There are 46,000 children and young adults in the Empowerment Zone with almost half living below the poverty level. The future for young people is bleak with the lack of even entry level jobs for the undereducated and unmotivated. The zone is an area of concentrated poverty, unemployment, lower education levels, poor housing, substance abuse, crime and neighborhood stagnation and disintegration. Infant mortality rates in parts of the zone are equal those of a third world country. Babies born with crack addition must fight to just stay alive.
Idle youth join gangs and then prey upon the elderly or weaker residents.
Houston has not forgotten its responsibility to all of its citizens but we feel that our children and youth deserve much of our focus. We feel our application is proof that we will save these children and their children. This application and the strategic planning process has brought the entire metropolitan community together to focus its attention on the poor, primarily the children and youth, in the core of Houston. As a result of the wide and diverse community input to the Empowerment Zone process, we have a vision for change which responds to the needs of our community and has grown out of our strengths. Our ambitious plan focuses on basic human development supported by economic development, housing, sustainable development and infrastructure.