BILL NUMBER: SB 803	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator DeSaulnier

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act relating to youth services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 803, as introduced, DeSaulnier. California youth leadership:
youth advocacy.
   Existing law establishes various programs to advocate for the
needs of seniors and other groups, including the Senior Legislature.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to amend this
bill to enact legislation that would establish the California Youth
Leadership Fund and the California Youth Leadership Project to
advocate for the needs of youth.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) The needs of California's youths can best be assessed by
California's youths.
   (2) There are over 9,000,000 youths under 19 years of age in
California, and an additional 3,000,000 more young adults between 18
and 24 years of age.
   (3) All young people need five key developmental resources in
order to become productive citizens: caring adults, safe places, a
healthy start, an effective education, and opportunities to help
others. Young people who receive more of these developmental
resources fare better than young people who receive fewer, and those
young people are more likely to avoid violence, contribute to their
communities, and achieve high grades in school. A significant number
of California's youths live disadvantaged lives. Of those youths, an
estimated 200,000 minors and thousands more youths 18 to 24 years of
age experience homelessness each year. Another 80,000 youths are in
the foster care system, over 2,500 youths in California currently
occupy juvenile justice facilities, and more than 3,000 youths are on
parole from those facilities. Youths who are homeless, in the
juvenile justice system, or in foster care have limited opportunities
to participate in the policy process that ultimately impacts their
well-being.
   (4) There are limited civic engagement opportunities for
disconnected and disadvantaged youths, especially opportunities
developed and designed for and with them in mind.
   (5) It is alarming that hundreds of thousands of California's
youths are among the two-thirds of America's children and youth
recently identified by the America's Promise Alliance as not
receiving sufficient developmental resources to safely put them on
the path to adulthood. It is also concerning that the high school
completion rate is less than 60 percent for low-income students and
students of color in California, that gang and youth violence
continue to be a concern, and, although birth rates to teen mothers
have decreased, that teen pregnancy and parenting continues to be a
significant social problem in California. It is encouraging, however,
that research indicates that providing more of the five
developmental resources for more young people can help prevent many
of these problems, and that millions of dollars in later prison,
health, and welfare costs can be avoided by providing more
developmental resources for more young people now.
   (6) America's Promise Alliance has called for greater
collaboration and integration in working to turn failure into action
and improve the lives of young people at risk. More than 20 states
have committed their state resources for the creation of statewide
entities charged with improving the developmental well-being of their
children and youth.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to amend this act to enact
legislation that would establish the California Youth Leadership
Fund and the California Youth Leadership Project to advocate for the
needs of youth.