Education is the cornerstone of opportunity in America. It builds pathways, changes lives, and holds the promise of a brighter future. For my family, it has been the bridge that carried us from the American Nightmare to the American Dream. But make no mistake: that bridge is under attack. Public education--the very foundation of opportunity in…

For over 100 years, Cooperative Extension has served communities through local Extension agents with expertise in such topics as agriculture, youth development, and family and community health. In 2008, the Oregon State University Extension Service launched a pilot (Open Campus and Juntos) to broaden Extension's reach by placing agents with…

It is widely agreed that the relationship between poverty and education is bi-directional: poor people lack access to a decent education, and without the latter people are often constrained to a life of poverty (Van der Berg, 2008). Poverty as a "lifetime, and life-wide status" thus develops into a self-fulfilling prophecy that is…

The Reaching the Unreached--Scale-Up (RtU-S) project was launched in 2018 and completed in 2021. It was an extension of the Reaching the Unreached project (RtU) and sought to expand the success of the initial project in providing hard-to-reach women and girls with education and economic opportunities. RtU-S continued its activities in Bangladesh,…

Pakistan is considered to be the fifth largest young country in the world. Around 63 percent population of the country comprises youth aged between 15 and 33 (UN Population Fund Report 2017). Such a large young population has posed daunting challenges to the social, economic and political sectors of the state. The fast rising youth bulge of…

Digital knowledge and skills are needed to fully participate in the society and economy of the United States. The historic $65 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act represents a significant federal investment in advancing digital equity and inclusion, and an opportunity to make lasting change in communities across the country. This report…

Internships are widely perceived as a "high-impact practice" that opens the doors of opportunity for college students, yet little is known about obstacles to participation. Instead, educators and employers too often view participation as unproblematic, with many postsecondary institutions beginning to mandate internships for graduation…

Since 2001, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has been working with Atlanta's Southside communities to transform high-poverty city neighborhoods and help low-income families and children succeed. While some progress is being made, the gap between Atlanta's haves and have-nots remains immense. This report -- which is a follow-up to Casey's…

This article reports on a skills gap problem experienced in New England states where the economy has improved, but economic opportunity and skills gaps contribute to slower growth in employment, income, and social mobility. The article suggests ways to overcome this gap by building stronger bridges between education and employment…

Casey has invested in several southwest Atlanta communities for more than 10 years. This report explores how race and community of residence continue to create barriers that keep the city's kids, particularly those of color, from reaching their full potential. The report highlights three key areas that support or thwart children's healthy…

As states release draft Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plans for public comment, advocates and other stakeholders have an important opportunity to improve them. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is offering a list of questions, which is included in this document, to consider when reviewing state plans. These…

In resettlement countries like Canada, the United States, and Australia, research suggests that higher education is vital to ensure well-being, greater socioeconomic integration and inclusion, and successful settlement of refugee communities to make a positive contribution to society. Refugees across the globe have high educational aspirations and…

Low-income neighborhoods no longer experience the levels of community wide disinvestment that they did through the 1990s, but their residents still face significant poverty, risk of displacement, and limited economic mobility. For this reason, Change Capital Fund (CCF), a New York City donor collaborative, formed to invest in sophisticated…

The 2014 edition of "State of the South" features analysis of state and regional data and calls on the region to develop and implement purposeful policies and systemic practices--an "infrastructure of opportunity"--to bolster the prospects for its 15- to 24-year-olds to achieve economic resilience as adults and a fulfilling…

Centering the voices of immigrant youth, this qualitative study seeks to understand how students navigate living and learning in a new country, as well as the meaning they assign to their experiences. Areas of importance to immigrant youth, including the disruption of family and the sociopolitical context of education, are explored. While the…