2004 Community Report

Report On The Somali Community 6/2004

Teens

Somalis kids like school and do well in school
Approximately 500 young adults ages 15-21, who have spent most of their childhood lives in refugee camps, and have dropped out of schools because of lack of formal educational background are getting involved in gang activities
Somali teens are eligible to receive public assistance for a period of 36 months
Most households have a single mother and the father is either absent or has died.
Today most of these families exceeded the 36 months public assistance limit and do not have jobs or proper training to sustain their lives.
If these families don't get jobs or the proper skills and support they will face difficult challenges that will be hard to overcome