The nature of youth gangs is explored, with suggestions for gang prevention and intervention. The emphasis is on organizing citizens, especially at the neighborhood level, to affect all community institutions. Suggestions are offered for citizens' groups to look at critical areas in schooling, incarceration, law enforcement, community programs,…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints series challenge readers to question their own opinions and assumptions. By reading carefully balanced views, readers confront new ideas on the topic of interest. Although some experts believe that the problem of teenage pregnancy has been overstated, other recent studies have led many people to believe that…

The lives of poor minority city residents demonstrate the diversity, multiple potentials, and vulnerability to external structures. In spite of the stereotypes of failure and the very real problems of the urban poor, there are many strengths among the so-called urban underclass and there are aspects of life that are successful and productive. In…

A statistical profile of the working poor in Chicago (Illinois) and the proceedings of the Working Poor Policy Forum held to discuss the findings of the profile are presented. In America it is supposed to be impossible to work and remain chronically poor, but in fact this is not the case. There are many ways to define the income working families…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The variety of opinions expressed in this collection of articles and book excerpts explore many aspects of juvenile gangs. Some youths join gangs of their own free choice, to satisfy ego or greed. Others are…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The variety of opinions expressed in this collection of articles and book excerpts explores many aspects of juvenile crime. It is a commonly held view that the number of crimes committed by juveniles is…

The everyday lives and the cultural identities of early school-leavers in the Republic of Ireland are explored, drawing up a political practice, a cultural politics, that relates to the position of early school-leavers. This practice is theorized within a poststructuralist and post-Marxist framework. Part 1 presents conversations with urban early…

This publication highlights the current activities of participants in the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) in their support of national urban education goals. In the fall of 1990, the National Urban Education Task Force, which was appointed by the CGCS, presented sample strategies for achieving the national urban education goals to…

This collection explores the political context of efforts to change urban education. The contributors examine various issues in a variety of settings, and they show how hard it is to rearrange political relationships so that they will be conducive to school reform. The following essays are included: (1) "Introduction: Urban Education in…

Hispanic Americans are one of the fastest growing demographic groups of the U.S. population. The Hispanic American population increased 53% from 1980 to 1990, and 27% from 1990 to 1996. By the year 2005, Hispanic Americans will surpass Blacks as the largest "minority group," and by 2010, Hispanics will outnumber the nation's Blacks, Asian…

The Welfare Indicators Act of 1994 requires the Department of Health and Human Services to prepare annual reports to Congress on indicators and predictors of welfare dependence. This is the second of those annual reports. A family is defined as dependent on welfare if more than 50% of its total income in a 1-year period comes from welfare programs…

To assess the status of hunger and homelessness in urban America during 1990, the U.S. Conference of Mayors surveyed the 30 major cities whose mayors are members of its Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness. This report summarizes survey findings. The survey sought information from each city on the following questions: (1) the demand for emergency…

Promoting social change is the goal of the seven community case studies reported in this book. Each study is a "natural experiment" that involved long-term research, close collaboration between researchers and the host community, and the application of research methods and findings to social change goals within the community. The following reports…

This symposium investigates the condition of urban Latinos and Blacks two decades after reports by the Kerner, Eisenhower, and Katzenbach commissions recommended sweeping reforms in urban policy. Twenty-nine researchers, politicians, and policymakers analyze the condition of the urban poor and the role of minorities in forming policies. The…

This document contains a transcript of a Congressional hearing on children and families in poverty. Testimony was presented by children and parents who described how they cope with or have overcome poverty, and by representatives of community service groups who work closely with poor families in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Also included…