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Youth 411: Youth in the NewsVolume 2, Number 2, January 16-31, 2007 Contents STATE WATCH
RESEARCH
GOVERNMENT
ARTICLES AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION "Every day, approximately 4,000 young people try smoking for the first time," said Matt McKenna, MD, MPH, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "Counter-marketing campaigns like truth(R) are effective in reducing tobacco use and an essential component of evidence-based tobacco prevention and control programs." Reaching all youth is especially important for Legacy, given that more than 80 percent of smokers start before they turn 18 years old. And in late December, the University of Michigan reported in its annual health findings, Monitoring the Future, that the historic decline in daily smoking among younger U.S. teens has ended. This alarming public health news underscores the need for this increased dose of truth(R). "We must overcome the toll tobacco is taking on American youth," foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H., said. "While we'll never be able to match Big Tobacco's current spending on marketing, we know that the truth(R) campaign is effective counter-marketing to the $41 million that the tobacco industry spends -- every single day in the United States -- to encourage Americans to smoke its addictive products." truth(R) advertising will increase in 18 states, with outreach focusing on surrounding smaller communities that have less exposure to truth(R) because of low cable television penetration. The states -- all part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between attorneys general and the tobacco industry -- also showed high numbers of teens and high youth smoking prevalence rates above the national average. truth(R) remains the only national tobacco-prevention campaign not directed by the tobacco industry. Research published in the March 2005 edition of the American Journal of Public Health credited the campaign with 22 percent of the decline in youth smoking in the campaign's first two years (2000-2002). New research shows industry-sponsored anti-smoking campaigns actually can motivate youth to start smoking, not stop. Research has shown that anti-smoking ads that convey thought-provoking, believable messages and evoke strong reactions, elicit higher recall and increased perception of effectiveness among teens.(1,2,3,4) To reach the target demographic of sensation-seeking teens who are most at risk of smoking, ads must be not only memorable, but also be hard-hitting. truth(R) borrows heavily from actual tobacco industry documents to share the truth at its most basic level, and to educate youth about marketing tactics the industry uses to attract new customers. One truth(R) ad that will air as a result of this grant is called Singing Cowboy: Opens with a man dressed as a cowboy riding a horse down a busy city CDC funds for grant year 2007 are being matched 2.3 to 1 by the American Legacy Foundation. The federal share of the money accounts for 30 percent, or $1.2 million, of the total funds being used for the youth tobacco prevention project. The remaining 70 percent will be the matching, non-federal share provided by the foundation, for approximately $2.8 million. The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation's programs include truth(R), a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX(SM), an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/. 
MISSOURI Boys & Girls Town of Missouri said Thursday that it was awarded $250,000 in state tax credits through the state Youth Opportunities Program to continue renovations of its campus in Columbia, Mo. Authorized through the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the tax credits are designed to broaden and strengthen opportunities for positive development in community life for youth. Boys & Girls Town said in a release that the tax credits will help fund the renovation of two residential buildings to house 24 additional at-risk children and the renovation of a dining hall/activity center. Boys & Girls Town of Missouri, which purchased the property and cottages of the former Woodhaven Learning Center at South Bearfield Road in Columbia, Mo., in 2004, began renovating the facilities to provide services to at-risk children from Central Missouri, according to a release. Currently, 24 area children reside at the campus. A $3.5 million capital campaign is under way to complete the campus, and donations of $2.3 million recently were announced, the organization said. The YOP credits are available for gifts of $1,000 or more made after Jan. 1, 2007. The credits can then be applied directly to the donor's Missouri tax bill. The Missouri Department of Economic Development administers the Youth Opportunities Program. Boys & Girls Town of Missouri provides programs and services for children with emotional and behavioral problems.
