Welcome to the Catalyst’s Community Voices platform. We’ve curated community leaders and thinkers from all parts of our great city to speak on issues that affect us all. Visit our Community Voices page for more details.
In today’s world, the path to opportunity feels increasingly uncertain, for adults and especially for young people navigating school, society, and their future all at once.
Across the country, too many young people are falling behind or being left behind. Here in Tampa Bay, fewer than half of 8th graders in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties are reading at grade level, reflecting persistent academic gaps. Regionally, about one in 10 young people aged 16 to 24 remain disconnected from both school and work, a figure that, while improving, still represents thousands of kids and teens at risk of falling through the cracks…