Half of city's 20-24-year-old black men are jobless (Chicago)

[chiburb]

I know many of us "intuited" this, but here is the reality of losing "social safety nets"...


From today's Chicago Sun-Times:

Snip:

One in five 16- to 24-year-olds in Chicago -- and nearly one out of two black males between the ages of 20 and 24 -- is neither in school nor working, a new study has found.

The numbers of so-called "disconnected" youths have reached crisis proportions and will likely keep climbing, particularly among minorities, as the population grows and economy shifts, according to researchers at Northeastern University in Boston who conducted the study for the Chicago Alternative Schools Network.

Drawing from the 2000 census, the study to be released today found that 14 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds in Illinois were not in school or working, mirroring the national figure. In Chicago, one in five 16- to 24-year-olds was jobless and out of school.

The situation was bleaker for the city's 20- to 24-year-olds, particularly minorities. Among black males in that age group, 45 percent weren't working or in school. Among Latino females, that figure was 38 percent.

Programs to help dropouts transition back into school and the job market are piecemeal and underfunded, said Jack Wuest, executive director of the Chicago Alternative Schools Network.

Experts say more state and federal support needs to be given to alternative, community-based programs that engage youths in educational and work-related approaches.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-survey20.html

[papau]

1. Churning Blacks through prison with full time served - no parole means no

help getting back into society.

The drug war has been very effective in keeping black males down - while defining prescription drugs as needing only admission of problem and agreement to go 30 days to rehab, and with non-crack cocaine - the white folks drug - getting 1/100 of the sentance handed out for crack.

And the GOP explains this by saying "Drugs are bad" and who can disagree? It is true drugs are bad - but so is a system that sets out to destroy a part of the population - and is so obviously biased as to sentances.

Ex-Con jobs were never easy to find for those getting out - and with the Bush tax cuts whatever help there was under Clinton has been tossed under Bush as the States have no money and no help from the Feds.

[saigon68]

8. Every Cracker white and a few Colon Bowel sympathizers love this

A way to get those embarrassing Black men off the streets, with their loud music, wild hair, and foreign language </sarcasm>

This folks is the NEW racism of the 21st century

[wellst0nev0ter]

2. What These Men Need Is A Dose Of Doctor Jesus

I mean, the fifty billion we already spent on the faith-based initiative must have done SOMETHING to help these people, right?


Right?

[chiburb]

3. Just saw a segment on GMA...

A tour of a $20,000,000 "apartment". Made me wonder how it'll be before the People wake up to a 2-class America: The Very Rich, and the Rest Of Us...
We're on our way there now, and if Bushco gets 4 more years...

[flamingyouth]

4. "Why can't these guys join the army?"

Can you imagine how many freeper-types are thinking that after reading this article? Grr.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

7. Perhaps this will be the first group

that they target with a new draft. It would solve several problems at once: get plenty of new soldiers and improve the jobless statistics.

[Bandit]

5. "as the population grows and economy shifts,"

What the hell or where the hell is the economy shifting too? What do they mean by as the economy shifts? Shifting from the poor and middle class to the extremely wealthy. Or shifting from American jobs to Chinese or Taiwanese or Mexican or whereever? Americans are tired of being trickled on they want jobs. Real American jobs where they make a living wage. All those huge Tax Cuts for the wealthy resulted in ZERO Employment increases. Why is that? Why is this question not even being asked?

[Fridays Child]

6. Hey, Maw? Yes, Paw?

Why should we pay attention to Iraq and terrorism and whatever it is that they do over there in Washington? None of that stuff has anything to do with us. Right? I mean, c'mon, right?