Many cities have tens of thousands of families on waiting lists for child care assistance. Education Gap Urban schools are failing to prepare an alarming number of America's children to meet the challenges of the new high-technology economy. In many cases, the poorest schools are serving the children with the greatest needs, and have the fewest resources to do so. More than 81 percent of urban schools have a student population that is at least 70 percent poor and 50 percent minority. In the nation's 20 largest urban school districts, more than half of all students never graduate high school.
School violence is concentrated in large urban schools.
Though school violence is not just an urban problem, violent attacks and fights are much more common in city schools, especially large ones, than they are in suburban schools. A sizable proportion of urban schools are literally falling apart. The nation's affordable housing crisis has reached record levels, especially in central cities. At the same time, while homeownership is at its highest level ever, the central city homeownership rate continues to lag significantly behind the suburbs. Homeownership rates are 70 percent in suburbs but just 50 percent in cities.