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Sarasota News Leader June 14, 2013 Page 64 SARASOTA COUNTY AIMS TO GET YOUTH READY BY 21 Leaders from six Florida communities have accepted a challenge from a national nonprofit to build new ways to get their young people "ready by 21" for college, work and life, Community Youth Development has announced. The Washington-based Forum for Youth Investment has selected Sarasota County, Orlando, Pinellas County/St. Petersburg, Hillsborough County/Tampa, Palm Beach County and Broward County to participate in the Florida Community Challenge, "which provides training on how to fundamentally improve youth services and supports through the collective impact of organizations that work with young people," a news release says. Teams of leaders from each community — including mayors, city council members, department heads, program providers, United Way representatives and business leaders — will participate in a two-day training institute in Tampa June 19-20 and in an interactive webinar, the release adds. The teams "will receive ongoing technical assistance as they assess the state of their services for children and youth, then build their capacity to deliver a single, cohesive set of community-wide supports for children and families," the release adds. Gaines, the Forum's vice president for policy solutions, in the release. "We here in Sarasota County face many challenges in trying to make lasting change for children and youth," added Katie Knight, Sarasota area president for United Way Suncoast. "But we will overcome those challenges through innovation solutions, using better data and getting full participation from all stakeholders." "The leaders will use the Forum's Ready by 21® strategies to focus on forming lasting coalitions of stakeholders; setting bigger goals across a range of developmental areas (social, emotional, cognitive, physical, cultural and civic); using key indicators to track goals more efficiently; making better decisions based on comprehensive data; improving the quality of their programs for children and families; and aligning policies and resources to maximize their impact," the release continues. The Forum will provide the training at no cost as part of its mission, the release notes. It has carried out similar challenges in Tennessee and Virginia. "The Forum for Youth Investment (www.forumfyi.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan action tank dedicated to helping communities and "That cohesive effort is a dramatic shift from the nation make sure all young people are the way most counties and municipalities pro- ready by 21 — ready for college, work and vide services and programs," said Elizabeth life, the release says. % The Sarasota News Leader No-Nonsense Reporting