MASSACHUSETTS After years of focused efforts to combat teen pregnancy, Pittsfield still faces a rate that is far higher than the Massachusetts average. And while the state and nation are seeing a steady decline in births to teens, Pittsfield has watched its number rise. In 2005, there were 52.7 babies born in Pittsfield for every 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 years old, according to statistics released last week by the state Department of Public Health. That was a 13.6 percent increase from the year before, when the rate was 46.4 per 1,000. Statewide, the pregnancy rate was 21.7 per 1,000, a decline of 2.25 percent from the year before. Why is Pittsfield's pregnancy rate so stubborn? Social workers, charitable organizations and educators say the problem is stuck in a complex web of socioeconomic factors that are resistant to prevention programs and educational efforts. And the frustration is showing in some quarters. Former state Rep. Peter J. Larkin, D-Pittsfield, kept a steady flow of funding to the city's prevention programs while on Beacon Hill. Even as budgets were being cut statewide from 2000 to 2003, Pittsfield's total remained steady; one year, the city received 20 percent of the entire state spending on pregnancy prevention. "I have watched this now for 15 years, and I couldn't be more disappointed in the results," Larkin said. "This should mobilize a community, and it isn't a matter of money, it isn't a matter of someone getting paid to do it, it is a matter of identifying young girls at risk." Larkin said publicly what some officials have long said privately: Many teen girls are being victimized by drug dealers who move to the city and set up house with a local girl. Once a baby enters the picture, so does state-financed housing, allowing dealers a place to base their operation. These "drug cliques" are targeting young girls, Larkin said, "which is not something that extending some after-school hours is going to solve, but that is what the (Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy) is doing. It takes more than that." The Coalition to Prevent Teen Pregnancy was designed to be a multiagency approach to the problem. Run by the Berkshire Area Health Education Center, or AHEC, it received $400,000 from the state this year, most of which is being spent in Pittsfield by the public schools and the Red Cross, and in North Adams by the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. AHEC executive director Timothy Diehl said the social service agencies and schools are not standing still. They are embarking on a countywide effort to improve conditions for youth, hoping to ease teen pregnancy and a host of other problems. "The hard part is that, for a lot of teens, getting pregnant actually makes sense for them," Diehl said. "It is the one thing they can do that they can have control over and develop a life of their own and be in a relationship where there is affection. The community has to tell them that there is a better way." Social workers, educators and leaders of charitable organizations say the culture must change. Rather than looking at teen pregnancy as a stand-alone issue, it must be seen amid the totality of youth problems — substance abuse, violence and anti-social behavior. "This isn't just about teen pregnancy, it isn't just about substance abuse or illegal firearms," said Jim Cieslar, president of the Berkshire United Way. "This is about youth development. If we can get kids to bond with their community and develop properly, all these problems are going to go down." Cieslar and others liken this to the movement to encourage seat belt use or to reduce smoking: Both were successful because they became cultural phenomena that made wearing a seat belt or not smoking the norm. Berkshire social service agencies recently unveiled an initiative to improve youth development throughout the county. Armed with a survey of 2,800 middle- and high-school students, they have identified what they believe are the risk factors that cause problems, and the so-called protective factors that could prevent them. A risk factor might be exposure to violence from a parent, a tolerant attitude toward drugs among one's friends or poor academic performance. A protective factor is something positive — opportunities to be involved in a community or afterschool activity, a sense that participation in those activities will be rewarded, and a belief in right and wrong, for example. The survey found that Berkshire County youth are exposed to too many risk factors and not enough protective factors. Al Bashevkin, the head of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, said the answer is to make a better community for young people. "Why are kids getting pregnant? That's what we have to think about," Bashevkin said. "They say we are not being seen, we are not being acknowledged, and we are not being supported for the good efforts that we make." But others say there is still little work being done to determine why teen girls are having babies and what would have helped them make a different choice. The survey of 2,800 children was given to middle- and high-school students at the mainstream public schools, not to the moms attending the special Teen Parent Program or to those who have dropped out to raise their children. "Our school-system policies toward at-risk children have not changed," said Judy Williamson, who ran the Teen Parent Program for four years. "Their efforts are to improve test scores, and they are very outcome-driven. But this problem is so endemic that it really bears looking at." The Pittsfield schools are now trying to tackle teen pregnancy with a revised health curriculum for the eighth and 10th grades called "Making Proud Choices." It is being funded largely with a $120,000 grant administered by AHEC. Williamson suggested it will take more than a changed health curriculum to combat teen pregnancy, and that the prevention agencies and the schools must pay closer attention to the girls who are obviously at risk. "Every girl that came into my program hated school. They were not unintelligent, but many had significant gaps in their education," she said. "If school is not a place where girls are getting their needs met, they are going to look elsewhere."
