A large number of youth and young adults (ages 16 to 24) in the Louisville community are not working and not in school.

Youth disconnection is both serious and costly for young people and society itself. Young people facing disconnection miss out on opportunities to learn new skills, gain experience, and expand their social networks. Disconnected youth are more likely to face persistent poverty and unemployment, engage in criminal behavior and substance abuse, and be incarcerated in their lifetimes than individuals that were not disconnected in their young adult years. Disconnection costs taxpayers billions of dollars in public support and lost tax revenues. Failing to address the problem becomes a self-perpetuating cycle as the children of disconnected youth face similar outcomes as their parents.

Last year, 17,500 of the Louisville region’s youth and young adults were not enrolled in school and not working. While this is a decline from the number of disconnected youth in 2021, it is still far too high. In 2022 the region saw record-breaking low unemployment rates and one of the tightest labor markets on record. Still, the problem of youth disconnection persists.

The region’s Black youth and young adults are especially at risk of being disconnected from work and school. The youth disconnection rate among Louisville’s Black youth is twice what it is among its white young adults.

The Spot: Young Adult Opportunity Center works directly with the region’s opportunity youth. The young people they see lack access to resources, have often faced traumatic events, and live in economic isolation. This partnership between KentuckianaWorks and Goodwill Industries of Kentucky is the largest program serving disconnected youth in the Louisville region. Last week they celebrated 250 program graduates from the last year.

To see more data on the Louisville region’s opportunity youth, check out our Opportunity Youth Dashboard.