Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage

by Lisbeth B. Schorr

In this solidly researched book, the authors  demonstrate that the knowledge and techniques exist  to decrease the incidence of welfare dependency,  poor single-parent families and alienated,  uneducated youth. In addition to providing a detailed  account of the problem, they describe twenty-four  programs that have proved successful in changing  the lives of seriously disadvantaged children.

Genres: Social Work, Nonfiction

430 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rock solid book that shows how program services for the poor involve common sense approaches that are effective in helping those living in poverty and continuously undermined by the politics of funding.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended to me by my husband's Uncle Lanny back in the 80's, we discussed the ideas in this book and found lots of common ground even though we belong to different political parties. I still talk about the ideas in this book and wish they had been implemented by now.

[Laura Belgrave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t read this book because I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather read. I read it because I’m involved in a project that requires me to broaden my understanding of the issues that interfere with our ability to stop or at least curb poverty, and all of the problems it spawns. My notions of root causes and how to deal with them were overly simplistic. That didn’t surprise me, really. What did surprise me was learning how much we already know about how to deal with causes. It’s just that for a variety of reasons, well explained and thoroughly documented by Ms. Schorr, we have essentially chosen not to deal with them adequately, and often, at all.

Mind you, the book was published about 20 years ago. By now, much of the data are old. That shouldn’t stop you from reading the book, however. I know from further research that the points Ms. Schorr made in the book have only been reinforced by more current data. What I haven’t found is anything else that quite so adroitly lays everything out for non-academic people. If nothing else, Within Our Reach will put you within reach of some understanding that you may not have previously had.