BOSTON Now, an officer patrols the area. And the teenagers have come up with a bigger idea: Why not have a regular meeting, so young people can bring their concerns to city officials and police? Today at the Tobin-Mission Hill Community Center, in the first such meeting , dozens of Boston teenagers are expected to talk to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, state Representative Jeffrey Sanchez, Councilor Michael P. Ross, and area police officers. The youths say they want to open up communication with police on neighborhood issues, particularly in Mission Hill. "I think it's really going to work," said Sergio Roque, 18. "I know a lot of teenagers in the area that have a lot of problems and just want to let things out, and this is a way for them to do that and create a safer neighborhood." Although the youths will hold meetings among themselves more frequently , community leaders and police representatives are expected to attend the sessions only every other month. The youths say that teenagers sometimes do not entirely trust the police to help protect them. They are trying to work with authorities, even as their culture often condemns cooperating with police. "We hear it in our music, 'Stop snitching.' They have the shirts, 'Stop snitching,' " said 19-year-old Rafael Feliciano. "Let's be real. We're living in the 'hood. People don't want to put themselves out there. It's a safety thing." The meeting organizers say they chose the name Youth NOISE, for Neighborhood Outreach for Inner Street Empowerment, because the meetings will focus on crime prevention, rather than telling police who is committing crimes. Arlenys Diaz, 16, said she never trusted police before working with them, because she felt she had been singled out when wearing baggy clothing. Now, she says, she understands that sometimes people are hiding items in their clothes and that youths and police should treat each other with respect. "They don't treat us right, because we don't treat them right," Diaz said. Sanchez, who grew up in Mission Hill, credited the youths for helping reduce violence there in recent years through community programming. "They're being proactive on the violence issue," he said. Added police Captain Paul Russell, whose jurisdiction includes Mission Hill: "This partnership's a shining example of how to improve community relations." The youths, who represent the community organizations Sociedad Latina and MissionSAFE, asked for police help in stopping numerous fights that would occur when students from Madison Park High, New Mission High, and Brighton High converged on Tremont Street after school. Youth leaders and staff at Sociedad Latina said they became fed up last month after a group of their middle school students were nearly swept up in a fight among 15 teenagers in front of the agency's office on Tremont Street in Mission Hill. Some of the students knew the teenagers, and wanted to watch the altercation . Staff quickly ushered them into the building before the teenagers dispersed, said Melissa Luna, director of community organizing. "They were hitting each other, people were kicking," Luna said. "Youth leaders and other people confirmed that they had seen a gun. That was one of the things that we were concerned about."
TENNESSEE The Day Foundation awarded the nonprofit agency Youth Villages $1.5 million that the state will match so teenagers in foster care can better make the transition into healthy self-sufficiency when they reach age 18 and leave the system. Bredesen made the announcement at the Youth Villages facility at 3320 Brother Blvd., where he joined Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, philanthropist Clarence Day and a standing-room-only crowd of other local and state officials and youth development advocates. Through the transition program put in place in 1999 with the support of another Day Foundation grant, Youth Villages already helps about 200 young adults find jobs, affordable housing and health care, as well as complete high school and attend college. The grant will provides those services and mentoring to about 300 more teenagers. Karen Miller, president of the American Bar Association, said her group will be a part of the mentoring program. Viola Miller, commissioner of the state Department of Children's Services, said the expanded program is a next-step complement to the child mentoring program that Bredesen announced last week for younger teenage children who are still in foster care.
