children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

ning to move there). The median family income is
$5,620, and a low percentage (6.8 percent) of families
have incomes below the poverty level. There
are less than 1,000 persons under 18. There are
single and multi-family homes on tree-lined streets.
Every third household was surveyed during two
weeks in August 1973 by staff and interns of the
Juvenile Justice Division of the Family Law Center.
b. Census Tract 8
Census Tract 8 was selected because its population
has a majority of Mexican-Americans and lowincome
families. While the 1970 Census shows only
33 percent of the Census Tract 8 inhabitants as
"persons of Spanish language," after very careful
monitoring, CDF found 69 percent of the people are
Mexican-American (although many speak English
rather than Spanish). Census Tract 8 has the lowest
median family income, $3,690, of any place surveyed
(and the third lowest of Census tracts in Denver).
Almost two-thirds (1,809) of its inhabitants
are persons under 18. Virtually the entire Census
tract is comprised of the old, two-story unit housing
project, Las Casitas, without any recreation or play
areas for children or adults. CDF staff monitored
every third household during the week of November
5, 1973.
c. Census Tract 41.01
CDF wanted to survey a middle-income, black
area as well as a black neighborhood in the north
whose children attended desegregated schools. Census
Tract 41.01 in the Park Hill area of Denver met
both these criteria. Census data indicated a median
family income of $9,355, 14 percent of the families
with incomes below the poverty level, 1,807 persons
under 18 as well as an 88 percent black population.
Children living there have been bused to various
schools in heavily white areas for four years. Homes
in Census Tract 41.01 are new, one-level, singlefamily
or duplex houses or new, one-level, fourapartment
units. Interviewing was also done in
Census Tract 41.01 by CDF staff during the week
of November 5, 1973. Every fourth household was
surveyed.
GEORGIA
1. Hancock County-Georgia Militia
Districts 102 and 113
158
Georgia Militia Districts (GMD) 102 and 113
cover the whole town. of Sparta, the county seat,
and a large out-lying rural population. While the
county is 74 percent black, a majority of the whites
live in Sparta which is only 58 percent black. Most
whites in Sparta are prosperous while blacks in
Sparta, and blacks and whites in outlying rural areas,
tend to be poor. Most employed people in the rural
areas work in a local factory. The county has a dual
school system of education: black children are in
public schools and most white children are in John
Hancock Academy. The county school system and
political posts are controlled by blacks. AFSC staff
surveyed every household during September 1973.
2. Macon--Census Tract 127
CDF selected a IO\ll