Abandoned

December 1, 2019
In a time of prosperity and economic recovery, millions of young people continue to face alienation, disconnection, and lack of access to education and good jobs. Kim, vice president of domestic policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, tells the stories of these youths, considers the points at which their lives went off track, and lays out solutions for the problem of disengagement. In defiance of stereotypes of lazy and unmotivated youth, Kim depicts young people who are eager to break into the workforce but face personal and structural obstacles that sabotage their efforts at every turn. Poor public education discourages students from finishing school; decades of redlining and other racist policies create geographical and social barriers to employment; and generational poverty engenders a deficit of social capital like robust professional networks, access to mentors, and awareness of office norms. For children aging out of foster care or with a history of involvement in the juvenile justice system, the challenges are even greater. Abandoned is a smart, solutions-focused examination of an often-overlooked social crisis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

December 9, 2019
Washington Monthly contributing editor Kim diagnoses a “crisis of opportunity” among America’s youth in this substantial and cogent analysis of U.S. public policy. While affluent parents can afford to pay their children’s college tuition and subsidize their internships and their housing and health-care costs, Kim writes, low-income young adults don’t have the necessary support to make a successful transition into independent adulthood. She quotes a study showing that as many as 4.5 million young people ages 16–24 are neither in school nor working, and argues that millions more are at risk of a “lifetime of accumulated disadvantages.” She places the blame on “vast structural forces” including racism, poverty, failing public schools, “geographic and social isolation,” and inadequacies in the foster care system. Kim stresses the importance of mentorship programs and provides encouraging portraits of federal and local initiatives such as a Texas school district that lowered its dropout rate from 20% to 1%, and profiles young people who have overcome long odds to build stable lives. She presents strong evidence that “emerging adulthood” is a critical developmental period in people’s lives, and persuasively indicts the failures of the child welfare, juvenile justice, and public school systems. Policy makers and social justice advocates will find valuable insights in this sobering, well-sourced examination.