ABSTRACT
This chapter presents by delineating some of the characteristics of the postindustrial global economy and discusses the kinds of skills that are rewarded and not rewarded. It also provides a cursory discussion of the inequality in credentials between African American young people and European American youth, and summarizes a much larger debate about the Black-White 'skills gap' and the role of the achievement gap in the analysis of racial and ethnic economic inequality. The chapter explores some alternative ways to approach the concern about the achievement gap and ways in which thinking about alternative democratic community-based economic development strategies helps to address issues of pedagogy and achievement for African American youth. It concludes with a few examples of educational and community building experiences for young people, which may help simultaneously to catalyze community-based economic development and youth academic achievement.
