Critical Issues, Key Leaders, & Community Action

Outside of their formal schooling, children and youth have two major needs.  One is for supervision and the opportunity to engage in safe, constructive activities when they are out of school -- particularly between the hours of 2:00 and 6:00 pm.  In a world in which risks to children are increased and parental supervision decreased, this is the period when children and youth are most likely to get into trouble. 

The second need is for settings in which young people can acquire life skills and employment skills, as well as a focus on career development that provides the foundation for life-long economic opportunity.  Schools were once a place where acquisitions of life and employment skills were a recognized need.  There was a focus on the concept of career development, linking school and work, so career options could be explored and marketable job skills acquired.  In both areas, that is much less the case today than in the past.  Schools, to a great extent, are focused on achievement test scores, with acquisition of the skills to do well on those tests the first – and often the only – educational priority.  If broader personal development, including acquisition of life and employment skills, is not going to take place in schools, then it must occur in another setting.

In the last few years, there has been an increasing focus on “out of school” time.  Recently both Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and City of St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay have called publicly for expansion of after-school and out-of-school programs for all children in need, setting time-specific goals for making services available to all those in need.  In addition to its research, training and technical assistance, St. Louis for Kids has provided leadership in forming the Youth Development Providers Network, a broad coalition of agencies in the bistate region directed to developing and implementing strategic initiatives to ensure that all children who need them will have the opportunity to participate in quality youth development programs during the non-school hours.  Central to addressing both of these youth development needs is fostering contact with caring adults.  After school programs, mentoring, tutoring, and sports all provide settings in which youth can acquire skills and develop relationships with positive role models.  

Critical issues in the St. Louis area related to youth development and economic opportunity include the following: