In recent years, both scholars and policy makers have shown considerable interest in the trends—observable for at least a generation among industrialized societies — toward weaker and smaller social networks, less engagement in civic life, and diminished trust in neighbors and societal institutions.

As a practical matter, these trends are reflected in decreasing availability of “natural” help, especially among young adults. Unsurprisingly, there is ample evidence that such gaps between needs and social resources create or worsen threats to children’s safety and well-being.

The challenge resulting from scarce social capital has been multiplied by the decline in economic resources. Generational trends toward decreasing real income combined with increasing debt for young families have been further amplified by the current global economic crisis. Of course, governmental resources are also in decline.

The effects of these trends are exacerbated for families already on or outside the margins of the community. In the United States, such change is vividly illustrated by stunning numbers of incarcerated parents, especially among families of color. In developing countries, the recession has been felt particularly in fragile economies dependent on remittances from relatives in wealthy countries and on purchases by tourists from those societies. Escalating unemployment in most countries is challenging many families who heretofore have been able to use hard work to ensure that their families’ basic needs are met.

In such contexts, the challenges are greatest for people who have multiple disadvantages because of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Across the globe, the effects of generations of discrimination continue to be felt with special severity among indigenous minorities (e.g., Native Americans and First Nation Peoples of North America; Native Hawaiians, Maoris of New Zealand, and other Pacific Islanders; Aboriginal peoples of Australia; Roma of Central Europe) with astronomical and growing rates of poverty, incarceration, and foster care.

The challenges are not simply financial. They also relate to respect for human dignity and empowerment for meaningful participation in community life. The principles at stake are ones that have been announced by the global community in human rights treaties designed to enhance opportunities for children, indigenous peoples, migrants, racial minorities, refugees, women, and people with disabilities. They remain to be actualized in everyday community life.

The Second Annual Greenville Family Symposium brings together the Clemson University Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life and three co-sponsoring national or international scientific and professional organizations (the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the International Family Therapy Association, and the International Society for Child Indicators). The diversity of cultures and disciplines represented in the symposium promises to result in stimulating, novel discussions of ideas that can be applied in research, programs, and policies to strengthen communities and enhance the well-being of children and families. Crossing professional generations, the Symposium offers special opportunities for students to engage in discussions about the ingredients in inclusive communities supportive of children and families.