The Loneliness of America’s Poor Kids

Political Scientist Robert D. Putnam Explains the Toll Inequality is Taking on Children with Less Educated, Less Connected, Less Wealthy Parents

Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam grew up in the 1950s in Port Clinton, Ohio, a small town on Lake Erie. Central to his new book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, is his return to Port Clinton to meet with childhood friends, see how the community had changed, and reflect on how it shaped him. In front of a full-house crowd at the RAND Corporation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation President and CEO Carol S. Larson, the evening’s moderator, opened the discussion by asking Putnam to reflect on …

by Sarah Rothbard | April 22, 2015

Is Rising Inequality Slowly Poisoning Our Democracy?

What the Growing Gap Between the Haves and Have-Nots Is Doing to American Morals, Myths, Social and Economic Policies, and Politics

April 22, 2015

Back in the 1980s, President Reagan famously took a jab at the policies of Lyndon Johnson with the remark, “In the ’60s we waged a war on poverty, and poverty …

When the American Dream Was Still in Reach

Our Kids

by Robert D. Putnam | April 19, 2015

Is America still a meritocracy? Harvard political scientist Robert D. Putnam argues that it is not, and that children born to less educated, less wealthy, less connected parents have fewer …

Why Are Politicians Pretending to Be Homeless?

Candidates Think Selfies on Skid Row Can Get Them Street Cred

by Lawrence A. Herzog | January 15, 2015

In the mythology of ancient Greece, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, disguises himself as a beggar to gain an advantage over his enemies. In Shakespeare’s King Lear, a nobleman masquerading as …

Could Shoes Help Contain the Ebola Epidemic?

Growing Up in Sierra Leone, I Walked Barefoot. It Was Painful, and Now It’s a Public Health Hazard.

by Stephen T. Fomba | August 15, 2014

Growing up in the village of Konjo in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, I remember the walks. After waking up to the crowing of hens, I’d take long, cold …

Merced’s Kids Are Not All Right

In California’s Capital of Youth Poverty, We’re Fighting For Everything From Summer Jobs to Swimming Pools

by Alyssa Castro | June 16, 2014

Have you heard of “disconnected youth?” It’s a term for young people age 16-19 who are neither employed nor in school. My county, Merced, has won the disconnected youth prize …

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