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The State of Youth in St. Louis
Last fall, Mayor Slay asked the YDTF to examine the needs of youth 12 to 21 years of age. The Task Force found that there are many youth in the City of St. Louis who live in healthy homes in safe neighborhoods and receive a quality education. It also discovered that St. Louis has many successful programs and strong agencies working independently to address the needs of this population. Yet too many of our youth are not successfully transitioning into adulthood, as evidenced by the following statistics:
- In the St. Louis Public Schools, the average graduation rate over the last five years was only 58.6%. In many years, there are more children dropping out than graduating from high school.
- Among 10th graders taking the 2007 Missouri Assessment Plan (MAP) test, only 15.1% test proficient or advanced in mathematics. Only 15.6% of the district's 11th graders tested proficient or advanced in communication arts. Less than 12% of the students who take the ACT (a college admissions exam) test at or above the national level.
- Academic failure is the strongest predictor of youth involvement in the juvenile justice system. In 2005, there were 2,472 juveniles detained with 1,133 repeat admissions. The average stay was 24.6 days and the average age was 14.7 years. One-third of the juveniles were detained for a felony and slightly over 40% had violated probation.
- Most Medicaid-eligible children stop visiting a doctor after age 11 until a serious health issue arises. Substance abuse is a substantial barrier to employment for out-of-school youth.
- Between 55% and 87% of the youth participating in programs connected to St. Louis Employment and Training Agency (SLATE) fail a drug test.
- While teen pregnancy rates have leveled off, sexually transmitted disease rates for all age groups are climbing. Nearly half of all Chlamydia cases are youth ages 13 to 19. The implications - sterility and future HIV/AIDS victims - are severe.
- Other health indicators for teens in St. Louis, such as the suicide rate and the rate of overdose, are nearly 50% higher than the national average.
Eight work groups have been established to develop goals, strategies and benchmarks, as well as connect existing assets to this effort.
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This Page Last Modified:
12/17/2007
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