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.”
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Forum for Youth Investment 2008
Status Quo
Education
Health & Food
Child & Family
Services
Social Services
• 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
Child Care – CCDBG, SSBG,
Cal WORKS Child Care, etc.
After-School Programs – 21st
Century Learning Centers, etc.
Promoting Safe & Stable
Families
Child Abuse & Neglect
Programs
Foster Care – Transition,
Independent Living, Housing,
etc.
Adoption Assistance, Adoption
Opportunities
Mental Health &
Probation
• School-Based MH
Services for MediCal Kids
• Probation Officers
in Schools
• Cardenas-Schiff
Legislation
• Health Care
Through
Probation
• Mental Health
Evaluations
• Juvenile Halls
Boyfriend
in trouble
Mom
© The
Dad
Forum for Youth Investment 2008
9 year old
5 year old
Baby 1 1/2
Mom’s sister
Children’s
Services in LA
County
SOURCE:
Margaret Dunkle
The problem
• No overall strategic plan
• No overarching benchmarks and public
accountability
• No integrated approach to program quality
• No high level youth voice
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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
$50M/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
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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
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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
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Forum for Youth Investment 2008
State funding
• $40M
• 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
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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 FY09 Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations bill
• FYCA is up for reauthorization and has been introduced
by Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) as H.R. 7004
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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