Ronald Mincy to Testify at House Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on Disconnected and Disadvantaged Youth

For Immediate Release

June 14, 2007

New York, NY – Dr. Ronald Mincy, the Maurice V. Russell Professor of Social Policy and Social Work Practice at the Columbia University School of Social Work, will testify at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support. The public hearing will take place on Tuesday, June 19, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. in room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

According to the most recent data compiled by the Congressional Research Service, about 2.3 million noninstitutionalized youth between the ages of 16 and 24 have neither attended school, nor worked at anytime over the last year. A myriad of issues may lead to youth becoming detached from school and work and/or becoming homeless, including poverty, inferior schools, the lack of economic opportunity, racial discrimination, substance abuse, teenage parenthood, interaction with the criminal justice system, family instability and violence, and a difficult transition from foster care. While the issue of disconnected youth is not new, the problem has increased in recent years for certain groups.  For example, the percentage of African American men between the age of 20 and 24 who are both out of work and out of school rose from 9.5 percent in 1998 to 14.1 percent in 2005.   

For additional information, please visit the Ways and Means Committee’s site here. To interview Dr. Mincy, please contact Jeannie Hii at 212-851-2327 or jy2223@columbia.edu.