From Wednesday, March 16 through Friday, March 18, city, education and national experts will gather in Dubuque to provide perspectives on how to re-engage the millions of youth and young adults in Dubuque and other cities across the country that have not graduated from high school.
Approximately 150 dropout re-engagement experts from 14 different states will convene in Dubuque to discuss policies and strategies for dropout re-engagement. Attendees will learn about Dubuque’s re-engagement landscape and explore ways to link re-engagement efforts with workforce development and Opportunity Youth strategies.
“Dubuque hosting this event highlights the success of the Re-engage Dubuque program and the great work of the partners facilitating the program,” said Dubuque Mayor Roy D. Buol. “Dubuque is honored to host this gathering and bring together people from across the country to learn best practices and improve the efforts in re-engaging youth.”
Juvenile justice and education experts and staff from across Iowa and the US will gather at a pre-convening seminar to discuss ways to smooth pathways back to school for justice-involved youth, by special arrangement with the Council of State Governments Justice Center, Iowa Department of Human Rights and the Iowa Department of Education.
“The fifth annual Reengagement Plus! Convening—taking place in the Midwest for the first time this week—promises to energize the front line practitioners and policymakers who bring students back to America’s schools every day, and to offer lessons and strategies that others can pick up, nationwide,” said Andrew Moore, program director for the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families.
The conference is coordinated by the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families with support from the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, the Dubuque Community School District, Northeast Iowa Community College and the City of Dubuque. Funding for the conference was generously provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Youth Transition Funders Group-Multiple Pathways to Graduation Working Group and the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions.
Re-engage Dubuque was started in 2012 when the Community Foundation’s Project HOPE initiative convened the Dubuque Community School District, Northeast Iowa Community College and other partners to develop the program based on nationwide best practices. Since then, Re-engage Dubuque has connected with 308 high school dropouts. As a result, 39 students have earned a high school diploma and 56 have completed a high school equivalency diploma (HSED).