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President's Initiative on Children, Youth and
Families
March, 2003
Introduction
Citing Minnesota’s changing demographics and the increasing
needs of its children, youth and families, President Bruininks has
committed to focusing the University of Minnesota’s intellectual
resources on issues important to children, youth and families. Recent
indicators of Minnesota’s children’s wellbeing and their
prospects for the future are alarming:
- The 2000 Census shows that 50% of Minneapolis’s children
and youth, and 48% of St. Paul’s, live in low-income families.
Statewide, 26.1% of children and youth are economically disadvantaged
(1). It seems likely that the situation has worsened
since the 2000 Census.
- Children from lower income homes begin school at a disadvantage.
A 5-year-old child from a low-income home has a vocabulary of
5,000 words, while a middle class 5-year-old knows 20,000 words
(2).
- The disparity between low-income students and their wealthier
peers continues throughout their academic careers. A student’s
vocabulary and oral development at age three and upon entering
kindergarten is an accurate predictor of his or her reading level
at the end of 3rd grade. The reading level at the end of 3rd grade
strongly predicts future levels of adult literacy and whether
the student will graduate from high school (3).
- Statewide, 22% of high school students are not graduating on
time, and almost 10% are not graduating at all. Students of color
are disproportionately affected; in 2001, the statewide drop out
rates for African American, Native American, and Hispanic students
were 31%, 34% and 30%, respectively, while 13 % of Asians and
7% of white students did not graduate. In the core cities, these
numbers are higher for every ethnic group (4).
- An increasing number of Minnesota’s students are not making
a transition to post-secondary education. Only 41% of Minnesota’s
high school freshmen enroll in college within four years, versus
54% in the states with the highest participation rates (5).
- Meanwhile, a post-secondary degree is increasingly necessary
for future success. Of the top 50 job growth categories in the
United States, 48 require a college degree (at least an associate
degree), and the job market for workers with bachelor’s degrees
is projected to continue to expand rapidly (6).
- Among 12 nationwide "high performance comparison regions"
identified by the Great North Alliance, the Twin Cities area ranks
6th in numbers of adults over 25 who hold at least a bachelor’s
degree. The number of statewide high school graduates is expected
to remain constant through the year 2010, but demographic changes
predict that a smaller percentage of high school graduates will
be enrolling in and graduating from college. At current graduation
rates, Minnesota will graduate less than half of the workers with
bachelor’s degrees that will be needed to fill jobs opening
between 1998 and 2008 (7).
The pervasive relationship between family income, educational attainment,
and economic success is only one of the challenges that the Initiative
hopes to address. Others include:
- Minnesota has the highest rate of working mothers in the nation
and the highest percentage of youth 10-12 (42%) who are at home
alone after school (8).
- Most rural families are headed by married adults who work in
jobs with low earnings. Many have more than one family member
working. If the family is female-headed with children, half of
the families are poor. In a sample of rural, low-income families,
child support was not a dependable source of income for single-parent
mothers (9).
- Having enough food to provide adequate nutrition challenges
the health of rural families. In one study, 49% of families were
food insecure as measured by the standardized USDA Core Food Security
Module; and of those, 17% had hunger present. That study also
demonstrated that serious illness, injury and chronic health problems
are present in rural families who are food insecure. Inadequate
nutrition affects the ability of children to learn and adults
to earn (10).
- In 1999, 19% of Minnesota’s children under age 18 in low-income
working families did not have health insurance (11).
The welfare of children has always been one of society’s highest
moral obligations. But in our increasingly knowledge-based culture,
educating and supporting the development of children, youth and
families has become not only the right thing to do, but the prudent
path as well. During the 21st century, the number of youth and working
adults is anticipated to shrink, while the need for a highly-educated
workforce is expected to grow. The children and youth of today will
be the workers, parents, teachers, and leaders of tomorrow. Addressing
the challenges they face today will have a direct impact on Minnesota’s
prosperity and quality of life in the next decades.
The University of Minnesota, with its wealth of faculty, departments
and interdisciplinary centers conducting path breaking work on a
diverse array of subjects affecting children, youth and families,
is uniquely well-suited to serve as the catalyst for this discussion.
As a public land-grant institution with campuses located in both
urban centers and less populated regions of the state, and the state’s
only research university system, civic engagement is an important
part of both the University’s history and its mission. The
University is committed to improving the lives of the state’s
residents through its mission of teaching, advancing knowledge and
applying research; using its resources to address the needs of children,
youth and families is a natural expression of this mission.
