The Annie E Casey Foundation

Foster Care Education Outcomes: New Research Challenges the 3% Myth

For years, it was com­mon to hear that only 3% of young peo­ple in fos­ter care grad­u­ate from col­lege. That sta­tis­tic — drawn from small, decades-old stud­ies — shaped how the pub­lic, pol­i­cy­mak­ers and even stu­dents them­selves thought about fos­ter care … Read More

The Adolescent Brain, Stress And Systems That Support Young People

On the lat­est episode of Cas­ey­Cast, Foun­da­tion Pres­i­dent and CEO Lisa Law­son talks with UCLA psy­chol­o­gy pro­fes­sor Adri­ana Galván, whose pio­neer­ing research on the ado­les­cent brain has shaped how pol­i­cy­mak­ers, edu­ca­tors and youth-serv­ing sys­tems under­stand this crit­i­cal stage of development. Galván — dean of under­grad­u­ate … Read More

Community Colleges Helping Student Parents Secure Support and Stability

“Stu­dent Par­ents: The Pow­er of Wrap­around Sup­ports,” a new arti­cle from the Fed­er­al Reserve Bank of Rich­mond, details how three com­mu­ni­ty col­leges are meet­ing the non-aca­d­e­m­ic needs of stu­dent par­ents. These wrap­around ser­vices — which include assis­tance with child care, trans­porta­tion, hous­ing and men­tal … Read More

What is Generation Alpha?

Kids in Gen­er­a­tion Alpha, rang­ing from infants to 12-year-olds as of 2025, are the first gen­er­a­tion to be born entire­ly with­in the 21st cen­tu­ry. They’ve been immersed in tech­nol­o­gy from day one and rep­re­sent the most demo­graph­i­cal­ly diverse gen­er­a­tion to date. Some in this … Read More

Young Leaders Gain Practical Tools and Strong Relationships In New Fellowship

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion recent­ly con­clud­ed the inau­gur­al cohort of its Ris­ing Lead­ers for Results Fel­low­ship. The 21-month pro­gram sup­port­ed 13 emerg­ing lead­ers ages 24 to 31 in sharp­en­ing their lead­er­ship skills based on the Foundation’s Results Count® approach. Equipped with new tools and strate­gies, these young pro­fes­sion­als now … Read More

Medicaid Reform, Youth Mental Health and EMS Corps

In the lat­est episode of Cas­ey­Cast®, Lisa Law­son speaks with pub­lic health inno­va­tor Alex Briscoe about how Med­ic­aid, a pro­gram often viewed as a bureau­crat­ic safe­ty net, can become a pow­er­ful lever for sys­temic change, work­force devel­op­ment and youth well-being. Briscoe, a prin­ci­pal at the Pub­lic Works Alliance and … Read More

Explore Child Well-being Across the Nation

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2025 KIDS COUNT® Data Book is here, with the latest rankings and national- and state-level data on child and young adult well-being. This year’s trends paint a complex picture: steady progress in some areas, setbacks … Read More

2025 KIDS COUNT Data Book Interactive

This year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book presents a picture of child well-being as the nation recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Comparisons are made between 2019 and 2023 where possible. During this time, six indicators worsened, while three stayed the same and seven … Read More

Gen z Characteristics: Who They are & What Defines Gen z

What is Gen­er­a­tion Z? Gen­er­a­tion Z has emerged as a pop­u­la­tion increas­ing­ly wor­thy of atten­tion, espe­cial­ly now as its old­er mem­bers are in their 20s and have become a polit­i­cal­ly engaged force in recent elec­tions. Born after 1996, Gen­er­a­tion Zers made up one-tenth of the 2020 elec­torate and … Read More

National Hispanic Heritage Month

Taking a Closer Look at Latino Children’s Well-Being Nation­al His­pan­ic Her­itage Month is an oppor­tu­ni­ty to hon­or the rich cul­tur­al diver­si­ty and his­to­ries of His­pan­ic and Lati­no pop­u­la­tions in Amer­i­ca. Each year, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month cel­e­brates the valu­able con­tri­bu­tions … Read More