Nearly 19,000 youth in King County are neither working nor in school. How one Seattle nonprofit is changing that.

A "near-peer" mentoring program offers a promising model for similar initiatives working to prevent "summer melt" for low-income students in the summer between their graduation from high school and arrival at college. College-age mentors provide in-person coaching and respond to texts about financial aid and other concerns.

To serve students who have dropped out of high school for anxiety-related reasons such as bullying or unstable home circumstances, a program in central Maine is sending teachers to students' homes with personalized lessons. The rest of the week, students complete online assignments to make up for lost in-class time. The home-schooling model has its critics and faults, but instructors believe the targeted curriculum will be worth it over the long term.

In the last decade, collaborations between non-profit student-support organizations and public schools have fostered a model called "Last-Chance Schools" with remarkable success. The program targets root causes for dropping out, including economic disadvantages, mental health challenges, violence, and unstable home lives. As several Boston charter schools demonstrate, use of social-emotional learning, conflict mediation instead of zero-tolerance discipline, and flexible curricula has helped boost graduation and college acceptance rates while lowering suspensions.

Operation Fresh Start is tackling workforce barriers faced by economically disadvantaged young adults through its Legacy program, which combines classroom instruction with hands-on construction and conservation work. Participants receive individualized learning plans, financial stipends and wraparound support to help them stay on track. In 2024, the program helped 36 young adults earn high school diplomas, 32 earn pre-apprenticeship certifications and reported an average three grade-level increase in reading and math among participants.

Educational Talent Search provides personalized college and career counseling to first-generation and low-income students. Counselors work with students from 8th grade through high school graduation, offering one-on-one support with college applications, financial aid forms, scholarship searches, and career planning. The program has seen nearly 90% of seniors enrolling in post-secondary education, far above its 56% target.

In Australia, a universal survey in several secondary schools helps to identify students who are at risk of becoming homeless and connects them with wraparound services. The prevention-based model may soon be piloted in King County, Washington.

The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) partners with local high schools to reengage "under-credited, over-age students" who haven't graduated from high school. Counselors prepare students for the High School Equivalency Test and lay out an individual path for each student to pursue after earning their certification. YEP aims to reach young adults who have given up on education, sometimes for a matter of years : “We want to stop that disconnection, catch them before they become opportunity youth,” Jerome Jupiter, a former teacher who holds a leadership role at YEP, said.

A program in Baltimore bring youths together with volunteer second “families” to help guide them through turbulent times.

The Future Project aims to give students the resources needed to define and fulfill their dreams and re-engage students in school. Dream Directors get teens motivated to act on their ideas and expand their abilities.

School districts in Washington State are required to identify students experiencing homelessness and enroll them into a state program in which the district pays for the students' transportation and covers the cost of other necessities with allotted federal funds.