The twin challenges of poverty and crime are preventing many young people in the Trenton region from finishing even high school. Without a proper education, youth are not able to support themselves and the whole community suffers.
In Trenton, poverty rates are high, with 24.8% of Trenton residents earning less than half the poverty level, which is $10,400 for an individual. As of July 2008 Trenton’s unemployment rate was 13.4%, over two times the U.S. unemployment rate of 5.1%.
In 2006, Trenton’s murder rate of 18 per 100,000 inhabitants and its robbery rate of 632 per 100,000 inhabitants were double the national averages, and gangs are ever present. One national study found Trenton to be America’s fourth most dangerous city with under 100,000 residents.
The crime that endangers communities like Trenton also puts many of their young people in jail, and in Trenton, more male minority youth will serve jail sentences than attain a high school diploma. This standard approach for deterring youth crime, putting more young people in jail, is expensive and ineffective. In New Jersey, it costs $91,250 per year to incarcerate one youth in a secure facility — six times what New Jersey spent in 2006–2007 to send one child to high school ($14,968 on average).
To fight the twin challenges of poverty and crime, education is key, but the statistics are not good for Trenton youth. In the 2006–2007 school year at Trenton Central High School 58% of students dropped out before graduating.