Disconnected youths (blog #7)

      Poverty is a growing problem which is often more prominent in cities and urban areas. Especially in New York City, many children and young adults are living in poverty. The group of children or young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 has been under government and city attention recently. This group is called "disconnected youths" who are neither in school nor working. A report by the Community Service Society in 2005 estimated that nearly 170,000 youths in NYC fit this description. Many of these children do not have high school diplomas and it is very difficult for them to find jobs.
     A 2012 study by a criminologist a the University of Pennsylvania shows that helping these young people find jobs can be beneficial in decreasing crime in the community.  In the Summer of 2012, 1,634 students from a high crime and low income area in Chicago participated in this study. Half of the students were given a part time job for the summer, while the other half went about their lives normally. After the summer ended, there were 5.1 arrests for every 100 students who had summer jobs, and 9.1 for every 100 students who did not have summer jobs. The largest decreases in crime were long after the summer had ended. This shows that students learned skills like responsibility and increased their sense of positive contribution to the community. If we can work to increase opportunities for disconnected youths to find jobs, we can show these young people what they are capable of and increase their positive impact on the community.