In this Issue: Youth Development, Ready by 21 National Meeting, Opportunity Index, Social and Emotional Learning, Collective Impact Learning Lab

The Forum's Opportunity Nation, along with its research partner, Child Trends, recently released a pilot Metro-Level Opportunity Index, a modified version of the annual Opportunity Index focused on the nation's metro areas.

How can schools and youth development organizations better align to increase their communities' understanding of the importance of focusing on the whole learner? Broaden access to high-quality learning opportunities that support comprehensive development?   Strengthen adult social and emotional learning practice?

Being disconnected, out of school and unemployed as a young person is potentially traumatic. These experiences can have lasting impacts on income, employability, health and well-being. The effects grow the longer a young person is disconnected. And the effects linger over time.

Advocates for young people, justice and equity are celebrating a long-overdue Congressional reauthorization of the nation’s main federal legislation covering juvenile justice, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) . Sixteen years after it was last updated and authorized by Congress, a bipartisan bill passed both chambers and now moves on to President Trump to sign into law.

The JJDPA sets standards and protections for young people in state justice systems, and helps states reform their juvenile justice approaches to better align with what data and emerging brain science show are better for kids and keep communities safer.

We have 40 years of evidence that shows us how learning happens but what’s next? How can students benefit from this knowledge? How can we continuously improve quality in learning settings to support social, emotional and academic development? In this brief video, the Forum for Youth Investment's CEO and co-founder Karen Pittman delves into these topics.

In this Issue: Introducing the Metro-Level Opportunity Index, Social Mobility in Rural America, Weikart Trainings, Culture of Health Leaders

Much of the research on the fading "American Dream"-the expectation that children will grow up to earn more than their parents-has focused on the country's urban areas. However, as the nation's cultural, economic, and political divides have deepened, there has been accelerating interest in understanding how the 60 million people who live in rural America are confronting the challenges that come with climbing the income ladder.

In this Issue: OST Webinar, Whole Child, Upcoming Training, Resources

In This Issue: Opportunity Youth, Collective Impact, Youth Engagement, Equity