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Southeast Quality of Life <br />Strategic Neighborhood Action Plan <br />Alvin Toffler writes in his book The Third Wave about the loss of structure and <br />meaning and sense of isolation experienced by those living lives in flux. <br />Individuals need life structure. A life lacking in comprehensible structure <br />is an aimless wreck. The absence of structure breeds breakdown. <br />Structure provides the relatively fixed points of reference we need. That <br />is why, for many people, a job is crucial psychologically, over and above <br />the paycheck. By making clear demands on their time and energy, it <br />provides an element of structure around which the rest of their lives can <br />be organized. <br />.... Today the breakup of the [community, work, and family] is dissolving <br />the structure in many individual lives before the new structure -providing <br />institutions of the... future are laid into place... To this loss of order we <br />must also add the loss of meaning. The feeling that our lives "count" <br />comes from healthy relationships with the surrounding society -from, <br />corporation, church, or political movement. <br />The issue of crime, specifically youth crime, is particularly complex but clearly <br />related to the breakdown of our social and family structures. Mercer Sullivan, <br />a Senior Research Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, New York City, <br />writes in his book "Getting Paid" Youth Crime and Work in the Inner City about <br />crime from the wider context of the family situations, school and work <br />experiences of young males. He directs attention to the broader issue of the <br />social isolation of the inner cities which produce street crime and a wide range <br />of social problems. Dr. Sullivan writes: <br />...high rates of youth crime in the inner cities are caused not just by the <br />specific lack of employment opportunities for youths but, even more <br />fundamentally, by poor employment conditions throughout these <br />neighborhoods which produce both the stresses of poverty and weakened <br />social control. <br />Remediation Measures <br />The causes of isolation, crime, unemployment and employment in low wage <br />jobs are complex, yet maintaining a strong community social structure is <br />essential to ensuring the economic success of a neighborhood. <br />A <br />