Better Off: % of participants at-risk of disconnection who report maintaining the connection throughout program/service delivery - Annual
Current Value
100%
Definition
Story Behind the Curve
FY23 EOY: Overall, the team made great strides over last year's end-of-year metrics. However, excessive absenteeism continues to be a huge issue in our public school system which is the biggest contributing factor to this measure. We're partnering with AACPS to look at the four schools with the highest rates to see if we can determine a collaborative approach to addressing the barriers that are keeping kids from school. One of the most common, particularly in our highest risk/highest need areas, is that kids who are walkers (which many of these youth are) do not feel safe walking to school given community violence, gang, and gun activity in their communities. Without other reliable sources of transportation, this often means they just stay home rather than risk a dangerous encounter. This is one of the groups for whom virtual school was a better option and without any current remote school options available, they just end up missing school and falling behind.
Partners
- AACPS and other LMB child-serving agencies
- Navigators
- Youth program staff (internal and external)
- Youth (Hood 2 Good program, our youth mentoring program, etc.)
- Parents
- Kinship caregivers
- Gun Violence Intervention Team/Cure Violence
What Works
That's exactly what our group is working on now. We realize it is unlikely there will be a "one size fits all" solution, but we are working to identify potential barriers and solutions that will help our youth at-risk for disconnection remain connected to school.