Download or read book Utah County Community Assessment 2015 a Deeper Look: Children and Youth written by Civicus Group and published by . This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By all measures, Utah County is the youngest county in the nation. With a median age of 24.2, it is the youngest of all counties of significant population (500,000 or more) in the United States. Utah County has the highest percentage of children under age 5 (10.4 percent) and children under age 18 (35 percent) of any large county in the country. It has the highest proportion of young adults ages 18 to 24 (17 percent), besting higher- education communities such as Suffolk County, Massachusetts (15 percent) and Dane County, Wisconsin (13 percent). And its older population-those over age 64-is the smallest of any county at only 7 percent. Being such a young community has pros and cons. Such high numbers of children, youth, and young adults positions the county as a center of energy, innovation, technology, and good health. At the same time, it can place burdens on education, childcare, healthcare, public parks and recreation, and other community systems and resources. In the fall of 2014, Civicus Consulting Group, of Richmond, Missouri, was contracted to conduct a follow-up community assessment of Utah County. The prior community assessment, conducted in the fall of 2010 and early spring of 2011, had served as a guiding document and resource for policy makers, business leaders, human service providers, educators, health care providers, and others. The intent of conducting an updated assessment was to obtain current data, learn public perceptions, consider stakeholder expertise, and develop recommendations surrounding human service issues. This document is the second in a series of in-depth examinations of specific topics in the 2015 Community Assessment. Booklets in this series delve further into the data in order to assist community members, policy makers and human service providers in their efforts to improve the quality of life in Utah County.