Refugee communities in the U.S. are often marginalized when it comes to education. For example, due to emerging language skills and different social norms, school personnel have perceived refugee children as having learning disabilities even when no diagnoses are made. This contributes to refugee students dropping out of school at a rate three times that of White students and twice that of Latinx students.
Young people in the Arizona criminal justice system face major challenges when they are released into the community; foremost among them, obtaining stable employment. And because the link between unemployment and recidivism is well known, the chances of success for youth on the outside can be significantly improved by the availability of high-quality, relevant career and technical education within the system. Similarly, transition services after release could allow youth to continue their career and technical education and ultimately obtain and maintain employment.