'Young People First' report urges $545 million ECS boost, regional case management to cut disconnected youth

Connecticut municipal leaders and consultants presented the Young People First report at a joint informational session of the Legislature’s Education and Children’s committees, laying out 22 aligned actions designed to reduce the state’s estimated 19,000 at‑risk and disconnected young people by half over the next decade.

The plan, developed by the 119k commission with technical work from the Boston Consulting Group and convened by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), recommends coordinated action across four pillars — coordination, conditions, capacity and coalitions — and places special emphasis on integrated case management, expanded K‑12 funding and scaled work‑based programs. “What the commission had decided to do from the very beginning was to attempt to answer a question,” Joseph DeLong, executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and a commission member, said introducing the report.

BCG described the practical and financial contours of the plan. Senior partner Lane McBride said the commission’s strategy includes a statewide oversight role and regional coordinating bodies to support town‑level case management hubs. McBride also told the committee that the P‑20 report was “substantively complete and will…