R2000-67 AUTHORIZING CONTRACT OR CONTRACTS

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pressed neighborhoods of this city, the schools are not strong enough to counteract the nega- tive influences of central city living. Public Education, Alone, Will Not Countera.ct the impact of Living in Poor Areas The Circle of Poor Peoale and Education Poor and Uneducated Poor Educational Perents Experiences For Child Low socioeconomic sta.tus leads to unproductive edu- cational experience which in turn leads to low socio- economic sta.tus. Poor and Pow�eriess Parents for the Next Generation We must plan, in this example, for not only socioeconomic improvements for poor people through better education, but we must also plan for better education as a product of socioeco- nomic improvements. The problems of poor people are real and must be dealt with in realistic manners. Plans of action must be useful in finding and describing feasible strategies for eco- nomic development in inner city communities. In my more than twenty years as director of the Decatur Boys and Girls Club, I have found that contributories to the problems for poor people have been: the linkage between pathological life- styles and income levels, school drop out rates, levels of frustration in the labor force and labor force participation, behavior of sign�cant institutions toward central city residents,social condi- tioning and social change, and the overall psychological impact of central city li#e on the general attitudes and values of poor people. A crucial element of (targeted) economic development is the transformation of poor people into beneficent, self-sustaining persons. Four goals underscore (ta.rgeted) economic development for Decatur's poor people: . The employment of previously unemployed central city people. . Increase poor people's income. and change poor people's occupational struc- turing. . Reduce dependency on public welfare and working-poor jobs, and education failure. . Increase membership in human capital resource banks. 8