Youth Today: Underserved and Undeserved

By Karen Pittman, December 2004

My computer’s spell check function automatically changes “underserved” to “undeserved.” I learned this the hard way when I had to send a publication back to press to correct the mistake that appeared more than a dozen times, including a section head. As I watched hip hop get out the vote videos the day before the election, I realized that, in the minds of many youth — urban and rural — underserved has been interpreted as undeserved.

Speaking in front of a backdrop of substandard houses, dismantled playgrounds and deteriorated schools, African American youth offered their interpretation of this chronic underinvestment in their schools and communities. Their conclusion: politicians don’t believe young people deserve more. Hip hop artists from Sean “P Diddy” Combs to Eminem flipped the analysis to encourage youth to vote by, in some ways, evoking the code of the streets. “Choose or Lose.” “Vote or Die.” Their message: the politicians that disrespect you and your family need to be taken out of office.

Early reports from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement tell us that the message made a difference. Voter turnout was at an all time high this year. At least 20.9 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in this election, many for the first time, an increase of 4.6 million over the 2000 election. However, the national percentage of young people who cast their votes remained the same because of higher turnout among all registered voters.

While we gained much this election year, we still have much to do to reach out the millions of young people who are eligible to register and vote, but still don’t see the point.

Why don’t more youth see voting as rite of passage? Perhaps it is because while those of us over the age of 40 lament the continued bipolarization of America into haves and have nots, the 24 and under crowd lives it. True, there are still bootstrap success stories of poor, minority and immigrant youth who “beat the odds.” But the Horatio Alger story just isn’t selling the way it used to. Increasingly, young people today are either poised to reap the benefits that come with being a privileged American or poisoned by the bitter taste that comes with being chronically underserved because they are deemed undeserving. Either way, many may feel that the outcome of national elections has little to no impact on their personal futures. They either feel invincible or invisible.

The images and words of the young people interviewed in the MTV videos come back to me regularly. “They don’t care about us.” “They come to the churches, but are afraid to come in our homes.” “No one should have to live like this.” “When there isn’t even a chair for you in class, you get the message.”

America’s disconnected youth are disrespected, not only the by the general public, but by the many of the systems and professionals that serve them and believe that they are getting what they deserve. Forget the fact that they have systematically been given the weakest teachers or put at the bottom of the pile for job interviews and loans. Too many believe that these young people don’t deserve to live the American dream because they have cut classes, cursed teachers, used and sold drugs, vandalized buildings, killed and maimed peers, had children out of wedlock, driven away tourists, carjacked upstanding citizens, bought clothes and jewelry they can’t afford. And their parents aren’t much better, or at least that is what we’ve been led to believe.

The last two years has seen a massive resurgence of foundation-supported advocacy for civic education and increased supports for disconnected youth. But these two efforts have not been connected together. This election has the potential to serve as way to bridge these efforts, not through services, but through young people themselves. Despite what some still believe about our young people, they’ve shown us that they care, about their families, their schools and their neighborhoods.

What’s left is turning that spark of activism displayed November 2 into a constant flame that fans out across the country, inviting and engaging young people to come to table to learn and discuss policies that affect their daily lives, to share their experiences and to even dream about the possibilities.

We can’t just connect the services, we need dig deeper and connect with the young people we hope to serve and empower them as change-making advocates. One way to do this is to create opportunities for meaningful dialogue between youth who feel on the outside with youth in the inner circle. It really is their future that so many of us care so passionately about, if we can help them see the value in addressing the things that matter most together, they will begin to change minds and communities.

Read More:
Youth Voting Resources from CIRCLE: The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement - Retrieved November 30, 2004, from www.civicyouth.org/.

Rock the Vote - The official Rock the Vote Web site — Register to Vote

Choose or Lose Web site

Out-of-School Time Policy Commentary #8: Out-of-School Time and Civic Engagement - October 2004. Nicole Yohalem, Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom and Karen Pittman. The Forum for Youth Investment

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Pittman, K. (2004, December). "Underserved and Undeserved." Washington, DC: The Forum for Youth Investment. A version of this article appears in Youth Today.

Karen Pittman is executive director of the Forum for Youth Investment.