Within Our Reach

Effective and affordable social service programs can help reverse the high rate of school dropout, teenage pregnancy, juvenile crime and child abuse among the poor. That is the central message of this blueprint for reform by Lisbeth Schorr, a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, written with her journalist husband. Among the successful projects visited here are a storefront clinic for adolescent mothers in Baltimore; the Homebuilders organizaton in Tacoma, whose therapists work with families in danger of losing a child to a state agency; and an elementary school in Harlem that puts heavy emphasis on reading. Lisbeth Schorr, who supervised public health projects under presidents Carter and Johnson, marshalls facts and statistics to build an impressive case for meaningful social spending. The book's support for federal funding of birth control in the schools will stir debate and controversy, as will the authors' proposal to reorder our national health priorities, putting community needs ahead of market pressures. (May)