The President’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families
will be an ongoing effort to increase public awareness and address
issues facing Minnesota’s children, youth and families. The
Initiative also intends to establish new and enhance existing community-University
partnerships so that these efforts have a greater sense of purpose,
and have behind them the full force of both public and University
commitment. Given the current state budget situation, the need has
never been greater to pursue creative collaboration among the University,
the community, and state agencies to address the core issues facing
our children, youth and families and to make wise investments.
Goals
The President’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families
has five major goals. They are necessarily interrelated and overlapping,
and many of the efforts that comprise the President’s Initiative
will create outcomes that meet more than one of the goals. The efforts
underway are described in greater detail in a later section of this
document.
1. Enhancing public awareness of challenges facing children,
youth and families
- President Bruininks’s demonstrated personal commitment
to children and youth through regular visits to schools and other
public institutions will raise the visibility of these issues.
- The University intends to serve as a catalyst for public conversations
on challenges facing children, youth and families.
2. Advancing knowledge and finding solutions to challenges facing
children, youth and families through strong, ongoing University-community
partnerships
- The University will host a series of three annual summits,
bringing together approximately 400 community and University leaders
each year to share knowledge about the needs of Minnesota’s
children, youth and families.
- In 2003, the University will work with a coalition of Minnesota
foundations, Ready for K, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, and
other organizations on efforts in early childhood development
and learning readiness.
3. Improving outcomes for Minnesota’s children, youth and
families through the application of knowledge created by these partnerships
- The summit series will serve as catalysts for the creation
and design of action plans to address the needs of children, youth
and families.
- The University’s research and policy resources will be
tapped to help support these action plans.
4. Expanding and sharing the intellectual vitality, leadership,
and resources available at the University through basic research,
publications, and outreach
- Through Capitol
Conversations, researchers and policymakers will identify
areas of research and evaluative tools that will help inform public
policy.
- UConnects is designed to foster positive development and college
aspirations through connecting University resources to mentoring
organizations.
- As many of the University’s disciplines, colleges, and
coordinate campuses as possible will be engaged in the Initiative’s
teaching, research, and outreach efforts.
- The President’s Calendar
will increase the accessibility of University-wide children, youth
and family events to community organizations, lawmakers, and the
general public.
5. Establishing a model for future Presidential Initiatives
in other areas
- The President and the Steering Committee will assess the strengths
and challenges of the President’s Initiative on Children,
Youth and Families in order to inform the design of future President’s
Initiatives in other areas of great public interest.
Organization
Resources
The University’s most valuable resources are the expertise
of its faculty and the energy and commitment of its students and
alumni; it has long been recognized as a national leader in scholarship
on children, youth, and family issues. Interdisciplinary centers,
departments, and faculty across the University engage in path breaking
work on subjects as current and diverse as adolescent substance
abuse, adoptive and new immigrant families, behavioral disorders,
cognitive development, developmental neuroscience, early literacy,
healthy physical and social development, violence prevention, financial
stability of families, the impact of community-based youth development
programs, and resiliency in children and youth, to name just a few.
The University’s many renowned research centers and programs
in children, youth and family issues include:
As this sampling demonstrates, University researchers approach
children, youth and family issues from many different disciplines.
Faculty who describe their work as critical to the wellbeing of
children, youth and families can be found in the College of Human
Ecology, the College of Education and Human Development, the Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs, the University of Minnesota Extension
Service, the School of Public Health, the College of Nursing, the
Medical School and other units of the Academic Health Center, the
Law School, the College of Liberal Arts, and other colleges and
units.
The University’s Children,
Youth, & Family Consortium will provide leadership and serve
as the Initiative’s hub. It will also be sustained by the University-wide
Council on Public Engagement and by many other on-going University-community
efforts across our campuses. The President’s Initiative will
be supported through private funds.
Steering
Committee
The goals of this Initiative will be accomplished through the direction
of a steering committee chaired by Dr. Richard Weinberg, University
Distinguished Teaching Professor of Child Psychology in the Institute
of Child Development. The steering committee is charged with:
- Assisting the president and his staff as the vision and goals
of the Initiative continue to evolve and a funding plan takes
shape;
- Identifying concrete, achievable action plans that will advance
the goals of the Initiative;
- Providing oversight and tracking progress of the activities
encompassed by the Initiative, including the communications plan
and the events that will bear the stamp of the President’s
Initiative; and
- Actively seeking out opportunities to bring University children,
youth and family resources to bear in public policy, local and
state initiatives and funding agendas.
How the goals will be met
The President’s Initiative plans to meet its goals through
five strategies, listed here with illustrative activities in each
area. For additional information on any of the activities, please
see the list of University resources at the end of the document.
