Agency and non-profit leaders in Blair County are banding together, all to benefit the youth in the area.

The founds of the Youth Coalition have been researching how to reach out to the youth of Blair County for quite some time, but they knew they had to act fast when they came across a study that showed 95 percent of the kids living in the area said they would leave when they're adults.

Jennifer Knisely from the Altoona Area Public Library and Lauren Jacobson from Penn State Altoona founded the group three years ago when they noticed students hanging around the library.

The target age they hope to reach out to is 11-15.

"It's extremely hard to reach out to this age group," Knisely said. "They haven't exactly found their way yet and learning a lot about themselves."