Review by Choice Review
Because of changes in the economy, public policy, and demographics, a growing cohort of the US millennial and Gen Z population of teenagers and young adults are neither in school nor employed. Their path to adulthood is more challenging than in the past. They are not part of the affluent or middle class whose parents can nurture their transition. They are less well-off and often persons of color who are abandoned socially, economically, and politically. This book tells their story, including why they are disconnected, the problems this poses, and the polices needed to help them. For the author, these are individuals who live where there is little economic opportunity, such as in rural or inner-city communities where jobs have left. They are too old to be treated as children to qualify for dependent benefits under their parents but too young and isolated to find the jobs or training they need to succeed. This book describes successful programs and concludes by developing an agenda to help these individuals. Excellent for collections on US politics, economics, and teenagers and young adults. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --David Schultz, Hamline University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An urgent portrait of a neglected group of at-risk young people.Americans under the age of 25 grab headlines when they launch flashy startups or become activists for social change. However, as Washington Monthly contributing editor Kim argues in her quietly powerful nonfiction debut, the success of such leaders masks an alarming reality ill-served by current public policy: "In 2017, as many as 4.5 million young people" ages 16-24 were neither in school nor working. Social scientists call them "disconnected youth" (or, in Europe, NEETs, for "not in employment, education, or training"), and many of them have aged out of foster care or spent time in prison and lack the support of trusted adults. A vice president of the Progressive Policy Institute, the author shows clearly how their plight tends to result from years of systemic failures. Some disconnected youth live in rural or urban "opportunity deserts," which decay as good jobs vanish, or "higher education deserts," which either have no post-secondary schools or none that teach relevant skills. Others have been unprepared for the transition to economic independence by schools, foster care, the criminal justice system, or government initiatives intended to help them. A striking example of a program falling short is the federal Job Corps, which gives 16-to-24-year-olds room and board in a dormlike setting along with education and training. However, according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Corps "could not demonstrate the extent to which its training programs helped participants enter meaningful jobs appropriate to their training." Among her many and varied examples of successful programs, Kim cites the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, D.C., a drop-in center where homeless young adults can find a safe place to stay during the dayand get food, take a shower, and talk to counselors. Although rich in statistics that support its positions, the narrative is never wonky, and the author enlivens the text with miniprofiles of beneficiaries of high-impact programs.An outstanding book for policymakers and people who work with adrift young people. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
