Ready by 21 Presented at CYFAR Conference

On May 19, Lawrence Pasti presented a workshop, The Ready by 21 Challenge: So All Youth Are Ready for College, Work and Life, at the 2009 annual The Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Conference that was held in Baltimore, MD. This session focused on expanding "big picture thinking" and emphasized how the Ready by 21 ideas and framework could fit with the work of CYFAR programs and local cooperative extension offices. The CYFAR Program allocates funding to land-grant university extension services for community-based programs for at-risk children and their families. The CYFAR Program is based on research on effective programs for at-risk youth and families and on the human ecological principle of working across the lifespan in the context of the family and community.

CYFAR promotes building resiliency and protective factors in youth, families, and communities. CYFAR supports collaboration forming lasting partnerships to achieve greater outcomes and to provide a support base for sustaining programs for those at risk. These principles align with the Ready by 21 Approach.