States must ensure that all citizens, regardless of race, have real opportunities to gain the education and skills needed to achieve the American Dream. If state policies, especially economic policies, fail to acknowledge the growing numbers of poor Black undereducated and unskilled urban youth, that dream of equal opportunity will continue to be…

Poverty, violence, illegal drugs, and despair dominate the lives of many inner-city children, most of whom are Black and Hispanic. To reverse the social and economic decline of poor neighborhoods in major metropolitan areas, the State of New York has embraced an agenda, outlined here, for rebuilding high-need inner-city communities. (Author/BJV)