining educated talent are likely to be more competitive for knowledge-driven, higher-wage business sectors. The states with the largest percentages of in-migrants with bachelor’s degrees or higher are: Washington, D.C. (79.5 percent), Massachusetts (59.7 percent), New Jersey (55.5 percent), and New York (54 percent). The states with the lowest percentages of in-migrants with four-year college degrees are Mississippi (23.1 percent), West Virginia (23.2 percent), Arkansas (28.2 percent), and Idaho (28.4 percent). 

Percentage of In-Migrants with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher, 2013 

The states that attract high levels of in-migrants without a high school diploma are primarily in the South. The states with the largest percentages of in-migrants who likely need additional training are Mississippi (16.5 percent), Oklahoma (15.3 percent), New Mexico, Arkansas, Delaware, and Georgia (all 14.7 percent). The states with the lowest percentages are Vermont (2.8 percent), Hawaii (3.5 percent), Montana (3.6 percent), and Washington, D.C. (3.8 percent). 

Percentage of In-Migrants with No High School Diploma, 2013 

I also took a look at adult educational attainment for all residents by gender. Interestingly, the bachelor’s degree-plus maps for women and men look very similar with the exception of just Vermont. 

Percentage of Women aged 25+ with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher 

Percentage of Men aged 25+ with a Bachelor’s Degree or Higher 

There are actually 32 states where there are a larger percentage of adult women with a bachelor’s degree or higher than their male counterparts. In the following map, states where women have higher percentages of higher educational attainment are shaded yellow, and states where men have higher percentages of higher educational attainment are shaded blue. In Vermont, women lead in the percentage of attainment of bachelor’s-plus by 8.3 percentage points, and in Alaska, by 6.5 percentage points. In Utah, men lead by 4.6 percentage points, and in D.C., 2.8 percentage points. 

Percentage Point Difference of Bachelor’s Degree or Higher Attainment between Women and Men 

On the other end of the spectrum, the story is very different. In all states except Hawaii, women have lower percentages of not having a high school diploma than men. This is an important observation in understanding workforce and occupational dynamics and educational trends. Communities can match this set of indicators to occupational data that reveals male-heavy (or woman-heavy) occupations that may require certifications or experience rather than educational attainment. It can also be paired with school system dropout data to help steer students into trades that may help them overcome the odds that come with not having a high school diploma. 

Percentage of Women aged 25+ with no high school diploma, 2013 

Percentage of Men aged 25+ with no high school diploma, 2013 

As you can see, there are many publicly available data indicators that can be helpful in understanding workforce dynamics. Additional indicators include wage data, educational attainment by race and ethnicity data, and graduation rates by gender or race and ethnicity. Because talent is so important in today’s economic development environment, analyzing a community’s workforce strengths and weaknesses can be the key to gaining competitive advantage.

Growing Quickly into Decline

By Alex Pearlstein, Vice President

I was in a community this week that is experiencing an interesting phenomenon: too much success. More specifically, too many small-lot, low-to-mid price point single-family homes being constructed than are fiscally sustainable. As can be imagined, this community is a fast-growing suburb of a fast-growing metro area. Schools are good, crime is low, retail is plentiful, so the steady march of new residents heading for this community shows no sign of abating. 

Unfortunately, government staff now estimates that for every newly constructed housing unit the community runs an $80,000 deficit for provision and maintenance of infrastructure and services. On top of that, some of the area’s older subdivisions (circa the 1960s and 70s) are starting to see their infrastructure fail. Strong Towns has written extensively and convincingly about this phenomenon, but it is striking to see it play out so clearly in reality. As could also be predicted – and is far from unique in commuter suburbs – the general public and elected officials are vehemently opposed to new multi-family development; in fact, there’s a moratorium on this type of product. Transit is also a dirty word here. Moreover, investing public dollars for talent-attracting/retaining amenities such as parks, paths, arts, beautification, event spaces, festivals, etc., gets short shrift when needs are so great for new roads, schools, water and wastewater infrastructure, police and fire personnel, etc. 

