Twenty-seven percent of children in California live in poverty.
Youth unemployment is three times the adult level.
California ranks 42nd in the country in its school drop-out rate. Although drop-out rates have declined from 20.1 percent in 1990 to 16.6 percent in 1992 and to 15.2 percent in 1993, in our poorer communiities, the rate exceeds 50 percent. Witnessing or being a victim of violence at a very early age can have a demonstrable long-term effect on a child's decision to use physical force. Availability of guns, drugs, and alcohol . Alcohol is involved in about half of the hospital-reported firearm injuries in North America.