90% percent of the Urban Youth Ministry caseload come from African American or Hispanic single parent families. Researchers validate that nearly 70% of juveniles in state reform institutions come from fatherless homes, as do 43% of prison inmates.
Research indicates a direct correlation between crime rates and the number of single-parent families in a neighborhood. Children from single-parent families are twice as likely to drop out of school; twice as likely to have a child before the age of 20; and twice as likely to be unemployed in their late teens and early twenties. There are also higher correlations with drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and criminal behavior.
- There is a one million dollar cost to society over the lifetime of a school dropout.
- The average cost to house an inmate in the correctional system is $25,000 a year.
- The majority of these young people are destined for an eternity separated from God.
The dysfunction and instability of the urban environment are merely symptoms of the grave spiritual crisis gripping the Inner City. Social programs merely wipe the wound but do not transform the injury.
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Did You Know?
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In the urban environment, 42% of female students become pregnant by their senior year.
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