White House Office on Children and Youth

1
White House Office on Children and Youth

• Presented to Kennedy School
• February 4, 2009

2
Overview

• The need
• The proposal
• The models
• The progress

3
The need

• The White House Task Force for Disadvantaged
  Youth identified 339 programs to serve children
  and youth administered across 12 departments
• The complexity of the problems faced by
  disadvantaged youth is matched only by the
  complexity of the traditional Federal response to
  those problems. Both are confusing, complicated,
  and costly.

4
Status Quo
Childrens Services in LA County
SOURCEMargaret Dunkle
5
The problem

• No overall strategic plan
• No overarching benchmarks and public
  accountability
• No integrated approach to program quality
• No high level youth voice

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The proposal
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White House Office on Children and Youth

• Develop and oversee National Youth Strategy
• Oversee National Child and Youth Development
  Council
• House the National Youth Advisory Board
• Fund parallel state efforts
• 50M/year (40 to states)

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National Youth Strategy

• Overarching goals and performance measures
• Reports
• Child and youth report card (indicators of well
  being)
• Program availability (quality and quantity of
  youth services)
• Child and youth budget (spending)
• All disaggregated by age, race, gender,
  geographic distribution, population density, SES,
  etc.)
• Strategic plan (program and budget priorities)
• Youth views and perspectives

9
National Child and Youth Development Council

• Membership
• Chaired by the President
• All relevant Secretaries
• 2 State Childrens Cabinet Directors
• 3 NGO leaders
• Duties
• Assist in the development and implementation of
  the National Youth Strategy
• Solicit advice from the National Youth Advisory
  Board

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National Youth Advisory Board

• 14-24 year olds
• Advise the President and senior government
  officials
• Work in partnership with state and local youth
  advisory boards to solicit views from young
  people across the country
• Prepare written input into each section of the
  National Youth Strategy

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State funding

• 40M
• State Youth Services Coordinating Entities and
  State Youth Advisory Boards
• To develop and implement state versions of the
  National Youth Strategy
• To empower State Youth Advisory Boards in the
  development and implementation of the strategy

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The Models
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Domestic Models

• 24 members of State Childrens Cabinets and
  Councils Network
• 12 members of State Youth Councils Network

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Commonwealth of Nations Youth Charter

• (1) Form a national youth policy as a framework
  for all agencies and organizations
• (2) Form a national action plan to achieve the
  policy
• (3) Nominate a lead agency in government
  responsible for coordinating youth matters across
  government
• (4) Create government machinery to achieve a
  coordinated and holistic government response
  (e.g., inter-Ministerial committee)
• (5) Establish consultative and participatory
  mechanisms with young men and women
• (6) Establish a youth affairs collaborative
  mechanism among government, non-government
  organizations, communities and youth
• (7) Create an annual gender disaggregated youth
  budget, including the total contribution of
  government toward youth across all ministries
• (8) Develop capacity-building mechanisms within
  the fields of training, development, professional
  networking and research.

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The Progress
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Legislative Progress

• In 2005, the House of Representatives passed the
  Federal Youth Coordination Act (FYCA H.R. 856)
  by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 353 to 62
• It was later incorporated into the
  reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (PL
  109-365) as Title VIII
• First time funding for its implementation was
  included in the House FY09 Labor-HHS-ED
  Appropriations bill
• FYCA is up for reauthorization and has been
  introduced by Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) as H.R.
  7004

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Executive branch progress

• Web site www.whitehouseofficeonchildrenandyouth.o
  rg
• Letter to Obama signed by more than 90 of
  thecountry's leading child and youth
  organizations, more than 300 state and local
  government agencies and non-government
  organizations, and more than 1000 highly involved
  individuals signed on.
• Outreach to transition team members
• Continued outreach to senior administration
  officials

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For more information

• Thaddeus Ferber
• Program Director
• The Forum for Youth Investment
• thaddeus_at_forumfyi.org
• www.whitehouseofficeonchildrenandyouth.org
• www.forumfyi.org