This paper discusses some of the ways in which state tax systems affect low-income families. The focus is on the working poor. Why state tax policy matters for these families is explained, describing some general trends in state tax structure among the 50 states. Attention is then paid to details on personal income and sales taxes in a subset of…

Plain Talk is a neighborhood-based initiative aimed at helping adults, parents, and community leaders develop the skills and tools they need to communicate effectively with young people about reducing adolescent sexual risk-taking. Plain Talk was implemented in five urban neighborhoods in: Atlanta (Georgia); San Diego (California): Seattle…

With many families facing difficult economic times, wealth is becoming increasingly concentrated among the rich. The tables in this "chartbook" illustrate the growing gap between rich and poor. There has been a general decline in economic growth as well as a change in the distribution of income. In addition, corporations have been taking a larger…

The tables of child poverty presented in this document are the most comprehensive estimates of child poverty across the industrialized world. Based on an analysis of the latest data from the Luxembourg Income Study of household surveys, the first figure shows the proportion of children living in poverty in 23 nations of the Organisation for…

Describes the history of the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Dance Company, known as PHILADANCO, founded in the early 1970s by Joan Myers Brown at her Philadelphia School of Dance. PHILADANCO has sought to discover and train a corps of local Black dancers to build a strong dance company and important cultural institution. (AF)

A teacher in an inner-city London school describes how she involves low income, minority group students in learning classics such as Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Emphasizes cooperative learning and active student involvement using their urban background. (FMW)

Describes life during the Depression era by studying narrative and visual portrayals of African American children in both rural and urban settings. Sources include Richard Wright's "12 Million Black Voices" and Stella Gentry Sharpe's "Tobe" as well as work that critically analyzes these narrative and visual documentations of…

Describes some current work in preventing racism among young white people in London. A newly dominant factor in the justification offered for racial activity is the backlash from many whites to antiracist policies. A strong equal opportunity ethos must be developed, eliminating widely held perceptions of unfairness. (SLD)

Discusses whether white male teachers can be positive role models for at-risk black male youth and concludes that they can if they are men of integrity who are willing to take on the risks associated with being a dedicated teacher. (SLD)

Describes the street libraries program of the Fourth World Movement, which has been bringing books to children in neighborhoods in New York City, Boston, and New Orleans for more than 15 years. Recently, the program has added computers to their community programs. (SLD)

In the 'Our Town' project, 20 urban children designed and built an intervention in their neighborhood. The process involved extensive collaboration with the community at large and resulted in a park. This construction was developed in direct contrast to a more typical adult conception of a playground. Children's concerns in their design included…

In "City Schools," Robert Rothman and his colleagues at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University put forward a vision of "smart education systems" that link a highly functioning and effective school district with a comprehensive and accessible web of supports for children, youth, and families. One-third of…

This book describes the experiences of an inexperienced young teacher who, with the support of parents and teenagers in a Los Angeles (California) neighborhood, created a one-room schoolhouse and began to teach 30 gang members, ranging in age from 13 to nearly 20. He had no teaching credentials or college degree and the school had a tiny budget,…

This paper discusses the future labor market prospects of youth in light of demographic trends and projections. The relationship between demography and the youth labor market is reviewed, and explanations for the persistent differential labor market status of white and nonwhite youth are analyzed. The paper concludes by proposing a set of policy…

This paper describes the role of religious institutions in reducing youth violence in the inner city. The paper focuses on the Ten-Point Coalition, a group of ministers in Boston who have contributed in specific ways to reducing youth violence in that city. It analyzes the effectiveness of the police in reducing violence, pointing to the…