To address this critical issue, the Foundation recently led a collaborative effort to create the first annual Ready for Life Nevada: Our Shared Youth Vision 2011 Youth Well-Being Report an unprecedented compilation of 27 key well-being indicators that affect youth statewide. The full report and a two-page summary are available at http://nvpef.org/dev/downloads.php. Please take a moment to read the document online or download it for later review. We welcome your comments and insight, and urge you to forward this information to others who have a vested interest in building a community ethic that values and nurtures youth and education.

You may have seen the recent press coverage that the report garnered statewide. With Nevada's flagging economy, historically low graduation rate, and high unemployment figures, the urgency to compile data around youth well-being becomes even more imperative and our communities statewide are taking notice. The report was recently featured on the KSNV-Channel 3's Face to Face With Jon Ralston Show as well as the front page of the Local Life section of the Reno Gazette Journal.

Report Exemplifies NPEF Collaborations; Highlights Quality of Life Indicators

Ready for Life is a movement of the NPEF that convenes youth-serving organizations across Nevada to identify the initiatives, policies and practices impacting quality of life for the state's youth. Ready for Life aims to connect local youth to education and/or employment by 25 years of age. The report was the result of a collaboration guided by the Ready for Life Nevada: Our Shared Youth Vision Statewide Council, composed of public and private leaders from various sectors across the state. The report contains data indicating both positive and negative trends statewide. For example, the child welfare indicator concluded that despite the Great Recession, child abuse and neglect declined between 2006 and 2010. And despite a previous downward trend in high school graduation, the rates are improving. But continuing challenges include children living in poverty (nearly 18 percent statewide) as well as their ability to connect to social service systems.