Who will be the last dropout? The last American youth who doesn't make it through our public school system? Will it be Marcy? She lives with her mother, her grandmother, and her three siblings in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

It's a community with a long, proud history, and Marcy's mother believes there are a lot of worse places to raise your children. She has a full-time job at the local grocery store, but it pays only minimum wage and the family income is well below the poverty level. And lately, Marcy hasn't been well - the usual childhood ailments, but also some worrisome concerns about potential asthma.

Will Marcy be the last dropout? She's only two years old now, so it's hard to say.

Will it be Jaime? His family lives in Las Vegas, but their life is a different kind of gamble. Like a surprising number of youth in Las Vegas and Clark County, Jaime is homeless. His parents, his five siblings and Jaime move from shelter to shelter, relative to friend - and spend a lot of time sleeping rough under the Nevada stars. Jaime is five, and ready to enroll in the public school system. I wonder where he'll be doing his homework.

Or perhaps the last dropout will be Linda, whose family has lived in the same rural North Carolina county for generations. No one in that family has ever graduated from high school - there's always been work on the farm and in the nearby mills as soon as a child is old enough to hold a job. Education is all very well, but every dollar is needed just for the family to get by. In the new century, though, work opportunities for non-graduates are drying up as the county's economy changes. Seven-year-old Linda is going to need a new vision for her future - and some very practical help achieving it.

When will we see the last dropout? No one knows, of course, other than to say, "Not in this generation." But we can say this: Young people will stop dropping out of school when they receive the community support and resources they need to learn, stay in school, and graduate prepared for life.

They will stop dropping out when we admit that our country doesn't have a "youth problem" – we have an adult problem. We - the adults, including parents, who have a stake in the community's children - have not succeeded in weaving a safety net of support that will keep kids safe, healthy and motivated. The business community in particular has not yet committed its energy and expertise to champion the connection of resources with schools. Nor has America modeled the kind of caring community that can serve as an inspiration and a source of hope for young people.

All the "school reform" in the world will not accomplish this. It is not only about better teachers, better schools, more money.

It is about hope – and a firm commitment to connect our kids with the basic resources they need to succeed in school, and in life.

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This article is excerpted from Bill Milliken's new book, The Last Dropout, appearing this October from Hay House.