The Need:
- There are an estimated 319,403 children ages 0 to 13 with parents in the labor force and only 75,260 licensed child care slots in Orange County (True Cost of Quality Early Care & Education Report 2008)
- In
- The high school dropout rate among minority groups is over 20 percent in
Strategic Approaches:
Early Education: Investments support programs that provide quality early childhood education and school readiness activities, improvements for early childhood education centers, and tuition assistance for low-income working parents to access high-quality early education for their children. Investments also support resources, technical assistance and advocacy aimed at increasing the number of early education facilities in
Youth Development: Investments support youth to graduate from high school on time and prepared to pursue a college education.More on youth development.
Dropout Prevention Summit
America’s Promise Alliance Dropout Prevention Summit, hosted by Orange County United Way, took place on Feb 19, at the Tiger Woods Learning Center with over 100 educators, parents, business people, students and community leaders in attendance.
The objective of the summit was to bring together a diverse group of individuals to strategize on lowering the dropout rates facing Santa Ana and Anaheim counties. Attached you will find a report comprised of data and information taken from advisory committee meetings, focus groups with youth and an Action Team focus group conducted the day of the event.
In the next few months, Orange County United Way will be taking a closer look at strategies and solutions that could benefit youth in Orange County. We will be communicating with school districts, community planning teams and business and community stakeholders. We invite you to share your success in addressing this important issue.