1. Creating and strengthening partnerships with community organizations,
leaders and practitioners
Summit Series
To engage both University and community leaders from throughout
Minnesota in sustained partnerships for the benefit of Minnesota
children, President Bruininks will convene a series of three yearly
summits. The first, "Starting Strong," to be held May
30, 2003, will emphasize the early foundations of healthy development
and learning, and the programs, policies, practices and conditions
that enable children and their families to thrive and succeed. Subsequent
summits will focus on what needs to happen in families, schools,
communities and the society at large to promote good outcomes for
children and youth. The goals of the summit series include:
- Presenting current knowledge of the needs and strengths of
Minnesota’s children, youth and families;
- Assessing the ways we are addressing child, youth and family
well-being in our communities and through our public policies;
- Strengthening connections among the state’s researchers,
practitioners, and community leaders so that they can better collaborate
in finding solutions to the challenges that face children, youth,
and families; and
- Developing action plans and next steps that can be taken to
achieve better outcomes for children, youth and families.
A diverse group of University and community leaders from around
the state form the planning committee for this year’s "Children’s
Summit: Starting Strong," chaired by Dr. Martha Farrell
Erickson, Director of the Children, Youth & Family Consortium.
The planning committee and President Bruininks also are consulting
with policymakers and other community leaders through a series of
conversations being held at Eastcliff, the home of the president.
The summit series builds on the success of a Children’s Summit
sponsored in 1993 by the University’s Children, Youth &
Family Consortium and six other statewide organizations. Recommendations
from that summit stimulated rich public discussion and action and
led to enduring University-community partnerships with a significant
impact on Minnesota children and families. The new series of summits
will take into account the many changes Minnesota has seen since
1993, as well as new knowledge about what children, youth and families
need in order to succeed in today’s world.
2. Fostering greater communication and trust between researchers
and policymakers
Capitol
Conversations
The participation of Minnesota’s policymakers in the collaboration
between the University and the community is vital. On a daily basis,
lawmakers make decisions that impact Minnesota’s children,
youth and families; they need access to the ever-growing research
on children’s issues in order to make the best possible decisions.
The Capitol Conversations were designed to bring together policymakers
and University faculty in a series of breakfast conversations for
an ongoing dialogue on children, youth, and family issues. The first
three conversations were held January 15, 21, and 30, 2003. The
desired outcomes are for University faculty and legislators to establish
a two-way conversation, build trust, and discover ways to generate
and use policy-relevant research.
The first three conversations focused on:
- Identifying ways for policymakers and faculty to communicate
more effectively with each other;
- Evaluating the effectiveness of policies, strategies and programs;
and
- Decision-making when budgets need to be cut.
3. Encouraging positive youth development and postsecondary
aspirations
UConnects
Research demonstrates that a caring mentor can make an indelibly
strong impression in the life of a child. Children need to establish
ongoing connections with caring adults in order to mature into loving
and responsible adults. Sadly, not all youth are able to form strong
relationships with adults--for many, there are simply too few available
adults in their lives. The most recent census shows that 32% of
Ramsey County’s households with children and 27% of Hennepin
County’s households with children are headed by a single parent
(12). Rising child to teacher ratios in schools
and diminished confidence in the safety of neighborhoods also limit
opportunities for youth to form caring relationships with adults.
Volunteer mentoring can help to fill the gap left by the decreasing
availability of natural mentoring.
UConnects, a new University-community partnership, was created to
encourage and enhance the effectiveness of volunteer mentoring relationships
through:
- Working with established mentoring organizations to strengthen
relationships between students and their mentors;
- Making the University’s vast cultural, educational, and
other events accessible to disadvantaged children and their mentors;
and
- Fostering aspirations towards higher education in K-12 students
who may have few or no family or community role models in higher
education.
UConnects seeks to connect community youth with the University
by providing tickets and access to University educational programs,
cultural activites, and athletic events. The target audience is
students enrolled in formal mentorship programs. The mentors will
not only accompany the youths to the University events, but it is
hoped that they will prepare the students for their visits and help
them to process and interpret their experiences afterward. Through
UConnects, the University hopes to play an important role in the
lives of youth currently offered the fewest educational and cultural
experiences.
Although the University makes many cultural, educational, and entertainment
opportunities available to Minnesotans, too many young people, and
particularly young people from the state’s diverse communities,
are left out. The goal is to not only offer participants valuable,
thought provoking experiences today, but also to spark their curiosity,
foster a lifelong appreciation for culture and learning, and encourage
them to identify higher education as an option in their lives.
