Entering the twilight zone of the late teenage years and early 20s can be difficult. As it turns out a significant number of young people lose their way and the focus not going to school and not having a job. It is a national issue and there is a name for kids who find themselves in this kind of limbo -- Linda disconnected youth. Any report says 43 people in San Diego County between the ages of 16 and 20 fall into this category. Is summer is being held in San Diego tomorrow on the way to engage people into school and job training programs. Joining me are Peter Castro President and CEO of the San Diego workforce partnership welcome to the program. Here is Naomi Moore she is 20 years old shoes to fit into that category of disconnected youth. Welcome to the program. The workforce partnership has done some work on breaking Dennis is statistics on disconnected youth in San Diego. He found that almost 10% of 16 to 24-year-olds fit into that category. About one in 10 are not working or not in school. Really as he put it disconnected from the system from support systems from advancing in their career or educational direction. For this is a national issue as he pointed out as well. There is over 5 million young adults 16 to 24 who are now working out our country. Is pretty consistent across the country in terms of the percentage and it is about one in 10 or more who are not working or in school. What is the numbers tell you. What is the highest number that might be in this category. It is throughout the region so it is not per ZIP Code if you will but there are more impacted in underserved and underrepresented in the it is around the County. What we need to do is reengage these young adults to get them on the path to find a passion in my and we need to get them into the system. There's a lot of reasons for why young adults are disconnected. It can't be that they are in transition or they have been is school have not yet landed a job or no were to go to get on their way in the workforce. That is where we come in. We started a year that workforce is called connect to careers which is focused on this issue so we are engaging adults. Naomi has been a part of that journey. What was happening in your life that lady to stop going to school. I never exactly start going to school but my mom was in a position where she was moving around a lot to Arizona Louisiana Texas Georgia and then back and forth to California. So by the time it came time for me to graduate I did not have enough credits. And it was also because I realized what teachers and counselors deal with so many other students so that also gives you fight myself reasons to disengage. Instead of being embarrassed but not just to my work or joke around with my friends I was not engaged. Is connected other things instead of pay attention and try to ask questions. When your class graduated what did you do? I was emotional and depressed about the. Me and a position to where I had to find a plan B. I know I cannot graduate but I want to make a go to graduate the next year. I was really determined to get my diploma. This for my time in many pursuits that are not adding to their future. They can get to risky behavior or bad influences or bad groups and that's why this is so important because it is such a vulnerable and important time of life to be able to be engaged in the system and we have great examples like Naomi where she showed the resilience and the great to want to get back in but many can be so discouraged that they cannot get that job or finish school and then they are at that dangerous point where they don't know where to go next and they learn the skills that they will learn from osmosis through the soft essential skills of working with others and just getting into a job is an important and huge first step in order to find the first step. Naomi did you find a good program? A good friend so the parts that my mom did not feel. I said what should I do. I did not tell you about this and you can actually go to school and work. When I came in for orientation I was going to school for two days out of the week because they have a charter school in the facility. And now you have helped other young people find jobs? How I got to where I am now is their connections. Is I applied You have been with us since last June and mentoring other young adults is great because she can't share her experience and find that what they want to do. She on the other coaches who are there connecting to find their way. We thank her for her great service. I know you are excited about this summit tomorrow. Is is bringing about the community to look at this particular problem of disconnect youth. Where very excited about it. This is our first attempt for an annual summit that we will pull together. The number is high and we have to bring that down we will leave the land show the country how to do this. We know this is a crisis and it is an opportunity. That is why the term is now opportunity you versus disconnected youth. This is our opportunity to change this issue and flip the script as we call it and to help them on their way. When we do that we all win as a region. I've been speaking with Peter the president and CEO of the San Diego workforce partnership and Naomi. Thank you.
There are 43,000 young people between the ages of 16-24 who are disconnected in San Diego County. That means they are not working or going to school, according to a new report by the San Diego Workforce Partnership.
The report, which is based on an analysis of the 2015 American Community Survey, shows almost 10 percent of the county’s youth are disconnected from school or work. Experts say that puts them at higher risk for poverty and unemployment.
“There are a lot of different reasons for why young adults are disconnected. It could be that they’re in transition or they’ve finished school but they haven’t yet landed a job and don’t know where to go to get into the workforce,” said Peter Callstrom, president and CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership.
Nationwide, 12 percent of young people were disconnected in 2015, that's down from 15 percent in 2010, according to the nonprofit, Measure of America.
A youth summit will be held Thursday to address the needs of these teens and young adults.
Youth, parents, employers, nonprofits, educators and elected officials are scheduled to attend the summit to come up with ways to engage young people through school and job training programs.
Callstrom and Naomi Moore, who has experienced being disconnected, discussed the challenges facing young adults in San Diego County, Wednesday on Midday Edition.
