Six articles provide an overview of the multiple approaches to evaluating the problems of homelessness and introduce the challenges of evaluating interventions for the homeless. The first part focuses on research about homelessness, and the second part describes major demonstration programs and their evaluations. (SLD)

The African American population has made remarkable progress since the 1960s, but recent trends may derail the progress of many American blacks. Compared to previous years, United States blacks, who number 30 million in 1991, are more educated, earn higher salaries, work in more prestigious jobs, and participate more fully in politics. However,…

Doing something positive about youth gangs will require hard work, attitude change, and enlisting the help of many people. In addition to the many obvious causes of gangs, there are less well-known factors, such as academic achievement, that are related to youth participation in gangs. Participation in extracurricular activities helps young people…

This volume presents the research findings of numerous scholars on the theme, The Ghetto Underclass: Social Science Perspectives. The following 13 articles are included: (1) "The Cost of Racial and Class Exclusion in the Inner City" (L. Wacquant and W. Wilson); (2) "Urban Industrial Transition and the Underclass" (J. Kasarda); (3) "Absent Fathers…

A 3-day conference brought together health and education experts to explore responses to adolescent health problems and to suggest ways to implement the recommendations put forward in "Fateful Choices: Healthy Youth for the 21st Century," by Fred M. Hechinger. Conference participants identified a number of adolescent health problems and the areas…

Project SPIRIT, a Carnegie Corporation sponsored program of the Congress on National Black Churches, has worked within the black community, particularly black churches, to try to strengthen black families. Black churches have played a critically important role in sustaining the black family since the days of slavery. The black church in the 1980s,…

This document provides a detailed synopsis of the book "Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage" (L. B. Schorr). Specific kinds of intervention programs can alter the stunting conditions in which many poor children are raised. It is not necessary to change everything in order to make a difference, and policymakers do not need to wait…

Four papers in this issue focus on population and urban growth in: (1) sub-Saharan Africa; (2) Latin America; (3) the Soviet Union; and (4) Japan and China. While each region has unique population features, similarities exist based on northern or southern hemisphere geographic locations and on a communist or non-communist political orientation.…

Articles in this theme issue explore the state of children and youth at the end of the millennium. Imagination and the arts, ethnographic and interpretive exploration, and traditional social science investigations are used to consider the meaning of childhood and what life is like for children today. The articles are: (1) "Children at…

This journal issue presents examples of progress in urban education. It shows preliminary data on system-wide improvement in student achievement, dropout and graduation rates, student attendance, and more. Progress in urban schools is the result of a growing national consensus on what needs to be done, and an increasing emphasis by urban educators…

Part of a 13-volume series designed to help Lutheran communities assess the feasibility of starting a Lutheran elementary school and to assist ongoing schools in current operation, this volume focuses on the response of Lutheran elementary schools to community changes. The publication begins by discussing the problem of sensitizing congregations…

The escalation of youth violence is one of the major public health concerns of the United States. Many factors today make juveniles more likely to commit, or to become victims of, violent acts. Drugs, the availability of guns, and the emergence of gang problems in all regions of the country are among the causes of youth violence. Prevention of…

This special theme issue of the newly titled "Civil Rights Journal" (previously titled "Perspectives"), commemorates the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights by presenting a written symposium that offers a wide range of perspectives on civil rights realities and the future of civil rights. Three…

In recent years the Dominican population has been the fastest growing ethnic population in New York City, now comprising the second largest Hispanic group. This study reviewed 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census of Population statistics to present a picture of the economic lives of Dominicans and suggest ways to improve their status. The income of…

Although the general thrust of recent education reports and studies--to strengthen the academic quality of secondary education--has been salutary, efforts fall short of giving clear direction for school improvement in a number of areas particularly important to urban school superintendents. The reports fail to recognize the unique context of urban…