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Black Youth

Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men

Peter Edelman, Harry Holzer, and Paul Offner; Foreword by Hugh Price

By several recent counts, the United States is home to 2 to 3 million youth age 16 through 24 who are out of school and out of work Much has been written on disadvantaged youth, and government policy has gone through many incarnations, yet questions remain unanswered. Why are so many young people “disconnected,” and what can public policy do about it? And why has disconnection become more common for young men particularly African-American men and low-income men—than for young women? In Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men, Edelman, Holzer, and Offner offer analysis and policy prescriptions to solve this growing crisis. They carefully examine field programs and research studies and recommend specific strategies to enhance education, training, and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth; to improve the incentives of less-skilled young workers to accept employment; and to address the severe barriers and disincentives faced by some youth, such as ex-offenders and noncustodial fathers. The result is a clear guidebook for policymakers, and an important distillation for anyone interested in the plight of today’s disconnected youth.

"We are fortunate that Edelman, Holzer, and Offner came together to take on the sad phenomenon of disconnected young males cut off from the economic mainstream. This dilemma really a national scandal is so deep that it demands the highest levels of policy analysis. Here is a book of reasonable, research-driven recommendations that could make a true difference in helping the young males having an incredibly tough time in communities across America."

--Andrew Hahn, Professor, Brandeis University, Heller School for Social Policy and Management

"Young men disconnected from school and the labor force have the poorest life chances of anyone in our society. They also receive the least public support. Edelman, Holzer, and Offner make a compelling case for greater public attention to these young men and provide a blueprint for the policies and programs needed to help them alter their trajectories."

--Michael Wald, Professor, Stanford University Law School

"A cancer is eating at the core of America’s economy and civic life: Millions of young men of all races find themselves ill educated, underemployed, socially disconnected, and unprepared to cope with a harsh and generally unwelcoming society. Beyond the grim demographic statistics, however, there is now a large and growing body of knowledge and expertise about what works to combat this blight on America’s soul. In this magisterial guidebook for policymakers, the authors have distilled their wisdom into practical suggestions for public policy."

--Samuel Halperin, Founder and Senior Fellow, American Youth Policy Forum

"As the authors note in the valuable new book Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men, young black men are the least popular group in America with politicians. So without political clout and organized advocacy, they have largely fallen off the policy radar. Edelman, Holzer, and Offner thoroughly analyze the problems, but go further than most others who wrestle with this issue. They carefully examine programs in the field and research studies, then recommend specific strategies that can be implemented at the federal, state, and local levels. I hope this book will inspire vigorous leadership at every level to take on this important challenge."

--Marion Pines, Director, Sar Levitan Center, Institute for Policy Studies, Johns Hopkins University

 Black Males Left Behind

Ronald B. Mincy

Despite the overall economic gains in the 1990s, many young black men continue to have the poorest life chances of anyone in our society. Joblessness and low earnings among these less-educated young adults are contributing to reductions in marriage, increases in nonmarital childbearing, and a host of other social problems. In Black Males Left Behind, Ronald Mincy has assembled a distinguished group of experts who examine how less-educated black men fared relative to other less-educated young people during the economic expansion of the 1990s and why. Chapters explore the roles of the macroeconomy, the deconcentration of blue-collar employment, criminal justice policy, and the employment aspirations of young less-educated black men and consider their implications for the design of employment services, welfare-to-work policies, workforce development policy, and child support enforcement. Two chapters comprehensively review policy opportunities to assist less-educated young black fathers and discuss how to overcome political resistance to initiatives serving less-educated black men. This book makes a compelling case for greater public attention to a serious domestic problem.

“This book gives us a clear, detailed look at a growing crisis in black America. It’s a critical first step toward helping less-educated young black men get on track so they can fulfill their promise. If we don’t solve this problem, it will imperil not only African Americans, but all Americans.”

--Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc.

“If ever an issue demanded immediate attention, it is the crisis among less-educated black men. Ronald Mincy knows the subject better than anyone, and the distinguished experts assembled between these covers speak to all aspects of the issue. This book is an important read for anyone looking for substantial answers.”

--Peter Edelman, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

“In the wake of welfare reform, the detachment of unskilled young black men from work and family is America’s most significant social problem. Black Males Left Behind is an indispensable introduction to this dilemma.”

--Lawrence M. Mead, Professor of Politics, New York University

“Black Males Left Behind is an important and timely publication. Ronald Mincy has pulled together a group of outstanding scholars to discuss and analyze a serious domestic problem. This insightful volume will become a standard reference for anyone concerned about the plight of low-income black males and how their problems can be addressed.”

--William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University

"Going beyond the important but incomplete answer of racial discrimination, this volume documents and illuminates the complex of factors that explain the deeply troubling condition of too many young black males. I will be assigning it, the best single collection of papers on the subject, to my students for years to come."

--Douglas J. Besharov, Joseph J. and Violet Jacobs Scholar in Social Welfare Studies, American Enterprise Institute

Dropouts in America
Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis by Gary Orfield

Praise for Dropouts in America

"Dropouts in America can make an enormous difference in reducing the shamefully high level of school dropouts in communities across the country and make it far more likely that young students will graduate from high school and go on to college. Schools, communities, parents, and students alike can benefit from the promising models and concrete steps suggested here, and unlock the American dream for literally millions of the nation's youth."
—Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

“Gary Orfield and his colleagues have done us a great service by lifting the lid on one of the unacknowledged secrets of the recent drive for high-stakes tests and punitive sanctions in our public schools: an escalating dropout crisis that is seldom mentioned in the education circles of our nation’s capital and one that is taking its highest toll on children of minorities. Dropouts in America is an absolutely essential book--timely, urgent, and disturbing.”
—Jonathan Kozol, Author of Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope and Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools

About Dropouts in America

"There is a high school dropout crisis far beyond the imagination of most Americans, concentrated in urban schools and relegating many thousands of minority children to a life of failure. We urgently need to address this problem as a nation. Our goal in this book is to make the public aware of this issue and make improving high school graduation rates a central part of national education reform. We believe the first step must entail highlighting the severe racial disparities in high school graduation rates that exist at the school and district levels."
-Gary Orfield

Only half of our nation's minority students graduate from high school along with their peers. For many groups-Latino, black, or Native American males-graduation rates are even lower. As states hasten to institute higher standards and high-stakes tests in the effort to raise student achievement, this situation is likely to worsen, particularly among minority students. Yet this educational and civil rights crisis remains largely hidden from public view.

The dropout problem is far worse than statistics indicate. Many states and districts simply do not count those students who fail to receive diplomas as dropouts. Even the hardest-hit urban districts report dropout rates of only 5-10 percent.

In Dropouts in America, The Civil Rights Project reveals the scope of this hidden crisis, reviewing the most recent and accurate data on graduation and dropout rates, exploring the reasons that young people drop out of school, and presenting the most promising models for helping high school students graduate with their peers. Dropouts in America is a call to action for educators, advocates, and policymakers alike, and an invaluable resource for those concerned with equal rights and the quality of American education.

Contributors include Lisa Abrams, Robert Balfanz, Stefanie DeLuca, Mark Dynarski, Frank Furstenbury, Robert Hauser, Will Jordan, Phillip Kaufman, James J. Kemple, Kerri Kerr, Nettie Legters, Daniel J. Losen, James McPartland, Jenny Nagaoka, Ruth Curran Neild, Devah Pager, Melissa Roderick, James E. Rosenbaum, Russell Rumberger, Solon Simmons, Jason C. Snipes, Scott Stoner-Eby, and Chris Swanson.

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