Storey ranks first for nurturing its youth

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Storey County ranks first for nuturing its youth among counties in an eight-state Rocky Mountain region, earning an A for its efforts. Six Nevada counties earned D grades, the lowest possible, on a report card put out by Colorado College State.

The third annual State of the Rockies Report Card was released in April with statistics compiled from national education, crime and other reports.

In the "Nurturing the Youth" report card section, a set of 24 indicators were used and divided into six categories: teen involvement, family support, educational opportunity, healthy surroundings, safe neighborhoods, and engaged communities.

Every county in the eight-state Rocky Mountain region - Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming - was ranked in each of the six categories and a combination of the categories was used to give an overall grade to each county.

The highest grade obtainable was an A with a percentile earning of 92-100 percent, with the lowwest grade a D with a percentile earning of 0-27 percent.

Storey County earned an A, but Carson City, Clark, Eureka, Mineral Nye and Pershing counties earned Ds. Storey County ranked first in the region overall,

It was also first in both teen involvement and educational opportunity, second in engaged communities and third in family support among 61 metropolitan counties in the eight-state region.

Carson City ranked 53rd for healthy surroundings.

Clark County ranked 57th in both safe neighborhoods and engaged communities and 55th in both teen involvement and educational opportunity among 61 metropolitan counties.

The top-10 metropolitan counties within the eight-state Rockies region that best nurture their youth, according to the report, are: 1. Storey 2. Douglas, Colo. 3. Missoula, Mont. 4. Boulder, Colo. 5. Gilpin, Colo. 6. Larimer, Colo. 7. Summit, Utah 8. Carbon, Mont. 9. Cache, Utah 10. Park, Colo.

To see the complete "Nurturing the Youth" section of the report, with grades and data by category for each county in the region, go to: www.coloradocollege.edu/stateoftherockies/06ReportCard

The Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card also predicts dramatic effects on ski resorts due to climate change; examines habitat threat and fragmentation of land; considers the political voice of the Rockies region on a national level; looks at changes to ranching in the Rockies; maps areas with greatest number of conservation easements; and reveals places in the 23 largest metro areas in the region where minorities and the poor live closest to toxic areas.