In October 2023, Dalio Education, a grant foundation that engages with public school communities and provides funding to several nonprofits, released a report that said more than 119,000, or about 19%, of young people in Connecticut between the ages of 14 and 26 were “at risk” or “disconnected” in 2021-22.
The bill proposes the Department of Education partner with a nonprofit educational organization to launch a pilot program to assist high school students who are at risk of withdrawing from school or not graduating.
"The department shall select up to four school districts for participation in the pilot program," Raise Bill No. 1348 states.
In the Dalio report, “disconnected” youth were defined as high school graduates who are neither employed nor enrolled in higher education, high school non-graduates who were employed, young adults who had neither a high school diploma nor employment, and incarcerated individuals in that age group.
CCM was responsible for creating the 119K Commission in 2024 to take a close look at the 119,000 disconnected youth in Connecticut that were identified by the non-profit Dalio Education in their report, Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis.