A University of Southern Mississippi professor will study factors that allow some African-American youth in Hattiesburg to avoid crime despite an abundance of environmental risk factors that lead others into confrontation with the law.
Some kids live in an at-risk environment, but develop like they are suppose to.
The amount of each grant is based on faculty rank and summer salary. Kolbo will conduct his research through the local Family Network Partnership, a community-based program sponsored by USM's School of Social Work. The partnership focuses on youth who reside in Robertson Place Apartments, a 175-unit Hattiesburg housing project, and the surrounding neighborhood. He will observe some 15-20 children and their families in different situations during the research project.