The Services to Youth Facet uses an integrated approach to prepare young people to succeed as healthy citizens in the global workforce and to promote healthy lifestyles within families and communities:

Goals:

*  Continue to further work on closing the achievement gap from Pre-K through college with the intent of preparing our youth for the global workforce as healthy citizens.

*  Revise and modify Services to Youth programs to promote the integration of a health and wellness component focused on youth, families and communities.

*  Develop training modules for local pre-k through college mentoring programs to ascertain a high level of support for youth in communities.

*  Expand and support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education and promote the integration of the arts (STEM to S.T.E.A.M.).

*  Promote and support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for ensured sustainability.

The Southern Area Service to Youth initiative is Closing the Gap in Foster Care. At the age of 18, youth in our nation’s foster care system become former wards of the state. This initiative aims to “close the gap” between being totally dependent on an independent adult. Throughout the year, identified youth are exposed to skillsets, tools and resources to provide a foundation for success as an adult. To date, The Carolina Pines (NC) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated Services to Youth facet has conducted three educational sessions to inform the public about the challenges that youths aging out of the foster care system face, solicit support from community partners such as the Divine Nine (D9) and the NAACP to join our chapter in foster care youth mentorship, and to hear from former foster care youths to better understand how we can tailor our support to foster care youths in Cabarrus and Rowan counties in North Carolina.