Meeting an Urgent Need

Securing the future by empowering youth

Too many of our youth are struggling.

More than 100,000 young people across Connecticut are struggling with school attendance, behavior, and academic performance and are at high risk of failing in or dropping out of high school. Young adults who lack a high school diploma, are not in the workforce, or who have recently been incarcerated are less able to support themselves financially and often face multiple barriers to success including a lack of stable housing.

Answering a Call to Action

About 1 out of 5 high school students statewide are disengaged or disconnected. Each month, hundreds of young people return to their community from jail or prison. By helping today’s 63,000 disconnected young people to get back on track, Connecticut would save $400 million in costs and realize up to $350 million in additional tax revenues annually.

SOURCE: “Connecticut’s Unspoken Crisis: Getting young people back on track,” Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by Dalio Education, October 2023.

Risk factors for disengagement:

50-85% school attendance rate

Suspended or expelled

Documented behaviors that interfere with their progress; or

Aged out of high school and underemployed

Risk factors for disconnection:

Less than 50% school attendance rate

2 years over-age for grade level

Not in school AND not working; or

Recently incarcerated

Domus Participants

89% of the young people we serve have experienced at least 1 obstacle.*
The average young person we serve has experienced 3 obstacles.*

*For participants in our school engagement, workforce development, and community re-entry programs.

The top four obstacles experienced are:

Strained or no relationship with parent

Chronic lack of basic needs

Housing instability

Serious illness of caregiver or sibling

“[The program is] really good at helping and you can get very comfortable and talk to your advocate about anything… I really like that.” 

—DOMUS YOUTH

“[The program is]
really good at helping
and you can get very
comfortable and talk
to your advocate about
anything… I really like that.” 

—DOMUS YOUTH

Partner with Domus

We work closely with core community partners to bring programs to disengaged and disconnected youth, funded by both public grants and philanthropic donations. Learn how you can support our work, or explore ways Domus can help your organization serve young people.

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