Coastal United Way aims to reduce numbers of ‘disconnected youth’

People not in school or employed focus of Glynn efforts.

The United Way of Coastal Georgia is much different today than the organization that existed when Rich Seban took on the role of board chairman in 2015.

When Seban began his term as board chair, the local United Way still operated the traditional model of hosting seasonal campaigns and going through community investment committees to determine the best allocation for money raised.

“It’s really kind of a dated model,” Seban said.

Under Seban’s leadership, the United Way switched to a year-round campaign model. He also helped craft a new strategic plan for the organization.

Today, the United Way is focusing its attention on a specific, urgent problem Glynn County faces.

Nearly 24 percent of residents ages 16 to 24 are neither employed nor in school.

Over the past two years, local United Way workers have gone over reams of data collected from a variety of sources, including the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, U.S. Census reports and more.

“When we put it all together, we pulled the facts that really began to tell a story,” Seban said. “And the story of disconnected youth really, as we went through the process of identifying the root cause, became the key issue.”

Rates of teen pregnancy, teen incarceration and violent crime per capita is higher in Glynn County than both the state and national averages.

Glynn County also has a higher percentage of “disconnected youth.” Nationally, only 11 percent of 16 to 24 year olds are neither in school nor employed.

“Disconnected youth are probably what we perceive to be the root cause of a lot of the issues that this community faces,” Seban said.

The United Way launched a year-long fundraising campaign in August. The fundraising goal is $1 million.

Seban said the money raised will help support the United Way’s mission to help local disconnected youth and prevent other students from falling into that category.

Virginia Brown, president and CEO of United Way of Coastal Georgia, led a series of roundtable discussions and invited nonprofit leaders to take part.

“We’ve also included clergy, government officials, the school boards, the college, Coastal Pines,” Seban said. “We’ve invited and have been involved in presenting to the local law enforcement agencies.”

The community can address its high number of disconnected youth, Seban said, if it comes together to do so.

“The beauty of United Way is it’s got the ability to convene the churches, governmental institutions, the education institutions, and pull people together to really solve the problems,” he said.

“There’s so much opportunity here.”