Despite increasingly dire fiscal projections, elected officials continue to show distaste for raising taxes; meanwhile, local government has been cut almost to the bone to remain solvent. Unsurprisingly, the community is thinking about strategies to become more fiscally sustainable. One way to accomplish this is to attract and create better jobs. Another is to engineer the development of higher-value housing. Backroom discussions on increasing minimum lot sizes for new development are starting to creep into the open. 

Some in the community are dubious that even downzoning properties reserved for residential will have the desired effect of luring investment in higher-priced housing. “We’ve already gone too far down that path and established a reputation as an entry-level community,” some argue. If developers thought there was a market for higher-cost homes they would have built them already. Others note that lot and/or home size is no guarantee that a desired price point will be realized. Value is largely determined by (wait for it…) location, location, location. In fact, one local developer of a higher-end subdivision was reportedly disappointed in the average sales price he received for his larger units. 

The situation in this community is being played out in hundreds if not thousands of similar suburbs in fast-growing metro areas. There is no guarantee that they’ll one day go the way of Ferguson, Missouri, but the likelihood of this scenario is greater if unsustainable development trends are not reversed. Unfortunately, the longer a community grows unsustainably, the harder it is to change minds and policies to pivot in new directions. Especially if we’re talking about increased density, mixed-use development, transit, road diets, and other bugaboos foisted on populations that self-selected suburban environments. 

Above all, making smart and sustainable choices comes down to leadership and vision; often, they go hand in hand. Realistically, however, leaders represent the values and viewpoints of the population that elects them, so you get situations where the blind are leading the blind. In other words, we’ve got some trainwrecks coming – and fast. Strong Towns is battling hard, but growth patterns are so established and mentalities so steadfast in their certitude, that it might not be a fair fight.

Gay Marriage, Economic Development, and The Case for Inclusive Communities

By Ryan Regan, Project Associate

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court handed down an historic 5-to-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. It is most appropriate and perhaps serendipitous that this long-sought victory for the gay rights movement in the United States was delivered during LGBT Pride Month and just days before the 46th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York. The morality of same-sex marriage has been and will be debated ad nauseam, but this blog post isn’t meant to wade into those waters. Instead, the purpose of this post is to make the case that tolerant, open, and inclusive communities are a step ahead of their peers in competing for jobs and talent in the 21st century. 

Dr. Richard Florida is a noted American urban studies theorist who is most well-known for his research around the “Creative Class,” a phrase he coined to describe the knowledge-based workers that he posited would be key to economic prosperity in a post-industrial world. Florida argues that the “three t’s” – talent, technology, and tolerance – are necessary foundational principles that communities must embrace in order to remain competitive in a new economy that is increasingly tied to high-tech sectors. 

The idea around the tolerance part of the equation is that talented knowledge workers who are driving the new economy are increasingly young, diverse, and tolerant, and these workers desire to live and work in communities that are accepting of their open-mindedness. When laid out that way, the tie between community economic development and marriage equality is quite clear, and I am not the only one who has noticed this before. 

While serving as governor of Rhode Island, recent 2016 presidential race entrant, Lincoln Chafee (D-RI), signed the Marriage Equality Act into law in 2013 in part on the basis that the legislation would bring economic development benefits to the state. His op-ed to the New York Times from 2013 cited Richard Florida’s “three t’s,” and Chafee went on to further state: “The talented workers who are driving the new economy — young, educated and forward-looking — want to live in a place that reflects their values. They want diversity, not simply out of a sense of justice, but because diversity makes life more fun. Why would any state turn away the people who are most likely to create the economies of the 21st century?” 

The business community understands the tie between diversity and inclusion and recruiting a talented workforce. As a whole, the business community has been unequivocal in their support for marriage equality. There were 379 corporations and employer organizations to sign on to an employers’ amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging the court to strike down state bans on gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges. Chambers of commerce from Durham to San Antonio to Seattle and plenty of places in between have since lauded the Supreme Court’s ruling. Recall that earlier this year major employers in Indiana along with the Indianapolis Chamber and the Indiana Chamber were vocal in their opposition to the original version of a controversial “religious freedom” bill that some argued could lead to discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community. 

