Press release

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CSS Survey Reveals New Yorker’s Mixed Emotions on City Public Schools

New Yorkers Are United on Lowering Student Drop-Out Rates and See Disconnected Youth as a Serious Problem

New York, NY, February 19, 2008 -- The Community Service Society of New York’s (CSS) annual survey of low-income New Yorkers, “The Unheard Third,” reveals New Yorkers support efforts to lower the dropout rate in public education and address issues relating to the city’s disconnected youth.  These findings come as the City Council and Directions for Our Youth convene a United Way of New York City-sponsored major conference examining the dropout crisis in city schools. 

“We are at a critical juncture with young people in New York,” said David R. Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society.  “No longer can the issues of education and work, particularly for Black and Latino youth be ignored or swept under the rug, hoping they will go away.  We are at a crisis level and must create state and national policy to address the drop-out rate and disconnected youth in New York and throughout the U.S.”

CSS has examined the problem of “disconnected youth” and determined the extent these young people, age 16 to 24 years old, find themselves outside the school walls and out of a job.  CSS research indicates there are 200,000 young people who fit this description in New York City alone, with estimates from the National League of Cities of between 5 and 6 million disconnected youth across the nation.  In New York City, approximately half of disconnected youth do not have high school diplomas or their equivalents. 

New Yorkers see disconnected youth as a serious problem.  “Through “The Unheard Third” survey, we polled nearly 1,600 low and moderate income New Yorkers on issues from education and healthcare to housing and employment.  We found that New Yorkers are facing major hardships and are particularly concerned about the future of young people in New York,” Jones added.    

“The Unheard Third” surveys people on the front line of confronting challenges of living in a major urban city.  Three major points New Yorkers revealed in “The Unheard Third” relating to young people are:

New Yorkers are seeing the consequences of the high numbers of high school dropouts

• All New Yorkers claim that they see increasing numbers of “disconnected youth,” 16-24 years old who are out of school and out of work:
• The vast majority of low-income New Yorkers think that the number of 16-24 year olds who are not in school and are not working has increased in the past several years.  One in four high income residents say the number has stayed the same.
• The numbers of disconnected youth are growing the most in poorer communities:
• 64 percent of poor New Yorkers and 61 percent of near poor New Yorkers say the numbers of disconnected youth have increased in the past year, as compared to 41 percent of middle/high income New Yorkers

New Yorkers support community-based programs to re-engage disconnected youth

• All New Yorkers, across income levels, claim that neighborhood-based programs that provide training are the best ways to re-engage disconnected youth.

New Yorkers are increasingly in favor of policies to keep young people in school from dropping out.

• New Yorkers show strong support for increasing the drop out age to 18.  Overall support is up from 2006 among near poor and high income residents.

“What we are seeing in New York, is occurring in urban communities across the nation,” Jones added.  “About one-third of America’s youth and more than half of minority youth drop out of high school before graduation.  Many of these young people have few skills that could provide them a place in the labor market.  These disconnected youth are detached from any institution that could provide them with a path to a successful future.”  We need to invest in more ways to keep young people from dropping out from school, as well as programs that can help those who have dropped out to get back on track, earn a diploma or GED, and prepare for a career.

“The Unheard Third,” conducted by CSS and fielded by the national polling firm Lake Research Partners, is a unique snapshot of the policy preferences and experiences of low-income New Yorkers.  The survey is partially funded through the generous support of the Independence Community Foundation, The New York Community Trust, The Rockefeller Foundation, and United Way of New York City.  CSS has used the survey to inform and guide its research, direct service programs, and policy recommendations.  It has served to narrow the focus of the agency's agenda on the working poor and reinforce its belief that public policy aimed at this population must, in part, be guided by the life experiences and ideas of New Yorkers living in poverty. 

Learn more about this year’s survey at, http://www.cssny.org/research/unheardthird/index.html

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