News Highlights

Support systems for local youth declining, Social Work study shows

University study shows youth support systems are declining.

2009-11-25
By Tanner Kent, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 11/25/2009]

A research study released Tuesday on the social and emotional health of Mankato youth suggests the infrastructure that once earned national accolades is eroding.

Mankato and North Mankato have been included three times since 2005 in the 100 Best Communities for Young People as determined by the America’s Promise Alliance.

But the intent of the study, authored in collaboration between the Minnesota State University Department of Social Work, Mankato Area Healthy Youth and the Mankato YWCA, was to find out if the community was living up to that distinction.

“The findings,” said Paul Mackie, an MSU social work instructor and among the study’s authors, “were rather stark.”

Beginning in spring 2008, Mankato Area Healthy Youth began meeting with MSU instructors to craft a survey to determine the impact of state and federal aid reductions on local agencies that serve youth, beginning in 2002-03. Researchers collected responses from a dozen local agencies and then gathered local and state-level data on arrest rates, graduation rates and teen birth rates, among others.

According to the report, widespread reductions in client loads, staff and service programs have coincided with increases in unhealthy youth behavior.

For instance:

• The arrest rate for serious crimes (robbery, rape, etc.) committed by Mankato youth has reached the highest level this decade after several years of steady decline.
• The teen birth rate has been climbing since 2002.
• The number of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch has increased to nearly a third of all children in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties.
• The number of children in out-of-home placements in Blue Earth county exceeds state levels while Nicollet County now mirrors the state level.

And while authors cautioned against drawing a “causal connection” between noticeable decreases in funding level and increases in risky behaviors, MSU social work instructor Nancy Fitzsimons said it’s a connection “worth looking at.”

Fitzsimons, the study’s lead author, said funding for youth enrichment programs began drying up in 2003 during a state budget deficit similar to this year’s. Since then, she said, nearly every agency participating in the survey said budget cuts have affected their ability to provide services; most of them have reduced staff in response.

For the complete Free Press story, go to http://www.mankatofreepress.com/local/local_story_328205016.html.

For more Free Press news go to www.mankatofreepress.com.

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