This study finds substantial reductions to criminal activity from the introduction of a comprehensive high school support program for disadvantaged youth living in the largest public housing project in Toronto. The program, called Pathways to Education, bundles supports such as regular coaching, tutoring, group activities, free public…

Community-based interventions have long been seen as mechanisms via which to target marginalised youth in relation to personal development. Research surrounding such interventions has often highlighted the promotion of a range of pro-social behaviours and attributes which, in turn, facilitate an increased sense of social inclusion. This paper…

This paper outlines a possible approach to implementing the Social Entrepreneurship initiative, focused on building a body of research-proven program models/strategies, and scaling them up, so as to produce major progress in education, poverty reduction, crime prevention, and other areas. The paper summarizes the rationale for this approach, then…

Hobbema, Alberta, Canada is a community comprised of four First Nations. As with many of Canada's Aboriginal communities, Hobbema's population is young. High rates of socio-economic disadvantage, violence, family dysfunction, and substance abuse are linked to colonization, residential school policies, and discrimination. Crime rates, including…

As a chief spokesperson for a national movement to prevent violence and a frequent speaker in national media and public forums, Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith is a nationally recognized public health leader. In 1987, she was appointed the first woman Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In that role, she established the…

This paper is an empirical analysis of the determinants of crime in Virginia. Over a dozen explanatory variables that current literature suggests as important determinants of crime are collected. The data is from 1970 to 2000. These include economic, fiscal, demographic, political, and social variables. The regression results indicate that crime…

This paper proposes a new bipartisan initiative to strengthen the effectiveness of U.S. social programs by focusing funds within each program on research-proven projects, practices, and strategies ("interventions"). The proposal seeks neither an increase nor decrease in overall program funding; rather, its central aim is to maximize the…

The Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) is a national non-profit charitable organization representing literacy coalitions, organizations and individuals from every province and territory. Since 1978 MCL has worked with partners to increase access to quality literacy education for Canadians who need it. This is MCL's submission to the federal…

This paper uses data from a randomized housing-mobility experiment to study the effects on juvenile crime of relocating families from high- to low-poverty neighborhoods. Since 1994, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment has assigned families from high-poverty Baltimore neighborhoods into three…

A series of brief essays examines inner-city crime and the growing crime gap between blacks and whites. The articles discuss ways to close the gap through four approaches: (1) securing inner-city neighborhoods; (2) increasing the police presence on inner-city streets; (3) incarcerating violent and repeat criminals; and (4) removing severely…

In order to contribute to the sparse literature on factors associated with crime in rural communities, an exploratory study analyzed the relation between demographic, social, and economic factors of selected rural townships in Ohio and their rates of crime. Data for the study were collected from three sources: daily offense reports from nine Ohio…

According to Statistics Canada, as many as 8 million Canadians do not have the literacy skills necessary to prosper in a knowledge-based society and economy. For most of these Canadians, the challenge is not simply in "decoding" text, but in "understanding and working with" it. The demands of the knowledge-based society are…

Argues that parental licensing is the wrong approach to the serious dysfunctional aspect of contemporary American life of single parent families. The nation, instead, should adequately address the poverty, crime, unequal educational opportunities, and drug problems that already exist. (GR)

Economic, legal, and socialization structures have emerged in response to the demands of the U.S. economic system and those whose job it is to protect and promote the interests of the current dominating classes and structures in our society. These structures contribute to the socially dysfunctional behavior of groups who are inadequately prepared…

The Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) is a national non-profit organization representing literacy coalitions, organizations and individuals from every province and territory. Since 1978 MCL has worked to: (1) inform the federal government and the general public about issues related to adult literacy in Canada; (2) provide a national forum for…