CAFETERIA OPTIONS Among those at the morning meeting in the White House Roosevelt Room were the president of McDonald's USA, purveyor of the Happy Meal; a senior executive of Kraft Foods, which sells macaroni and cheese in the shapes of popular children's characters; and the chief executive of PepsiCo., maker of soft drinks and Doritos, among other products. "Childhood obesity is a costly problem for the country," Bush said before starting the private meeting, which also included first lady Laura Bush. "We believe it is necessary to come up with a coherent strategy to help folks all throughout our country cope with the issue." As described by those present, the meeting was cordial and the president signaled no intent to pursue more aggressive policies favored by some consumer groups, such as banning the marketing of junk food to children or requiring more detailed nutritional labeling. Bush told the executives that it is an individual's responsibility to maintain a healthful diet, not the government's. The meeting also included executives of entertainment companies involved with marketing to children. Peggy Conlon, president of the Advertising Council, which has been working with the government on public service campaign on childhood obesity, said the president is very interested in the efforts some of the companies have been making to offer more healthful choices to Americans. McDonald's, for instance, has been adding salads and other alternative products to its menu and giving people the option of substituting apple slices for french fries in Happy Meals. "He was curious," Conlon said of Bush. "They talked a lot about their movement to healthier product choices." The group also played for the president a public service announcement developed by Dreamworks and the Ad Council featuring the characters from the hit movie "Shrek" urging kids to get outside and play. Childhood obesity has been identified by public health advocates as a serious and growing problem, with roughly 15 to 18 percent of children and teenagers considered overweight, according to government data. A 2005 report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that marketing practices from the food and beverage industry is "a direct threat to the health prospects of the next generation." Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David A. Kessler, who crusaded against the tobacco industry, applauded the president's initiative to discuss the issue but said: "That still leaves the question of what to do. Talking about it is a first step. It is a very large public health challenge, the consequences of which we have only begun to understand. In some ways we have all been AWOL on this issue, including this administration." Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, was more skeptical. "It is a feel-good event for a beleaguered White House, and it's great for some of the companies that have been major contributors to childhood obesity." But he added: "The government needs to put some muscle into [the campaign] and maybe step on some toes."
NEW MEXICO One of the few studies examining methods to help homeless youth found that a comprehensive intervention program can indeed dramatically improve their life situation. The six-month study of homeless youth in Albuquerque found that teens who completed the program significantly reduced their substance abuse and depression and increased their social stability, including the number of days living off the streets, compared to those who received standard treatment. "Homeless youth are often seen as difficult to engage and difficult to treat," said Natasha Slesnick, lead author of the study and associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State University. "But what this study shows is that we can be successful in helping a group that is often seen as unreachable. We can successfully reduce their alcohol and drug use, and improve their social stability and psychological functioning." The results are important, Slesnick said, because few previous studies have tried to determine how to best help homeless youth who are not with parents or other guardians. Up to two million youth are estimated to leave home prematurely each year, an estimate that is probably too low, she said. Slesnick conducted the study with Jillian Prestopnik and Robert Meyers of the University of New Mexico and Michael Glassman, associate professor of human development and family science at Ohio State. Their results appear online and will be published in a future issue of the journal Addictive Behaviors. The researchers studied 180 youth aged 14 to 22 who used a drop-in center for homeless youth in Albuquerque between 2001 and 2005. All the youth completed written inventories that probed drug use, social stability and depression. About half received "treatment as usual" and the other half were enrolled in a program called a "Community Reinforcement Approach." In the treatment as usual, youth who stopped by the drop-in center were offered food, a place to rest and the opportunity to meet with case managers who helped connect them with counseling and other services that they needed. This is the standard treatment for homeless youth around the country, Slesnick said. The CRA program offered a more comprehensive treatment involving 12 individual therapy sessions and four HIV education/skills practice sessions. The therapy sessions were adapted for teens who lived on the streets, Slesnick said. The first goal was to stabilize their situation, and help them address the basic needs of food, shelter and safety. The sessions then focused on goals