Our nation’s young people are standing at the precipice of disaster.

Today in America, 25 percent of our children are living in poverty…and yet we expect them to go to school, when we know they’re hungry. There are all sorts of other obstacles around mental health provision, physical health provision and getting to school safely – in addition to food security. And in many cases, we are dealing with homeless kids. They’re sleeping on couches and in shelters. And yet there is the expectation that when those kids walk through the school door, they are ready to learn.

We are in the midst of a high school dropout epidemic the likes of which this country has never seen. Every year, hundreds of thousands of children are faced with cutting their educations short. They’re not receiving the resources that they need to focus on school and thrive academically, physically and socially. Dropping out is not something that affects children for a short period of time. It creates an uncertain future, putting them at greater risk of living in poverty, suffering from chronic unemployment and poor health, and being dependent on social services. In short, it creates an uncertain future for all of us. View full article »