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Nearly 80 percent of first-generation youth ages 16 to 24 on the Central Coast aren't in school, according to a new study. That's the largest percentage of any region, the report shows, meaning there are fewer immigrant youth in school in the Central Coast than anywhere else in California. The Central Coast encompasses Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Because of the young immigrant population, the region's youths are less fluent in English than their counterparts anywhere else in the state, the study by a nonprofit think tank found. Central Coast poverty rates also are among the highest in the state but relatively few young people and their families qualify for welfare, again apparently because many of them are non-citizen immigrants, the study said. [more]