Communities that have embraced public policies that value diversity & inclusion, including gay-friendly policies, are flourishing throughout the country and that is no coincidence. San Francisco and Austin are arguably the most gay-friendly cities in the country, and they check in at #1 and #2 respectively on the Milken Institute’s 2014 List of Best-Performing Cities. San Francisco is home to the Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA), the nation’s first LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and the Austin Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is noteworthy in its own right, boasting over 350 members and over 10,000 “likes” on the Chamber’s Facebook page. Forward-thinking cities like San Francisco and Austin understand the value of opening their community’s doors to the types of workers that will be key to maintaining economic competitiveness in the 21st century. 

Communities looking to remain competitive for talented workers and high-quality jobs need to be mindful about how the country’s evolving diversity affects their local community economic development strategies. Consider the fact that more than one-in-three American workers are Millennials (ages 18-34) and this generation recently surpassed Gen Xers (ages 35-50) as the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, according to a Pew Research Center study released earlier this year. Millennials are not just more racially diverse than all other generations, but perhaps more importantly, they embrace diversity and inclusion in a manner that transcends all other generations before them. Pew Research Center data from just last month noted that 73 percent of Millennials support same-sex marriage – by far the highest percentage of all U.S. generations. It is these workers who will define the U.S. economy for the foreseeable future. Communities looking to attract these young, bright minds have to be cognizant of the open-minded social values that this generation embraces. 

The only constant in life is change, and this mindset is beneficial to keep in mind across all walks of life, including the work we do at Market Street. The country continues to change and so too must your community’s approach to community economic development.

A Nation of Renters?

By Stephanie Allen, Project Assistant

It has been a while since we talked in depth about the housing market on this blog—about 3 years and 5 months, if you’re counting. Back then, way back in early 2012, we were all wondering when the market would hit bottom. Economists kept saying the economy wouldn’t recover until the housing market did and home prices just kept falling. 

Now, home sales are at a five and a half year high, according to Reuters. But, that’s not the big news. The big news is that homeownership fell for the eighth straight year and is now at a 20 year low, according to a report published last week by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. 

More people are renting than ever and vacancy rates for rentals are the lowest they’ve been since the mid-1990s. 

Millennials are taking the majority of the blame for the dropping homeownership rates, though it seems to be Gen-Xers who aren’t buying. Homeownership rates among 35-54 year-olds have dropped more since 1993 than among any other age group. Among 35-39 year-olds, there’s been a 10% drop in just the last 10 years. 

But, it isn’t just the young people who aren’t buying that are driving homeownership rates down. It’s also the 45-64 set who’ve traded owing for renting after waves of foreclosures and profitable seller’s markets. Households aged 45-64 accounted for almost twice the share or renter growth as households under the age of 35. 

So, everybody’s renting more. Eight years of stagnant wages, pay cuts, a minimum wage that was more than a dollar higher an hour (in terms of real purchasing power) in 1968 than today, and mountains of student debt accumulated by X-ers and Millennials alike make saving enough for a down payment difficult, especially in this post-housing-market-bust economy where lenders are pretty tight fisted. 

In areas with booming economies, saving for a down payment might not be a problem, but that’s not enough to buy. In markets like Boston, Denver, San Francisco, San Jose, Dallas, even Los Angeles, buying a house means facing some stiff competition and winning the bidding war usually requires ponying up a lot more cash than 20% and paying significantly more than asking. Check out some of these housing market horror stories. 

And, renting is getting pretty expensive too. According to Zillow, rents were up 4% over last year in April—outpacing a 3% uptick in home prices over the same period. In hard hit places like San Jose, San Francisco, and Denver, rents are up more than 10% since last year. In the San Francisco region, and 16 other metro areas nationwide, more than one in four low- and moderate-income households spend half or more of their income on rent. Nationwide, roughly half of all renters pay more than 30% of their income in rent. Paying so much in rent makes saving for a down payment difficult. 

And, according to the experts at Zillow (quoted here), this rental affordability crisis is here to stay and it’ll probably get worse before it gets better. If it’s true that high rents are contributing to low homeownership rates, it means we may see homeownership rates drop even further, at least in the near future. 

