rivate College Research Foundation. They found that a child from a family earning $25,000 or less annually is only one-half as likely to enroll in college as a child from a family with an annual income of $50,000 or more.Both white and non-white youth in poverty experience a higher rate of teenage pregnancy, AIDS, and tend to live in single-parent homes.There are several differences that exist between white and non-white youth that live in poverty. Recent research for low-income youth has shown that the most important factor that contributes to the gap between employment rates of minority and white youth can be attributed to their social network. Three reasons were cited in lecture as to what lead to the declination of life chances among African-American youth in poverty. They are as follows:1.“Affirmative Action” primarily helped better-educated, especially professional workers.2.Relocation of industry to suburbs or abroad reduces “living wage” jobs for non-college educated. Lack of network contacts, plus continuing discrimination, puts minorities last in line.3.Concentration of poverty in center cities. Higher income black families go to the suburbs for jobs. Therefore, loss of network contacts, community organizations, and the like.These reasons attribute to the starling fact that Black poverty rates and unemployment rates remain at approximately 3 times the white rate. Israel and Seeborg in their article entitled “The Impact of Youth Characteristics and Experiences on Transitions out of Poverty” state that “…being black increases the probability of exposure to adverse social and economic conditions (i.e. underclass environment)…” which, in turn, reduces the chance that new generations can get out of poverty. This leads us to another point—if African-Americans experience the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, which perpetuates continuing generational poverty,...
