Neighborhood, Family, and Jobs— Necessary, But Not Sufficient

There is an assumption that youth violence will wane if we support family-substitute networks whose members are employed in neighborhood services. However, too narrow a focus on family, neighborhood, and jobs fails to address academic and employment skills as preconditions for employment and fails to address preconditions for well-run grass-roots organizations. High-risk youth often experience not one but several problems, including low self-esteem, poor school performance, drug and alcohol use, early sexual activity, teen pregnancy, and dropping out of school. The financial resources for an attack on these problems flow to the states, which are in poor positions to address these issues because state human service agencies often fail to coordinate their programs or monitor the outcomes of their grants. The Mott Foundation's experience suggests that varied well-managed and well-monitored community-oriented programs can influence high-risk young clients positively. While the role of foundations is to support research and demonstration projects, a larger source of program support is the government, whose policymakers should be aware of all conditions necessary for programs that may favorably affect young lives.