A Connecticut youth group say they've lost contact with school or work, attributing the challenge to difficulties in accessing necessary support.
“There is a lot of youth that feel like they have nobody, no support, no help,” Ebony Byrd- Ellis, of Hartford, said.
Byrd-Ellis is part of the estimated 119,000 people in Connecticut between the ages of 14 and 26 who feel disconnected, according to a report in October from the Dalio Education Foundation.
But a group of nonprofits have presented a plan they say will help those youth reconnect.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
They’re asking for $50 million in funding for job training and education, support for people searching for jobs and subsidies for employers who hire disconnected youth.
“We've never had a comprehensive statewide plan that says these are the most important things we need to do,” United Way of Connecticut Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Development and Communication Amy Casavina Hall said.
The group said a $50 million boost in funding could help 5,000 people. The group also wants the state to track disconnected youth.
Local
Rep. Toni Walker, D-Connecticut, Appropriations Committee co-chair, said helping disconnected youth is a state priority.
“We have to do something for our kids, but it's not going to just be in the title of disconnected,” Walker said. “It’s going to be in education, it's going to be in housing, it's going to be in youth employment.”
Sen. Eric Berthel, R-Watertown, a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, agreed that the legislature must help young people who lose contact with school or work.
He also said the legislature needs to balance the plan with other requests for funding, though.
“You know, we don’t print money in the basement of the capitol,” Berthel said.
