Diversion: Double Meaning in Louisiana

Amy Barad

When I think of the word diversion in the context of youth, I think of a positive strategy to reduce detention. In Louisiana, there seems to be another meaning -- diverting funds meant for youth to other populations.

In Funding for Youth Programs Not Clear, authors Amy Barad and Vincent Rossmeier, point out that “while Louisiana receives $193 million annually in federal funding that could be used for Opportunity Youth (such as from the Workforce Investment Act), as of 2011, less than 1 percent of that was spent on education and job training for Opportunity Youth in New Orleans.” Now that’s not fair as New Orleans has the highest concentration of youth that aren’t in work or school. The estimates are that it is probably around 30,000 young people.

Even worse, Louisiana seems to direct the funds for youth to younger kids. We know that the federal funding for older young adults not connected to school or work is tiny compared to the need. By diverting funds to other parts of the state and to other populations, Louisiana is just letting New Orleans youth adrift in a terrifying youth unemployment crisis.

Really, that’s not fair at all.

New Orleans is a site of the Youth Opportunity Incentive Fund and is hard at

Vincent Rossmeier

work engaging cross-sector collaboration to weave together the best infrastructure they can to keep kids connected. Collaboration and system building is important. However, there still has to be a place for teens and young adults to go, a place to learn and a place to develop skills that are in demand. For our young people in New Orleans that have already been battered by a storm and a stormy public response, they may also need places to live and some help sorting through their emotions.

This type of behavior on the part of state policymakers is why we often end up having federal funds going straight to cities and districts rather than through states. Louisiana isn’t just hurting the kids in New Orleans, they are making it harder for all of us to rebuild the investments and infrastructure necessary to respond to the economic winds that are leaving our kids out of school, out of work, and out of luck.