that the youth themselves saw as most important in their lives. The counselor helped them address coping, skills development, and the steps needed to achieve their goals. "The youth then had to apply these skills in the real world, maintain those skills, and see how they could improve their own situation," Slesnick said. One of the keys to the success of this program is that it was created specifically for homeless youth, she said. For example, many of the youth did not have scheduled appointments, but could stop at the drop-in center during open hours. If their counselor was available, they could see them immediately. If not, the youth could wait at the center until their counselor was free. The youth were tested three months and six months after beginning treatment. The teens in both groups - treatment as usual and CRA - showed improvements after six months, the study showed. But those in the CRA program did significantly better. The youth assigned to CRA showed a 37 percent reduction in drug and alcohol abuse, compared to just a 17 percent reduction for the others. Depression scores dropped 40 percent for those in CRA and 23 percent for those who received treatment as usual. Finally, the youth in CRA showed a 58 percent increase in social stability, compared to only 13 percent for those in the other group. Social stability was measured by the number of days they spent off the street, or in school, or working, or receiving medical care. Slesnick said these results showed that communities can be successful in helping homeless youth. "While the CRA program was successful, I think what we do in treatment is less important than the process," she said. "The content is not as important as having these teens come in and talk to a therapist and develop a new, positive experience with an adult. That is what they really need." And the cost of such a program is much less than it costs to keep youth in the criminal justice system, where many of them may end up if left untreated. One study in Colorado suggests it costs about $5,887 to permanently move a homeless youth off the streets, while it cost $53,665 to maintain a youth in the criminal justice system for a year. "A little money now will pay off in the long term in integrating these homeless youth back into society," Slesnick said.
MICHIGAN Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. The study is funded under a series of investigator-initiated competing research grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse and is being conducted at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Resources: For further information about the study, visit http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/.
MASSACHUSETTS As I approached the Shubert Theatre on Jan. 4 there was a line of high school students dressed in suits and slacks around the corner. They, like me, were some of the students lucky enough to be chosen as delegates to Deval Patrick’s Youth Inaugural. There was a jittery air of excitement, no one knowing quite what to expect from the event. Once inside, Governor Patrick took the time to talk with us, a small percentage of the youth in the commonwealth, in a day jam packed with swearing-ins on the statehouse stairs and a black tie dinner and inaugural ball later that night. Before the Governor arrived we were treated to the national anthem sung by Major Choir Boy Johnson, flamingo music on the guitar by Gigory Goryachev, a dance performance by OrigiNation and interactive theatre with Medicine Wheel Performing Arts, all of whom were youth. The centerpiece of the event was the conversation with the governor. Ron Bell, who was MCing the event, would pose a question and a student from each level of the theatre would answer, or ask the governor their own question if they wanted. I found Governor Patrick personable, which was no surprise, but more real than I expected from a newly elected governor sitting less than 200 feet away on a stage. When one young woman talked about a program that had allowed her many travel opportunities Governor Patrick asked if she had ever been to the State House. When she told him she hadn’t he suggested she stop by and see him some time. She said something about being very busy and he joked that he’d be willing to work around her busy schedule. Civic Engagement isn’t just something Governor Patrick preaches, he’s serious about it. He’s the first Massachusetts governor to devote a portion of his inaugural to hearing what youth have to say about everything from education, to what community programs work, to the environment. Those are just some of the issues that were discussed. Youth civic engagement was clearly illustrated by the many youth, three of whom attend or are graduates of Somerville High that were staffing the event. This in itself is a tribute to the action he inspires because of the authenticity of his message. Governor Patrick is a strong believer that young people are the future and is genuinely interested in our feedback. He has partnered with Social Capital, Inc. and they have dedicated a website, www.massyouth.org, as a youth forum for teens around the state to voice their ideas and opinions. I encourage everyone to take this as a personal invitation from the Governor to get involved and if you’re already involved, stay involved. As was emphasized at this inaugural, we must stay informed, have an opinion, and then act. Somerville High School has an active student government where students come to voice their opinions about school and community issues as well take part in decision making regarding important high school matters.
