<div><b><i>You Can’t Be What You Can’t See </i>presents a rare longitudinal account of the benefits of a high-quality, out-of-school program on the life trajectories of hundreds of poor, African American youth who grew up in Chicago’s notorious Cabrini-Green housing project in the 1980s and early ’90s.</b><br> <br>The result of a five-year research project by Stanford scholar Milbrey W. McLaughlin, the book documents what happened to more than 700 Cabrini-Green youth two decades after they attended the Community Youth Creative Learning Experience (CYCLE), a comprehensive after-school program offering tutoring, enrichment, scholarships, summer camps, and more. Through data collection, and in-depth interviews with participants and staff, she finds that almost all had graduated high school and escaped poverty, and so had their children.<br> <br>McLaughlin describes the design principles as well as the core features of the program that participants say were key to their success: mentoring, exposure to activities and resources beyond their neighborhood, and a culture of belonging in which staff committed to “never give up on a kid.” The recollections and accomplishments of CYCLE alums, McLaughlin argues, challenge current assumptions about the enduring effects of poverty and highlight the power of opportunity “to imagine and take a different path.”<br> <br><i>You Can’t Be What You Can’t See</i> offers lessons for policy makers, educators, community activists, funders, and others interested in learning what makes a youth organization effective for low-income, marginalized children.</div> Read Less