Let’s jump back to 2012. Back then, economists were saying the economy wouldn’t recover until the housing market did. And that had a number of people, including me, questioning the role of homeownership in our society/economy. Here’s a quote from my 2012 blog post: 

“To be sure, homeownership is part of the American dream, but bad policy and lack of oversight has turned that dream into a millstone around our necks. Is it possible to reconceive that dream? What would an America with a lot more renters look like? Would it spur a move away from the suburbs to central cities? Would it free us up to invest our money in other sectors of the economy? How might a move to a more renter-heavy society change the way we do economic development? “ 

Fast forward three and a half years. Homeownership seems to have held on as an integral part of the American dream, at least thus far, but for now you might have to settle for renting that white picket fence (if you can afford it). 

This is what an America with a lot more renters looks like and the coming years will likely see even more. While at first it seemed cities had a lock on growth and were drawing people away from the suburbs, last year we saw the gap between urban and suburban growth narrowing. TIME magazine reported that it could indicate a return to more traditional patterns of city-suburban growth. Renting has most certainly not freed us up to invest our would-be down payments in other sectors of the economy—it’s costing us a fortune. 

How might the move to a more renter-heavy society change the way we do economic development? In 2012, that question called for some imaginative speculation. Today, the question is pressing. How can we change our thinking in order to deal with the reality that we are a growing nation of renters?

Big Changes in Metro Atlanta’s Demographics Are Reflected in Its Schools

By Matt DeVeau, Project Manager

In many ways, Metro Atlanta is emblematic of the fundamental demographic and socioeconomic shifts occurring in the United States. Last month, the Pew Research Center released an analysis showing that 78 counties in 19 states transitioned to “majority-minority between 2000 and 2013. Of the five counties that experienced the biggest proportional declines in non-Hispanic white population, four were in the Atlanta region. And on the topic of rapidly rising suburban poverty, Metro Atlanta is often utilized as the poster child: in the past two years, prominent national and international publications such as The Atlantic, The Economist, and Politico have led trendpieces on the topic with anecdotes from Cobb and Gwinnett counties, the two most populous suburban jurisdictions in the region. These changes have profound implications both locally and nationally, and as a Metro Atlanta resident who thinks about community and economic development for a living, they are never too far from my mind. 

Yet I still found myself surprised at a recent snapshot of radical changes in the racial and ethnic makeup of the region’s school systems. The Atlanta Regional Commission, the metropolitan planning organization for a 10-county footprint inside a larger MSA, posted to its research microblog an analysis showing enrollment changes from 2000 to 2014 at the 15 public school districts within its service area. The post is brief and well worth checking out, but the upshot is this: the types of changes occurring (minority enrollment up overall, white enrollment down in most places) are to be expected, but the degree to which they are occurring is astounding. 

For instance, in a region with just shy of 780,000 students as of October of last year, Hispanic enrollment had grown by more than 100,000 students between 2000 and 2014, with every district posting a gain. Meanwhile, the white population had declined by more than 45,000. A handful of individual districts experienced especially dramatic shifts. As shown in the following graphic, the proportion of white students in Rockdale County declined by 51 percentage points while its share of black students grew by more than 40 percentage points. Proportional declines in white enrollment in excess of 40 percent also occurred in Douglas and Henry counties, while the share of Hispanic students in Gwinnett County increased from 10 percent in 2000 to 28 percent in 2014. (Not coincidentally, Douglas, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale were the four metro counties identified in the aforementioned Pew Research Center analysis.) 

School System Composition Change: Percentage-Point Change in Enrollment, by Race/Ethnicity, 2000-2014 

Source: Atlanta Regional Commission 

White enrollment grew in just five districts, and these generally fall into two distinct categories – urban and quasi-exurban: the school districts for Atlanta and Decatur (a small city approximately five miles east of the region’s center) are urban areas that have experienced rapid gentrification in recent years, while the Cherokee and Forsyth districts cover areas far from the region’s core that had their development booms much later than the suburban counties closest to Atlanta.* To be clear, those four districts on aggregate still have 22,506 fewer white students than the combination of Cobb and Gwinnett. But it’s not an oversimplification to say that in the new millennium, white populations with school-aged children have grown in the region’s center and on portions of its periphery and decreased everywhere else.** And while all districts have diversified in one way or another, the change has been most profound in suburban districts that were mostly white just 15 years ago. 

