Report: Youth Need More Support to Ensure Sacramento Area’s Future

Young people in the Sacramento area will not reach their full potential unless drastic improvements are made in education, health, job opportunities and civic participation.

That's according to a UC Davis study commissioned by the Sierra Foundation, which focused on people between 12 and 24 in Yolo, Sacramento, Placer, Solano, Sutter, Amador, El Dorado and Yuba Counties.

The study looked at disparities in opportunity based on geographic location, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, immigration status and other factors.

“There is no greater challenge and no greater potential opportunity for the Capital Region than coming together to care for our young people and for young people themselves to play leadership roles in this effort,” said study leader Jonathan London.

The report recommends a wide range of actions, including the addition of programs that reduce dropout rates, provide mentoring and improve mental and physical health. All of those, of course, come with added costs at a time when programs are being cut, not added. 

The report also calls for increased communication between youths and adults in shaping a future approach. Watch this collection of videos by young kids discussing their neighborhoods to see what youth in the area had to say. 

Here are some of the more noteworthy findings from the study, according to a release by UC Davis.

Graduation Rates

• Of the 41,000 students who entered ninth grade in 2004, only 66 percent graduated in four years.
• In 2008, 9,000 students in the region left high school without graduating, increasing costs for services to support these youth and decreasing their potential earning power.
• The estimated lifetime cost for just one year’s high school dropouts in the Capital Region totals $480 million for state and local governments, and more than $1 billion for the federal government.
• Cutting the region’s drop-out rate in half would yield $1.5 billion in savings to state and local governments.
• Only 28 percent of Latino students and 31 percent of African-American students attend schools with high or very high graduation rates (schools in the region ranked in the top 40 percent for graduation rates).This contrasts with 57 percent for white students and 38 percent for Asian/Pacific Islander students.

Higher Education

• Among students who graduated from the region’s high schools in 2008, only 23 percent had completed the courses required to enter the University of California or California State University systems, compared with 37 percent statewide.
• Only 39 percent of the region’s students entered a public college or university (including four-year and community colleges) within one year of graduation, far fewer than the statewide average of 55 percent.
• Fewer than one in 10 middle school students reported high levels of adult encouragement to explore future careers or pursue formal education.

Employment

• In 2008, one in five of the Capital Region’s 20- to 24-year-olds were neither enrolled in school nor employed.
• Latino and African-American youth are underrepresented in high-growth and high-wage professions in health care and education and overrepresented in retail jobs.
• Young people in lower-income areas reported a lack of adult counseling to seek jobs. Latino youths reported lowest levels of such support.

“The future prosperity of the Capital Region will depend on our ability to prepare young people for success in a challenging and ever-changing economy,” said David Butler, CEO of Linking Education and Economic Development, a Sacramento-based coalition of business, education and government leaders. 

Read more about the study on the UC Davis website, or check out the full 40-page report here.

The two-year research project was funded by the Sierra Health Foundation with additional support from The California Endowment.

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