America's Promise Issues New Report

America's Promise is a coalition dedicated to changing the lives of underserved youth. Their research shows that, if we can make five promises to children and youth, we can change their lives. The promises?

• Caring adults
• Safe places
• Healthy start
• Effective education
• Opportunities to help others

Their research shows that teens and younger children with 4 or 5 Promises are more than twice as likely to get mostly A’s in school, as compared to teens and younger children with one or fewer Promises in their lives. They are more likely to avoid violence, be socially competent, and volunteer in their communities.

The organization released a new report yesterday. It revealed that "more than 2/3 of our children and youth – 34 million Americans between ages 6 and 17 – are not receiving sufficient developmental resources that put them on a path to success in adulthood."

Here's a brief summary of the report, as reported on their website:


EVERY CHILD, EVERY PROMISE: TURNING FAILURE INTO ACTION

As a nation, we have not adequately prepared young people with the skills and resources they need. Our economic vitality, our security and our values are at risk.

Every Child, Every Promise is the first comprehensive study of how well our children are receiving the "Five Promises" — the key developmental resources that correlate with success. Clearly, we have much work to do:

• Only 31% of our school-age children are receiving enough Promises to be confident of success
  
• More than 10 million children are experiencing only 0 or 1 Promise
  
• 20% of young people, or 8.5 million, lack caring adults in their lives; only 8% of children have a formal mentor
  
• More than 4 in 10 do not believe they will be able to reach their goals in the future
  

But there is good news. This report also shows how we can turn failure into action and change the lives of young people now at risk.