CALIFORNIA Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year more than triples the state’s investment in the Transitional Housing Placement-Plus program (THP-Plus) from $4.8 million to $15.4 million, increasing the number of youth served annually from 200 to more than 1,000. Additionally, it provides an $11.9 augmentation for the current fiscal year. “This is giving foster kids in California the chance they deserve. Without it, they would end up poor, unemployed or in jail. That’s a waste of money and most importantly, it’s an undue punishment to someone who never did anything wrong in the first place,” said John Burton, the retired President Pro Tem of the California State Senate, in a release. Burton established a foundation in 2004 that advocates foster care reform. The Transitional Housing Placement-Plus Program is a program that provides affordable housing and supportive services to youth, age 18 to 24, to help them make a successful transition from foster care. It offers a wide-range of services, such as educational counseling, job search assistance, banking and budgeting education and case management. But the program has not yet been developed in Placer and Nevada Counties because of cost. Last fiscal year, the reach of THP-Plus was limited, with only five counties implementing the program, according to Rachel Pena, program manager for Child Welfare Services in Nevada County. A key barrier to statewide implementation was a 60 percent share of cost requirement for counties, which was removed in June 2006 with the passage of the state budget bill, Pena said. With the additional investment proposed in the governor’s budget, 48 counties will implement the program, assisting more that 1,000 homeless youth annually. “What we envision is to provide emergency housing for emancipating foster youth who identify themselves as needing this service,” said Richard Knecht, interim director of Placer County’s Children’s System of Care. “Housing and some social support would certainly be available in the [Truckee-Tahoe area] and we anticipate that there are kids there that need these services.” Through the Transition Housing Placement-Plus program, which should be up and running in both Placer and Nevada counties this year, former foster youth will receive 24 months of individualized assistance. “They may start out paying zero toward their rent, and by the end they should be able to maintain their situation without outside assistance,” said Cynthia Brundage, Placer County program manager and licensed clinical social worker. “The program is focused on what they want. If they want to get a degree at Sierra College, for example, we would want to find a home for them near the campus.” By design, any person who enters and completes the THP-Plus program will exit with a myriad of life skills, said Knecht. “The natural supports that should be in place don’t exist for foster kids. THP-Plus helps them create those supports and to put some resources in place while they get the training they need,” Knecht said. “We are very confident that this program will assist kids to come out in a place of autonomy.”
OHIO Instruction in personal finance is set to begin in 2010 but could start earlier if new state Treasurer Rich Cordray has his way. When he was Franklin County treasurer, Cordray tallied the trail of home foreclosures, delinquent property taxes and other forms of financial ruin that affect thousands of Ohio families. He decided one way to help was to get children savvy in the ways of money before life had a chance to do it for them. "I realized, as people came through and told us their stories, how many people simply got into trouble because they just weren't very good at managing their money and nobody had ever helped them," he said. "They didn't get it in school. Some of them didn't learn it from their parents or learned very poor lessons from their parents." Cordray worked the last four years with Columbus Public Schools to educate high-schoolers about credit, savings and budgeting. He wants those lessons to go statewide sooner than required. "There's no reason we should be missing out on another round of high-school students," Cordray told a volunteer committee of banking executives, educators, public officials and others he assembled to form a strategy for teaching personal finance. The committee held its first informal meeting last week. Ohio is one of 48 states with at least some form of classroom instruction in money management, said Heather Morton, who tracks banking for the National Conference of State Legislatures. She said a spike in foreclosures and failed loans in the 1990s grabbed lawmakers' attention. "All of these issues that are coming home show that individuals aren't getting it. They're not getting it at home and they're not getting it at school," Morton said. Some states are reaching beyond high schools to make financial education a lifelong endeavor. Pennsylvania, for instance, has a Web site for its Department of Banking with links geared to grade-school kids. Need to find a financial education service in Harrisburg? Click on Buck the Dog to fetch it. Morton said 17 states require a specific course in personal economics. In Ohio, the instruction will be required as part of a math or social studies class, said Stan Heffner, associate superintendent for curriculum and assessment at the Ohio Department of Education. The specific subjects were written by Ohio teachers and based on what's been successful elsewhere, Heffner said. They include how demand in the labor market affects how much money you make, the role of a person as a producer, consumer, worker and investor, the consequences of budget choices and how interest rates affect savers and borrowers. School is a natural setting for such learning because parents, who often have painful financial histories, feel uncomfortable teaching it, said Laura Levine, director of the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a financial education group backed by banks, credit-card companies and other financial institutions. "I've heard personal finance described as sex education for the 21st century. It's the topic nobody wants to talk about. Parents are hoping their kids are learning this at school. Teachers are hoping they're learning it at home," Levine said. Cordray plans to develop training centers for teachers with the help of banks and college programs. "What can we do to put people in a better position to make better choices for themselves, to stay out of trouble?" he said.
