Editors Note: Seventeen percent of Central Texas children live in poverty. During adolescence, they will make critical decisions that will affect their lifelong economic prospects, as well as those of their own children.

In this interview, LifeWorks Executive Director Susan McDowell discusses how the circumstances of poverty may affect the choices adolescents make, the impact of those decisions on our society, and why it is so critical to help teens in poverty break the cycle. LifeWorks is an Austin-based organization dedicated to transitioning youth and families from crisis to safety and success.

ForeFront (FF): We’ve read a lot about the cycle of poverty with poverty passing from one generation to the next. Where do adolescents fit into this cycle? 

Susan McDowell (SM): Adolescents are at a very interesting place within the cycle of poverty. 

First, it is important to emphasize that parental income by itself is not the most significant predictor of a child’s future economic prospects. People can break the cycle. At the same time, when youths are poor, they are more likely make choices that put them at risk of staying in poverty.

If we look statistics from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a child born to an unmarried teen mother has a 27 percent chance of growing up in poverty.  If the mother has not earned a high school diploma or equivalency, the child will grow up in poverty 64 percent of the time.

FF: So if we can support youth in making good decisions, we can help them break the cycle of poverty?

SM: Let’s look at one of those decisions—the choice to stay in school.

Dropping out of high school is one of the most significant contributing factors to poverty. When youth do not graduate from high school, they are more likely to experience frequent unemployment, poverty, dependence on public assistance, trouble with the law, divorce, and single parenthood. And then their own children are more likely to drop out of school. The cycle begins again. We’ve started another loop in the poverty cycle.

FF: I’m assuming that youth in poverty drop out of high school more frequently than their affluent peers. Why?

In The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, John Bridgeland surveyed high school dropouts to determine what factors contributed to their decision to leave school. What he found is amazing. Nearly one-third said they had to quit so they could get a job to make money or to care for an ill family member. Nearly 70 percent cited not feeling motivated or inspired to work hard, and many would have liked higher expectations and more challenging courses.

Interestingly, 81 percent of respondents to Bridgeland’s study said that more opportunities for “real-world” learning would have helped them stay in school. These results suggest that many youth, and perhaps specifically youth who are dealing with immediate economic stressors, do not see a compelling connection between traditional curricula and the economic conditions they face in their day-to-day lives.

If we make college entrance and completion a goal that seems real as well as achievable, then youth can absolutely break the cycle.

FF: What are the barriers to presenting college as a realistic option?

SM: When we are looking at how to support youth in making choices that lead to success, we need to consider all of the factors of their environment.

Consider the circumstances of a youth “aging out” of foster care. One-third of the foster care alumni—most of whom are victims of abuse or neglect—have household incomes at or below the poverty level. That’s three times the national poverty rate.

It is very common for a seventeen-year-old in LifeWorks Emergency Shelter to have been in thirty foster-care placements and attended dozens of schools. Despite the fact that the State of Texas will pay tuition and book fees at public colleges, the college enrollment and completion rates for foster care alumni are appalling. 

Why? According to the Children’s Advocacy Institute, the median age for financial self-sufficiency for American youth is twenty-six. Yet, we are asking teens who lack any economic or emotional safety net, and who may be holding serious scars from their circumstances, to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” by the time they are eighteen. For the most part, it is a completely unrealistic expectation. Any parent can tell you that a great deal of financial and emotional support goes into helping a youth transition to adulthood.

FF: But we see media stories about youth who pull themselves out of impossible circumstances. What is the bridge between the realities of poverty and the promise of a college education?

SM: A wise LifeWorks staff member once told me the following: The youth we serve do not come to us to be changed. They long to be seen as they are, and found to be OK. Most are afraid they are not, having been told so over and over again. Regardless of the condition they are in when they come to us, they already possess everything they need to live successful lives. The more they believe they are OK, the better able they are to access and utilize their own resources. There is nothing that will have a bigger or faster payoff than their realization that they are not flawed.

In short, the best slingshot out of poverty for a youth is having at least one adult—a parent, teacher, or mentor—who is unconditionally devoted to his or her success, and who helps the youth believe that he or she is more than the sum of his or her past situations and choices.

FF: That must be a tough sell among this population.

SM: Yes and no. Many youths come to us with the sense that they are a problem to be managed rather than a talent to be nurtured. And we need to change that right away—we need to show them the strengths they have and give them support to help them translate those strengths into real accomplishments.

First, we make sure our kids have the chance to develop a healthy, consistent relationship with an adult who is invested in their success. We start our conversations around the strength and sense of purpose it took for them to survive their challenges and how they can use this to become the teacher, nurse, or entrepreneur that they dream of being.

Most of us take on goals that we think we have a reasonable chance of accomplishing. Our most important job with youths is to help them develop a sense that they can control their future.

FF: But even once these kids find their strength and sense of purpose, they aren’t in a vacuum. Many are still very connected to their families and their circumstances.

SM:  Absolutely—and let me be clear that no one comes from a perfect family. Poverty, its consequences, and its causes are as complicated and unique as any family. Our goal is to give youths and their families the tools and opportunities they need to become self-sufficient participants in the workforce and lifelong students. We serve as both a safety net and a launch point for more than ten thousand families every year. 

Adolescents are critical in discussions about poverty. They are junctures that, if given the right support, can break apart cycles of poverty at the family level. If we can stop poverty from making even one generational leap, we can close the loop on poverty.