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Who are At-Risk and High-Risk Youth?

Half of our youth population (17.6 million kids to be exact) is considered to be “at-risk” or “high-risk.” At-risk youth have the strong potential to get into trouble, while high-risk youth have already experienced difficulties. Create Now! brings support to at-risk youth, but we primarily focus our services on high-risk youth. Many of these forgotten children are tucked away in group homes, shelters, detention facilities and other special centers, under the radar of the general public. 

At-risk and high-risk youth originate from all types of backgrounds. However, the majority of the troubled kids that Create Now! serves come from poverty-stricken families. Equally male and female, they have family histories of violence, substance abuse or neglect.

Nearly 1 million children are abused, neglected or abandoned each year in the U.S. and 2,000 kids die annually from abuse. Those that survive are scarred for life. They're usually shuttled from one foster family or institution to another, so that by the time they're teenagers, they're emotionally and behaviorally impaired or incarcerated for a variety of crimes. Even though they may be placed into a group home or with foster parents, resources are very limited and never sufficient to help the hundreds of thousands of needy children.

Most of these kids are emancipated when they turn 18 - left to fend for themselves without any support or life skills. The majority of them end up homeless or imprisoned for the rest of their lives -- if they survive.

There are 1.7 million runaway and thrownaway (kicked out) youth living on the streets in the United States. Most of them have been abused and neglected. Up to 400,000 homeless children live in shelters or doubled up with extended family members.

22 million women are physically assaulted each year. The majority of men who batter their wives also attack their children. Kids that have witnessed violence at home are five times more likely to commit or suffer violence as adults.

Nearly 1 million young women under the age of 20 become pregnant every year -- 2,800 girls per day. More than 132,000 cases of rape are reported each year (which is just a fraction of the actual number, since many victims don't report attacks). 50-75% of these victims are under 18.

Youth membership in gangs around the country is estimated at 760,000. The annual arrest rate for youth under 18 in the U.S. is 2.2 million. Substance abuse amongst our youth is prevalent: 203,000 kids are arrested every year on drug charges. That's just the arrest rate -- not the total number of users.

All of these youth have the potential to make the right choices, but they struggle with their feelings of hurt, distrust, anger and despair. Learning to express themselves creatively rather than destructively is essential. Research shows that art heals victims of abuse and is a positive outlet for kids caught in unhealthy patterns that they can't break. It's been proven that youth involved in arts projects show reduced signs of violence and recidivism, have longer concentration spans, greater self-esteem and are better able to communicate without resorting to violence. Create Now! programs provide these necessary opportunities.