The Need for Mentoring in the Bay Area
A Social Disconnect

 

The American Dream is a simple one:  with hard work, good sense, and determination, anyone can get ahead.  During a time when unskilled labor could yield a decent living, this was probably true.

It’s not true now.  A 2005 Wall Street Journal special series on social mobility crunched the numbers:  45 – 60 percent of your income potential is determined by what your parents make.  The conclusion?  If even your grandparents weren’t poor in their day, you are far less likely to be poor tomorrow. ⁹

 

Poverty is an intergenerational affair.

Why does it work this way?  There are a variety of factors – and one of the chief ones is social capital.  Those whose families are only recently poor still have access to important social networks, a strong sense of the requisite skills to pull oneself out of poverty, and even the aspirations for a better life.  Those whose families have been poor for generations – especially those locked in an area of concentrated poverty – have no way of connecting with the wider world.

“With strong social connections, people are able to get jobs, obtain resources in time of crisis, share childcare, ensure children’s safety, borrow money and have an increased chance of voice or influence, and thus are able to prevent some of the most damaging effects of poverty and help the next generation escape from it,” noted a 2003 article in the journal World Development.  “It is vital that such positive connections are not eroded.”¹⁰

 

When they do erode, poverty often becomes entrenched for generations.

 

1. Introduction
2. The Epidemic
3. Reasons of Poverty
4. Reasons of Poverty continued
5. Social Disconnect
6. Social Disconnect continued
7. Social Disconnect continued
8. Mentoring is the Answer
9. Mentoring is the Answer continued
10. BBBSBA Works on the Bottom Line
11. Final Thoughts