Schools exist to make productive members of society. And when you look into the data, a lot of these technical programs end up being pretty effective. They increase graduation rates and beyond that, students who go through these programs earn more money, have lower unemployment, and lower rates of substance abuse.

So subjectively, these programs are fantastic. But what is their actual return on investment, beyond preventing bad things from happening to teenagers?

Is there a site that someone in need could turn to online to help in this desperate situation? And to turn it around, how do people in not-so-desperate circumstances know that their money is actually going to their selected family/charity? 

Spend $20 on June 20 is a concept to raise awareness of what we can do in our own local economies. Our local Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce has been promoting this heavily but I was able to find other locations in North Carolina and New York.

My cousin recently gave birth to her first child 11 months early which is scary, but what's even scarier is that there are lots of health complications, her job isn't great, if she doesn't go back to work in 2 weeks (they've been with the kid in intensive care for a few weeks now) she loses her health insurance, her husband's job got "downsized" and they're almost finished building their house that her husband designed and built with his parent's help. They've been married 1 year. So...their bills are stacking up, they may lose their house soon, and all of us in the family are feeling mighty helpless about the whole thing. How to help? Like many situations, money would solve a lot.