Questions and Answers about the Younger Americans Act

  What will the Younger Americans Act do?

The Younger Americans Act seeks to mobilize the nation’s communities to ensure all young people have access to each core resource identified at the bipartisan Presidents'Summit for America’s Future and promoted by America’s Promise - The Alliance for Youth, as being necessary for successful development.

  They are:

1)     On-going relationships with caring adults

2)     Safe places with structured activities during the non-school hours

  3)  Services that promote healthy lifestyles, including those designed to improve physical and mental health

4)     Marketable skills and competencies through education and youth development

5)     Opportunities for community service and civic participation

The Younger Americans Act will establish a national policy for youth based on positive outcomes, coordinating Federal, State, and local government activity with private sector work taking place in communities. Modeled after the Older Americans Act, it will engage young people as partners, seeing them as problem-solvers instead of problem-makers.

  How will it work?

Representative community boards will bring together community-based organizations, public agencies, schools, faith-based organizations, business, parents, and youth themselves. They will make assessments about gaps in services for youth and seek to leverage additional support promoting access to each core resource for all young people in that community.

  Who developed the Younger Americans Act?

The Younger Americans Act was developed by national nonprofit organizations sharing a commitment to youth development led by the member organizations of the National Collaboration for Youth, United Way of America, and America’s Promise.

  How much will it cost?

The Younger Americans Act proposes an initial authorization in year one of $500 million, rising to $2 billion in the fifth year. The $2 billion is similar to amounts authorized by the Older Americans Act. The Younger Americans Act is not so much a government program as a government partnership with the private sector. Its appropriation would be used intentionally as an incentive to leverage additional resources needed at the local level.

  Will the Younger Americans Act create a new bureaucracy?

No. The Younger Americans Act should reduce bureaucracy. The federal government's primary charge will be to coordinate existing policies for youth already carried out by a myriad of federal agencies. It would also promote citizen oversight by creating a federal advisory council. A third of the Council’s members would be young people. At the State and local level, existing agencies and organizations will oversee planning and mobilization.

  How will Younger Americans Act funds interact with other youth funding?

Younger Americans Act funds will allow communities to reinforce existing programs and    address gaps in services. For example, communities would be able to take note of afterschool programs already operating in their area and decide if and where others might be needed to assure that every young person who needs structured activities in the nonschool hours has access. Collaboration is encouraged in the Act. Funds will supplement but not supplant existing funds of related programs.

  How will funds flow?

About nine dollars of every ten appropriated will be funneled to local communities and about $19 of every $20 will go directly to youth programs. Assuming a full appropriation of $2 billion in the fifth year of the legislation, $1.9 billion will be reserved for State and local programs. About $30 million will be reserved for tribal organizations and $10 million will be available for outlying areas. The federal government could use $60 million to demonstrate innovative approaches to the special youth development needs of young people who live in areas with high concentrations of poverty, in rural areas, and in correctional facilities.

Of the $1.9 billion sent down to the state and community level, each state would receive an amount based equally on the proportion of youth aged 10-19 in the state and the proportion of youth in the state qualifying for the school lunch program. Assuming a state like North Carolina might qualify for 2% of the funds available or $38 million. The State could keep up to $2.6 million, but about half of that would be used for programs aimed at youth with special youth development needs. These funds require a state match, producing even more resources and services. About $35 million would go to communities within North Carolina, using the same formula used to distribute funds among the states. Each state divides itself into regions. Assuming an area like Charlotte might qualify for 20% of State funds -- or about $7 million. At least $6.3 million would be devoted solely to youth programs. The remainder would be used to plan and mobilize additional community support. By the fourth year, when a 50% match is required, an additional $6.3 million would be leveraged for a total of $12.6 million.

  How will decisions be made at the local level?

The state, after consulting with public and private agencies, will designate an existing public or private agency within state regions to serve as an area agency on youth to carry out planning and mobilization activities. Its work will be governed by the community board. To symbolize the public and private partnership that underlies the Act, the board will be appointed and convened jointly by the region’s chief elected official(s) and the executive of the local funding and coordinating agency. Once convened the board will elect its own chair.

  What kinds of programs will be eligible for funding?

The Younger Americans Act provides great latitude for communities to develop approaches most appropriate for their unique needs. Outcome-driven programs will directly, or indirectly through collaboration with other community agencies, work to make sure all youth in the community have access to each of the five core resources. Thus, a mentoring program might include referral information about health agencies and seek to provide community service as one part of the mentoring experience. Various approaches might include character development activities; mentoring and tutoring; community youth centers and clubs; afterschool, weekend, and summer programs; sports, recreation, and arts; services to promote healthy development and behavior; opportunities for community service and civic participation; youth entrepreneurship and technological skill building; public and private youth led programs; and other outcome-based activities.

  Why will YAA be successful?

The Older Americans Act, after which the Younger Americans Act is generally modeled, has been successful in driving resources and decision-making to the community level. But there is, as well, considerable research evidence that programs work when they aim at providing youth the core resources they need. The Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington recently submitted to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation within the Department of Health and Human Services, a report titled, Positive Youth Development in the United States. It examined 25 youth development programs that it identified as well evaluated. The study concluded that “a wide range of positive youth development approaches can result in positive youth behavior outcomes and the prevention of youth problem behaviors.” Nineteen of the programs showed significant growth in interpersonal skills, quality of peer and adult relationships, self-control, problem solving, cognitive competencies, self-efficacy, commitment to schooling, and academic achievement. Twenty-four showed significant reductions in drug and alcohol use, school misbehavior, violence, truancy, high risk sexual behavior, and smoking. Two thirds of the effective youth development programs combined their resources with those of the family, the community, and the community’s schools. This is the approach of the Younger Americans Act.