Ready by 21® Affinity Groups
The Forum for Youth Investment connects with the directors, chairs and members of state and local cross-agency coordinating bodies in more than 20 states across the country. These coordinating bodies include children's cabinets, commissions or councils and are systematically changing the fragmented and ineffective way states typically do business for children and youth.
Typically, these bodies are made up of heads of state agencies with child and youth-serving programs, who meet on a regular basis with the collective goal of coordinating services, developing a common set of outcomes, and collaboratively developing and implementing plans to foster the well-being of young people. The coordinating body model provides a long-term and sustainable structure for ensuring that young people are physically and emotionally healthy, academically successful, civically engaged and prepared to enter the workforce. There are currently 21 states that have a coordinating body for children and youth.
It is important that they strive to better align and coordinate the work of their child and youth serving agencies. As a part of this network, these well-positioned state leaders receive technical assistance both in person, by phone and web. Participants in the network get the opportunity to interact with peers engaged in this same unique role in states across the country, sharing tips and best practices and working through solutions to common problems. The Forum and the Ready by 21® National Partners have created resources and tools for these leaders to use to advance their work. These coordinating bodies have the potential to change the way their states do business.
Related News and Publications
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| Integrating Data for Improved Outcomes for Youth |
The Children's Cabinet Network pubic statement on interagency data sharing for children and youth. |
06/15/2009 | |
| Youth Today: Taking Risks for Transition-Age Youth |
On any given day, scores of young people with limited individual and social capital are simultaneously struggling to exit some systems and enter others: foster care, residential treatment centers, higher education, mental health programs, gainful employment. |
06/02/2009 | |
| Department of Labor Hosts Webinar on the Recovery Act |
On April 16, the Department of Labor held the webinar "Shared Vision for Youth: Federal Partnership Presentation on Recovery Act Funds for Youth (Selected Programs)" to highlight the funding in the Recovery Act that will impact youth and youth programming. |
05/18/2009 | |
| Ready by 21® 2008-09 Webinar Series Updated |
This webinar series will introduce participants to the core and advanced components of Ready by 21®. This challenge calls on states and communities to change the odds for youth by changing the way they do business. This requires broadening definitions of what it means for youth to be ready, for schools and communities to be supportive and for all leaders to be engaged. |
04/01/2009 | |
| Children's Cabinet Network Call Materials |
The following documents are referenced during the February 4 Children's Cabinet Network Call. |
02/04/2009 | |
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Measuring Youth Program Quality: A Guide to Assessment Tools, 2nd Edition |
Program quality assessment and improvement continue to be central themes in the after-school and youth development fields. In March 2007 we released the first edition of this report comparing the purpose, history, structure, methodology, content and technical properties of different program observation tools. |
01/12/2009 |
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State Children's Cabinets and Councils Series |
The State Children's Cabinets and Councils Series, a set of reports intended to capture and organize the decisions and experiences of more than 20 children's cabinets and councils and present them against an emerging set of expectations about what the public and policy makers could and should expect from them. |
10/28/2008 |
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New Mexico: Children’s Cabinet Report Card: Growing Our Future, Together 2008 |
The Children’s Cabinet is a working group of the 14 departments that work closely on children’s issues. These departments include a wide range of state agencies, such as: Youth and Families Department, Human Service Department, Department of Health, Public Education, Higher Education, Corrections, Workforce Solutions, and even Economic Development and Cultural Affairs. |
09/01/2008 |
| Ready by 21 Big Picture Messages & Frameworks Webinar - June 2008 |
There are numerous child and youth development frameworks being used by youth serving organizations and government entities. |
06/19/2008 | |
| Forum Works with State Teams Across the Country to Improve Youth Policy |
The Forum, along with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, recently completed the Fourth Annual Youth Policy Institute. The Institutes bring together state policymakers and are designed to help state governments obtain better outcomes from their youth policies and programs. |
06/19/2008 |