GEORGIA The statute, which took effect Jan. 1, is known as Joshua's Law - named for 17-year-old Joshua Brown of Cartersville, who died in 2003 after his truck hydroplaned on a wet road and hit a tree. Under the state law passed in 2005, 16-year-olds can't get a license until they take 30 hours of classroom instruction and have 40 hours of driving experience supervised by a parent or a certified driving instructor. Only about half of the state's 159 counties have driver's education programs licensed by the state - either in a high school or through a private company - and they are especially scarce in rural areas. Generally about 60,000 of the state's 16-year-olds do not take driver's education, which means those teens will have to find somewhere to get trained if they want to drive before their 17th birthdays, at which time the training is no longer required for them. "It's kind of a supply and demand problem," said Mark Ausburn, who teaches the only driver's education program in Habersham County in the mountains of northeast Georgia. "We're getting calls from students in other counties and homebound students. We can't even cover our own students, much less everybody else." The program - offered through Habersham Central High School - provides 13 driver's education classes each year, but it only serves about 300 students. And like many rural school districts, Habersham County can't afford to hire another driver's education instructor. Anticipating that driver's ed programs would see increased demand under the law, the state licensed two private companies to provide online courses and tacked a 5 percent surcharge on all traffic fines to help fund driver's education. The revenue from that surcharge began accruing Jan. 1, and the Georgia Driver's Education Commission hasn't decided yet exactly how the money will be spent, said Susan Sports, spokeswoman for the state Department of Driver's Services. The state also is seeing a jump in the number of driver's education companies and schools applying for licenses. Last year, the state certified 67 new instructors, compared to 17 the previous year. Nine schools also received the OK to start driver's ed programs in 2006, when the previous year there were only two. And right now the state is reviewing 83 applications for new instructors and 10 applications for new driver's ed schools, Sports said. In the meantime, some schools are beefing up their existing programs to meet the new demand. Deerfield-Windsor School - one of three places offering driver's education in Dougherty County in southwest Georgia - is adding another section of its class, which will double enrollment to 80. Instructor Gordy Gruhl said he started getting calls about the summer classes even before Christmas, which is unusual. "We've started getting them a lot earlier and from a lot of people," he said. "If I wanted to, I could probably work all summer." Taggart's Driving School, which has nine classroom sites in metro Atlanta and works with some area schools, expects a 25 percent increase in business this year, especially during the busy summer months. President J. Barry Schrenk said he is unsure how many students will apply for Taggart's online course. Melissa Savage, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, called Joshua's Law "innovative." Most states have enacted graduated driver's licenses where students who take driver's education can move faster from phase to phase, but few states actually require driver's education for all 16-year-olds, she said. Trey Bryant, 15, who took a driving lesson Wednesday at the Taggart's location in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker, said the driver's ed requirement is a good idea but admits that most of his friends see it as a hassle. "People are crazy when they get behind the wheel, so they need some other training other than their parents," the Lilburn resident said.
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