#Pathways2Success for Systems-Involved Youth Twitter Chat

#Pathways2Success for Systems-Involved Youth Twitter Chat
Virtual via Twitter

At present, there are nearly 425,000 youth in foster care and 50,000 youth in the juvenile justice system. Due to many precipitating factors, a vast majority of systems-involved youth struggle with education and workforce barriers that hinder their path to successfully transition to adulthood, college, and careers. This twitter chat comes on the heels of a recent AYPF convening in which thought leaders across policy, practice, and research devised and discussed ways to best prepare our young people involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems for their next steps in workforce and education.

Partner organizations joined AYPF via Twitter on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 to continue this important conversation by sharing resources, highlighting successful programs and best practices, and identifying ways to develop and align policies to better support systems-involved youth. Search #Pathways2Success to view the virtual conversation!

What: #Pathways2Success for Systems-Involved Youth
Date: Thursday, September 27, 2018
Where: On Twitter with hashtag #Pathways2Success
Host: @AYPF_Tweets
Format: Q&A style, a new question being issued every 6-7 minutes.

Below are the questions that guided the virtual discussion:

  1. What are some of the key barriers that youth involved in foster care and juvenile justice system face when seeking employment and post-secondary education?
  2. What are some best practices that you are using that has led to success for systems-involved youth?
  3. What can H.S. and colleges do to better serve systems-involved youth?
  4. What can employers and business leaders do to help support systems-involved youth?
  5. How can the field empower and encourage systems-involved youth to become more involved in policy conversations about improving their workforce and education outcomes?
  6. What are some resources, including reports, websites, databases etc. that you would like to share that provide useful information pertaining to systems-involved youth?
  7. What tools and resources do you think are missing that would be helpful for practitioners and policymakers to have when considering ways to improve outcomes for systems-involved youth?
  8. During our July discussion group extending foster care until age 21 for all states was one area of consensus among participants. What are other policy actions to consider for youth “aging out” of foster care?
  9. “Ban the Box”/“Beyond the Box” efforts focused on asking colleges to remove questions about prior criminal history have gained federal & state attention as a positive next step for reentry. What other changes should be considered for justice-involved youth?
  10. Despite the many changes that can be made to better support systems-involved youth, there is amazing work going on across the country by passionate and dedicated people. Which programs would you like to shout out? Tag them!

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The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional development organization based in Washington, DC, provides learning opportunities for policy leaders, practitioners, and researchers working on youth and education issues at the national, state, and local levels. AYPF events and publications are made possible by contributions from philanthropic foundations. For a complete list, click here.