Welcome.
This is a curated collection of facts and resources about youth, and the research-based indicators that determine their well-being.
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A Holistic Snapshot
When discussing youth, their needs, and what we know about them, we often take a siloed approach.
Each of our systems, disciplines, or vantage points capture some fact about our young people, but fail to bring the whole picture into focus.
That was the impetus for this resource; to create a holistic, multidisciplinary collection of data and resources that aims at offering users a high-level, yet comprehensive, snapshot of youth in New York and beyond.
THE FOCUS AREAS INCLUDED IN THIS RESOURCE ARE LISTED HERE, ALONG WITH OUR THOUGHTS ON WHY THEY MATTER. >>>
We see this tool as a first step. To ensure that it remains relevant and that it achieves its ambition of collating facts and resources about our young people holistically, we will edit it periodically.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Basic statistics and trends help contextualize what we know--and don't know--about youth. Understanding demographic indicators (e.g., race, gender, etc.) is key to developing programs and policies for our youth.
EDUCATION
At its best, the school system can increase youth's lifetime chances for increased learning and economic success. However, it can sometimes exclude vulnerable young people disproportionately, placing them at heightened risk of justice system involvement. Understanding the impact of education on youth is critical for well-being considerations.
PHYSICAL HEALTH
An important indicator of youth's overall well-being is physical health, including whether they have access to health care, mortality rates, and top causes of death.
MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
Mental health affects people's thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It is important throughout all life stages but is crucial for youth as they are developing social and emotional habits.
COMMUNITY
Youth who meaningfully engage in their community have improved social-emotional well-being and can increase their academic performance.
FAMILY
Family composition and social environment are critical to our young people's well-being throughout their life course.
ECONOMICS
Socioeconomic opportunities influence youth’s quality of life and are linked to mental and physical health, education, and family well-being.
What we mean by 'Youth'
This resource defines ‘youth’ as children, teens, and young adults between the ages of 0-24 years old, unless otherwise noted.
How this resource is organized
We've curated relevant facts and resources about youth and organized them into the following areas: demographics; mental, behavioral, and physical health; family; community; economics; and education. These areas were selected because research has shown them to be particularly impactful on youth’s overall well-being.
A few caveats
We could have chosen to highlight many different facts within each of these areas. Please bear in mind that the ones we selected are just a sample. This resource will grow overtime, with newer --or more refined-- information being included annually.
When possible, the data shown here are broken down by race/ethnicity, gender, geography, and developmental stage (i.e. childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood).
To keep this brief and still relevant, we had to make tough choices. In some cases, we had to choose between data sources. In those situations, we chose the dataset that provided the greatest degree of diversity, reliability, and/or authoritative sourcing.
Most of the data presented here comes primarily from two sources: the 2020 U.S. Census and its supplements, including recent 2022 estimates, and the Kids Count Data Center, which is managed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The Kids Count data also often draws information from several sources, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Census, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and other national and state data sources.
A note on language
Throughout the Data Snapshot we will be mirroring the language used in the data sources selected. For example, some sources say Hispanic, others say Latino/a/e/x. If you would like to read a deeper discussion about the importance of language selection in data collection, we have covered some of it in our 2022 Latinx Issue Brief.
