Can young black men be saved? Our Board of Economists examines the lost potential of African American males and develops a prescription to improve their fortunes.

BEFORE DAVID MUHAMMAD graduated from elementary school, he was well on his way to becoming a statistic. Living with his divorced mother in one of the poorer sections of Oakland, California, Muhammad observed his two older brothers succumb to the drug trade. "I saw how dysfunctional my brother's drug use was," says Muhammad. "The first time I realized my other brother was selling drugs was through a collect call from the county jail. Later, that example was the path I followed."

By the time he was 14, Muhammad had received a first-class education from the streets. He ran away from home and began dealing drugs. At 16, he was charged with attempted murder over a disagreement about money. "The charges were later dropped, but the seriousness of the prison time I was facing began to make me think a little bit," he recalls.

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