Research Agenda

It has been six years since we published Untapped Potential: Engaging all Connecticut Youth, which reported on the demographic patterning of, and risk factors facing, young people who are off-track or disconnected from school, work, and/or pro-social institutions in Connecticut. In the meantime, the Covid pandemic has disproportionately affected these young people, especially youths of color ages 14 to 26, and the extent of the impact is not yet well understood.

CTOP is launching the next phase of its Research Agenda to better understand the realities faced by young people who are severely off-track and disconnected; and to identify ways non-profits, agencies, and communities can work most effectively to support young people in achieving success. Each of the three research projects that CTOP is commissioning, presented below, is substantial on its own, but we envision that together they will be more than the sum of their parts and meaningfully accelerate the work that CTOP, its grantee partners, and others are doing to connect youth who are disconnected to opportunities that ultimately lead to satisfying employment at a living wage that supports their self-sufficiency.