UWKC — Reconnecting Youth
Photo courtesy of Reconnecting Youth / UWKC.
In King County, Wash., some 14,000 young people ages 16–24 are neither in school nor employed—a problem that’s worse for young people of color, who are pushed or pulled out of school at higher rates than their white peers. Reconnecting Youth, a program of United Way King County (UWKC), helps young people complete their education and achieve viable career paths through mentoring, emotional coaching, and connections to internships and part-time jobs.
The Remala Foundation supports Reconnecting Youth because it knows how important education is to future success and stability. Their support has helped to establish more than 20 reengagement programs; as of January 2021, those programs had reached more than 17,000 young people, more than 3,500 of whom went on to achieve a credential, such as a high school diploma or a GED.
“The Remala Foundation’s long-term support for United Way’s Reconnecting Youth initiative has been invaluable in dramatically increasing culturally relevant high school reengagement capacity in the region, providing flexible support for both program and individual student needs, and advocating for the policy changes needed as our state’s work in this arena matures and evolves,” says UWKC President and CEO Gordon McHenry, Jr. “Thousands of youth in our region have benefited from the Remala Foundation’s generous investment in United Way’s Reconnecting Youth initiative.”