My guess is that the story is similar in many other parts of the country – that Metro Atlanta is once again a microcosm of the whole. If that’s true, K-12 districts are already faced with a set of evolving challenges and opportunities. Community and economic developers with a vested interest and a strong and thriving talent development pipeline must take note. 

* Located at the region’s northwest edge, Buford is something of a hybrid between small town and far suburb that has historically had its own district apart from Gwinnett County Public Schools. 

** Interestingly, the trend has been titled more toward the core since the onset of the Great Recession. According to the full dataset from the Georgia Department of Education, Cherokee and Forsyth schools added a combined 13,737 white students between 2000 and 2007, compared to just 1,151 in Atlanta and Decatur. But between 2007 and 2014, things have practically been even, with the urban districts adding 4,065 white students compared to 4,608 in Cherokee and Forsyth.

Talent Development through Volunteer Opportunities and Civic Engagement

By Katie Thomas, Project Associate

Measure of America, a Project of the Social Science Research council, released a report last week on disconnected youth in the United States titled, "Zeroing in on Place and Race." Disconnected youth are defined as individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 that are not in school or working. The report found that 13.8 percent of individuals within the age group were disconnected, which adds up to roughly 5.5 million teenagers and young adults. In some metro areas the percentage of disconnected youth in the community topped 20 percent. One out of every five teenagers and young adults in the community were not working or in school. 

Individuals that are disconnected in their youth are more likely to be living in poverty, to be unemployed in adulthood, and to have higher incarceration rates, among other negative outcomes. Their situation sets them behind their peers, decreases their chances of success and self-sufficiency, and has long term implications on the community as a whole with outcomes such as cycles of multi-generational poverty. Additionally, disconnected youth are costing the nation billions of dollars in social assistance, medical care, incarceration expenses, and likewise, lost tax revenue, wages, income, and productivity. Measure of America estimated that the direct cost to taxpayers was $26.8 billion in 2013. 

Disconnected Youth Infographic 

Source: Measure of America 

So, what can be done to decrease the number of disconnected teenagers and young adults? Well, there are several strategies that communities can take to engage their disconnected residents, and one option is to get them to volunteer. Opportunity Nation and Measure of America found that volunteerism, group membership, and civic engagement have a positive impact on economic opportunities, upward mobility, and outcomes for the individual and the community. The likelihood of low-income youth to be disconnected if they do not volunteer was 19.3 percent for whites, 27.7 percent for blacks, and 20.9 percent for Hispanics; the likelihood of disconnection with volunteerism drops to 11.9 percent in whites, 17.8 percent in blacks, and 13.0 percent in Hispanics. 

The Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress, is a $50 million initiative to expand economic opportunities for 100,000 low-income youth in 10 major U.S. cities. One initiative is Service-Works, which partners with AmeriCorps VISTAS and Points of Light. Its strategy is to use volunteerism and civic engagement to develop soft skills, gain leadership experience, and prepare low-income youth for college and career success. Their study found that youth engaged in volunteering are half as likely to be disconnected compared to teenagers and young adults that do not volunteer. 

In order to have a prosperous community, residents must be given the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and move up the social and economic ladder. Volunteering offers valuable experiences and important opportunities to develop and foster the necessary skills to succeed. Further, civic engagement encourages them to invest early-on at improving their community. The people in a community are its biggest assets, and with the trend of companies moving to where a qualified talent pipeline is available, a strong workforce and community is necessary to compete on the national level for jobs, workers, and residents. Nationally, it is important that individuals are afforded the same opportunities to succeed, regardless of race, ethnicity, or where they grow up. 

If we fail to provide these opportunities, we will waste one of our greatest assets and lose out on the productivity and prosperity that could come from these individuals, given the right tools and talent development. Reaching the disconnected youth of your community and reengaging them is important to creating a sustainable, quality workforce and a strong, health community and economy. Increasing civic engagement and volunteerism, alone, will only be a part of the solution, but it is one step that can be taken to at least alleviate some of the problem and provide opportunities for some of the millions of disconnected youth. 

To see what percentage of youth in your metropolitan area are not in school and not working, you can find the report at http://www.measureofamerica.org/youth-disconnection-2015/.