Dr. Sallye McKee, Associate Vice Provost for Multicultural and
Academic Affairs, chairs the committee planning UConnects. The committee
is consulting with two advisory groups, one comprised of mentoring
organizations and the other comprised of participants and their
mentors. Once UConnects is fully active, it will be an ongoing program
run by the Office of Multicultural and Academic Affairs.
4. Increasing accessibility of University research and resources
President’s Calendar of Children,
Youth and Family Events
Centers and departments across the University of Minnesota regularly
hold meetings and other events to discuss challenges facing children,
youth and families. This information is vital to practitioners,
community leaders, and others who care about the wellbeing of children
and families, but often the public is unaware of the University’s
offerings. In order to remedy this, a President’s University-wide
Calendar of Children, Youth and Family events will be established
on the Office of the President’s website.
University-sponsored events that address substantive children,
youth and family issues of interest to both the public and to University
faculty and researchers, and that are open to the public, will be
included on the calendar. Centers or departments with events listed
on the President’s Calendar will also be encouraged to work
with the University News Service to promote their events as part
of the President’s Initiative, and highlights from the events
can be posted on the President’s website. A further set of
criteria and a form to request inclusion on the calendar can be
found on the President’s website.
5. Increasing the visibility of issues facing children, youth
and families.
President’s Visits—"The President Goes to School"
The president’s active participation is a critical part of
the President’s Initiative. The Initiative asks community members
and policymakers to devote more of their time, attention, and resources
to these important issues, and they may be encouraged to do so if
they see President Bruininks’s own commitment to child, youth
and family issues. The president will visit Minnesota schools, childcare
centers, after school programs and community centers during community
visits, to show his continued commitment to children and their concerns.
Conclusion
Minnesota’s current economic situation will affect every one
of its residents over the next few years, and is certain to generate
a great deal of public conversation about what our priorities as
a state should be. The state’s most vulnerable residents—children
and youth—cannot participate in this public dialogue, which
will determine how Minnesota’s increasingly limited resources
are allocated. Community leaders, policymakers, researchers, educators,
parents and all those who care about children and families are being
called upon to work together to identify creative approaches to
the interconnected human, social and economic issues facing Minnesota.
Through the President’s Initiative on Children, Youth and Families,
President Bruininks is making both a personal and an institutional
commitment to serve as a catalyst for greater understanding and
more reflective action and decision-making on issues that face our
children, youth and families. In the process, he hopes to strengthen
the historic compact between the University of Minnesota and the
people of the state.
University Resources
(1)Children’s Defense Fund Minnesota, Minnesota
Children in the 2000 Census: Low Income Families, http://www.cdf-mn.org/kidscount.html.
(2)Merrow, J., "The ‘Failure’ of
Head Start." Education Week, September 25, 2002, p. 52.
(3)Snow, Burns, & Griffin. (1998) Preventing
reading difficulties in young children, National Research Council.
(4)Minnesota Department of Children, Families and
Learning. http://cfl.state.mn.us/datactr/compstu.
(5)Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
(2002) Measuring Up 2002. Available at: http://measuringup.highereducation.org/2002/reporthome.htm.
(6)United States Department of Labor. Occupational
outlook handbook, 2002-03, Available at: http://stats.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm.
(7)Great North Alliance. (2002) Opportunity forecast:
innovating for regional prosperity and competitiveness indicator
review and discussion. Available at http://www.thegreatnorth.com.
(8)Sonenstein, F.L., Gates, G.J., Schmidt, S., &
Bolshun, N. (2001) Primary Child Care Arrangements of Employed Parents:
Findings from the 1999 National Survey of America’s Families.
The Urban Institute.
(9)Bauer, J. & Braun, B. (2002). Rural families
and welfare issues. Available at: http://www.ruralfamilies.umn.edu/
and
Fluharty, C. W. (2003). Refrain or reality: A United States rural
policy? Available at http://www.rupri.org/.
(10)Olson, C., Anderson, K., Bauer, J., Braun,
B., Kiss, E., Lawrence, F., Lopez, M., Mammen, S., Richards, L.,
Seiling, S., Swanson, J., & Varcoe, K. Factors protecting against
and contributing to food insecurity among rural families: A mixed-methods
analysis.
(11)Children’s Defense League. Kids Count
2002. Available at:
http://www.aecf.org/cgi-bin/kc2002.cgi?action=profile&area=Minnesota#5
(12)2000 Census Data, Children’s Defense
Fund Minnesota. Available at: http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/census.
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