The Forum for Youth Investment and nFocus Software Partner to Bring Improved Accountability to Youth Development

The Ready by 21 Challenge Calls on States and Communities to Change the Odds for
Children and Youth by Changing the Way They Do Business
WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
The Forum for Youth Investment (the Forum) and nFocus Software have entered into
a partnership agreement to bring improved accountability to youth development.
The Forum is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping leaders
and communities across the nation make sure all young people are Ready by 21 -
ready for college, work and life. nFocus Software is a leading provider of data
management and analysis software enabling nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500
companies and the federal government to proactively increase program
effectiveness.

With this partnership, the Forum and nFocus Software will provide technology and
expertise to community-based youth service organizations to improve
accountability and decision-making that leads to improved outcomes for children
and youth. nFocus Software will be joining as a technical partner in the Ready
by 21 National Partnership - an unprecedented coalition of organizations
representing government, education, nonprofit, business, research and
philanthropy sectors. Through the Ready by 21 Challenge, youth-serving leaders
will have the opportunity to put in place a complete and proven set of outcome
measurement tools and processes that will significantly improve their ability to
positively affect the lives of their children and youth.

State and community leaders constantly struggle with a limited ability to
measure the quality and impact of their overall effort to support young people
within their individual communities. Data exists in disparate and unconnected
systems that do not integrate with each other. Additionally, there is no common
language or standardized approaches in use of data between various youth-serving
organizations within a community that includes schools, government agencies and
community-based organizations. The combined efforts of the Forum and nFocus
Software bring unmatched expertise in the areas of technology and strategic
expertise for implementing the Ready by 21 Framework, which is focused on
results and providing actionable data quickly that can help communities bring
precision to their passion for helping kids.

"Ready by 21 is founded on the belief that building leader capacity for creating
shared accountability is the fastest way to fundamentally improve outcomes for
children and youth. The Ready by 21 Approach engages leaders and communities
with the help needed to use a big picture approach to planning and
accountability that is action-oriented, results-based and built on an
understanding of the whole child," states Karen Pittman, Executive Director of
The Forum for Youth Investment. "The Approach helps leaders begin to think
differently - to ask bigger, bolder questions about the combined impact of their
individual investments. What they often lack, however, is the ability to know
differently - to have the data they need to answer essential questions such as
`are we reaching the young people who need help the most with consistent high
quality programs? Is it making a difference?` To help leaders answer those
questions we are excited to have nFocus as a technology partner in Ready by 21
Partnership."

"nFocus Software has been providing Data Management and Outcome Measurement
solutions to youth-serving organizations for over 15 years. Over the last
decade, it became obvious that the most effective way to tackle the problems
facing America`s youth was through an integrated approach at the community
level. Through partnering with the Forum and the other Ready by 21 Partners, we
can offer communities a complete, and proven, set of outcome measurement tools
and processes that will significantly improve their ability to positively affect
the lives of their children and young adults. By combining our software tools
with the Forum`s expertise in program development, we believe we can truly help
to improve the lives of America`s youth and the future of our Nation`s
workforce," states Ananda Roberts, President and CEO of nFocus Software.

The Ready by 21 Challenge calls on leaders and communities to change the odds
for children and youth by changing the way they do business. More than two dozen
states and communities across the country have already taken on the challenge
and have seen immediate results from their efforts to bring Big Picture thinking
into their work. The Ready by 21® Approach helps leaders - from young people to
parents, program directors to policy makers - bring precision to their passion,
ensuring that all young people are Ready by 21 - ready for college, work and
life.

Through the partnership nFocus Software will provide their TraxSolutions Suite,
a leading data collection and outcome measurement platform, which includes
KidTrax Participant Management, the Outcome Measurement Toolkit, Community
Compass, a community portal that enables families to locate vital youth
services, Community Server, an enterprise class reporting and analysis system,
StaffTrax and VolunteerTrax.

About the Forum for Youth Investment

The Forum for Youth Investment is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to helping communities and the nation make sure all young people are
Ready by 21: ready for college, work and life. This goal requires that young
people have the supports, opportunities and services needed in the first two
decades of life so that they are on track and ready to learn, work, thrive,
connect and contribute. The Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the
information, technical assistance, training, network support and partnership
opportunities needed to increase the quality and quantity of youth investment
and youth involvement. http://www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/

About nFocus Software

nFocus Software is a leading provider of data management and analysis software
enabling nonprofit organizations, Fortune 500 companies and the federal
government to proactively increase program effectiveness. Founded in 1995 as the
first software of its kind in the youth service arena, nFocus Software's
solutions now track, trend and measure outcomes for more than 2.2 million
children across 3,500 social service and community-based organizations, public
schools and government agencies across America. nFocus Software's solutions are
also used to track the training and mission readiness for all 1.2 million
soldiers in the United States Army. http://www.nfocus.com/

nFocus Software
Alicia Moffatt, 602-954-9557
amoffatt@nfocus.com
or
The Forum for Youth Investment
Thaddeus Ferber, 202-207-3333
thaddeus@forumfyi.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009