Addressing Child Poverty within the Context of a Community‐Collaborative University: Comments on Fabes, Martin, and Smith (1994) and Mcloyd (1994)

Abstract

Across history, there has been a strong interrelation between the scholarly agendas of American universities and pressing social issuesfacing the nation, such as child poverty. Today, however, this historical association has weakened. The two commentaries about the McKinney, Abrams, Terry, and Lerner (1994 [this issueD article‐by McLoyd (1994 [this issueD and by Fabes, Martin, and Smith (1994 [this issue1)‐differ in their respective visions of the role of child development scholars in addressing key societal problems besetting our nation's youthfamilies, and communities. McLoyd argues that it is morally, socially, and scientifically necessaryfor scientists to adopt scholarlyagendas that involve research addressing these problems. Fabes et al. (1994) callfor the maintenance of a balance between basic and applied research in home economics programs. We argue that it is the unique niche and potentially special contribution of home economics programs pertinent to children to pursue models that integrate research and outreach in a community‐collaborative manner.

Understanding Developmental Systems in Adolescence

“…Lerner & Miller, 1993). That is, policies and programs must be similarly attuned to the diversity of people and context to maximize the chances of meeting the specific needs of particular groups of youth (R. Lerner, Miller, & Ostrom, 1995;R. Lerner, Terry, McKinney, & Abrams, 1994).…”