One central component of the Healthy Youth/Healthy Regions initiative is an analysis of a wide-range of secondary data that can give us a better understanding of the current patterns of youth opportunity in the region and the implications of these patters for the overall social, economic, and personal health of the region.  The analysis has three central goals:

• To document social and spatial disparities, including a detailed analysis of race, gender, immigration status, and geographic dimensions of those disparities;

• To identify factors associated with disparities, recognizing the multi-dimensional and inter-connected processes that shape outcomes for youth across our four broad areas of analysis;

• To analyze implications of disparities for the overall health of the region, including the social, economic, and personal health costs of inequality as well as the potential gains for the overall health of the region when those disparities are successfully addressed.

Educational attainment: Scholars examining student educational success have identified a variety of both 'in-school' and 'out-of-school' factors influencing the academic experiences of particularly students of color and low-income students.  The educational dimension of this project will provide an investigation of the trends in educational inputs and outcomes for schools in the Sacramento region, but it will do so while also paying attention to the many non-school factors shaping educational outcomes.

• Outcomes: High school drop-out rates and graduate rates; A-G course completion rates; high school exit exam passing rates; community college enrollment figures, including both academic and vocational programs; community college to university transfer rates.

• Inputs: Financial resources, teacher quality, facilities, information resources (e.g., college eligibility requirements, financial aid, academic support, counseling and other support services), curricular offerings and indicators of school climate.

Labor market attachment: Our goal is to understand the different labor market opportunities and career trajectories for youth in the Sacramento Region who don't graduate from high school, compared to those who do graduate from high school and those who go on to community college and other higher education, and to identify those potential career pathway opportunities where strategic investments in appropriate workforce development programs could help improve labor market outcomes for disadvantaged youth.

• Outcomes: Different levels of employment/unemployment; wage levels; employment patterns by industry and occupation.

• Inputs: Indicators of labor demand (e.g. industry/occupational change, career advancement patterns); indicators of labor supply (e.g. educational attainment by detailed geography and demographics); accessibility, including differing patterns of work-home linkages and location/availability of employment linkage intermediary services.

Civic Engagement: Engagement of youth in the broader patterns of governance in society in an important component of building pathways to opportunity.  This may include everything from membership in school clubs and afterschool activities, to sustained engagement in electoral and political advocacy campaigns.  There are a number of specific indicators that can give us insights into these patterns, including:

• Outcomes: Proportion of eligible and registered 18-24 year olds voting; youth participation in various community service and volunteer projects; number of youth-based organizations and community services in the region and in particular neighborhoods.

• Inputs: Availability of funding for youth programs; passage of particular bills/measures that support youth development; neighborhood cohesion.

Health Status: Physical and mental health are important components of successful transitions to adulthood. We know that health status is related to multiple dimensions of life, including socioeconomic status, education attainment, and risk behaviors.  Our approach will include an analysis of a range of health indicators across different spatial enumeration units within the region.

• Outcomes: Birth and mortality data, self-reported physical and mental health status, and behavioral risk factors such as early sexual activity, smoking and physical activity.  We will also develop a more comprehensive health status index from a combination of certain health conditions (e.g. levels of asthma and diabetes), and health behaviors (e.g. smoking, physical behavior).

• Inputs: Provider-to-population ratios, insurance status, community health centers, vulnerable populations (e.g. immigration status, low educational attainment, parent unemployment, parent mental health, disability), and environmental risk factors.