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[...] poverty costs everyone, not just those who are poor. [...] to help alleviate the costs (economic, social, physical, or emotional), it is in the best interest of all to be concerned about mitigating the effects of and possible contributions to the problem. [...] it seems logical that engaging urban youths in physical education and physical activity should be one of our goals.

Do you remember the famous scene in the movie Good Will Hunting where the title character interviews at the National Security Agency (NSA) and rejects a job offer to break codes for a living? In the scene, Will Hunting expounds on a series of events that could occur should he take the job offered by the NSA and do it well. By the end of his monologue, Will had illustrated (quite colorfully, we might add) how his actions would have trickled down and adversely affected many lives. He left the interviewers slack jawed. Well, with apologies to Mr. Hunting, we would like to try our hand at a similar way of expressing a point. Please, if you will, follow this series of facts and their implications, which illustrate just how important engaging urban youths in physical education and physical activity might be to everyone.

The latest numbers from the Children's Defense Fund (2008) indicate that 18 percent of American children under the age of 18 live in poverty, as compared to 24.9 percent of children who live in inner cities. Thus, if urban youths are more likely that nonurban youths to be living in poverty, it is important to understand the implications of that difference. Ponder the following sequence of events and the implications that might stem from being a child of the inner city.

If urban youths live in poverty, then they are less likely to have health insurance and are more likely to be hungry. If urban youths lack proper access to quality health care and are malnourished, they are more likely to perform poorly in school. Performing poorly in school begets an increased likelihood that these urban youths will drop out of school before graduation. Quitting school significantly increases the possibility of urban youths being incarcerated. An increased number of juveniles and adults in detention centers or prison is equated with an increased burden on the public. For the taxpayer, the cost ratio for a prisoner to a student is 2.8 to 1. The point? In the end, poverty costs everyone, not just those who are poor. Thus, to help alleviate the costs (economic, social, physical, or emotional), it is in the best interest of all to be concerned about mitigating the effects of and possible contributions to the problem. Given that the health and physical well-being of urban youths suffer as a result of poverty, it seems that our profession might have a lot to offer. It makes sense to direct our offerings toward those who suffer the most from poverty: urban youths.

It cannot be denied - the numbers bear it out - that urban youths are underserved in almost every way one could imagine, especially in health care and education funding. Furthermore, the lack of these cornerstones is likely to be perpetuated unless everyone chips in what they can to stymie poverty's impact. As a profession, we claim to be able to make a difference in the physical, affective, and cognitive development of children. Therefore it seems logical that engaging urban youths in physical education and physical activity should be one of our goals.

Recent studies have indicated that urban youths lack a significant prerequisite for being physically active: safe environments (Molnar, Gortmaker, Bull, & Buka, 2004). While it may be intuitive to think that children in urban areas, who are more likely to be in the lower socioeconomic strata, lack the common culprits of physical inactivity and overweight - video games, computers, and an overabundance of food - it appears that engaging urban youths in physical education and physical activity is fraught with many other obstacles. These obstacles range from selecting the right approach for engaging urban youths, to preparing teachers to teach children from urban areas, providing accessible youthsport opportunities outside of schools, or making physical education or physical activity meaningful enough for urban youths to continue to participate.

During the Research Town Hall Meeting held at the 2008 AAHPERD convention in Fort Worth, members expressed a desire to have the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) pay empirical attention to the topic of physical education and physical activity for urban youths. The topic remained at the heart of a discourse for the majority of the meeting and caught the attention of members of the Professional Preparation and Research Steering Committee (PPRSC). At their summer meeting at AAHPERD headquarters in Reston, Virginia, the PPRSC decided that, since the topic appeared to be of great interest, the 2009 annual NASPE AllAcademy Symposium would focus on it. Thus, each of the six academies selected a representative to speak about how their specific area influences or addresses "Engaging Urban Youths in Physical Education and Physical Activity." The result was one of the best attended and interesting symposiums yet. A unique component in the 2009 All-Academy Symposium was the inclusion of more than just scholars from the respective academies. Two teachers in urban areas who face the challenge of teaching an underserved population on a daily basis, and who have successfully engaged at-risk children and youths, shared valuable insights about complex issues associated with teaching in a 21st-century urban environment. This special feature includes articles from the seven presentations made at the symposium in response to the demand from the NASPE membership. The variety of areas from which these articles emanate is bound to catch the interest of the JOPERD readership.

The first article was written by a recent Luther Gulick Award recipient, one of the most well-known scholars on the topic of youth development, Don Hellison. Don's work at the University of Illinois at Chicago and with the youths of Chicago has been recognized as some of the most important work happening in our field. In his piece, "Engaging Urban Youths: A Youth Development Perspective," Don gives readers some food for thought regarding how we might view physical education and physical activity with urban youths.

Rhonda Clements of Manhattanville College, who has 20 years of experience preparing future teachers, offers "Four Considerations for Urban Physical Education Teachers." From the exercise physiology academy, Walter Thompson shares an example of an urban physical activity program he has conducted in "After-School All-Stars: Providing Structured Health and Physical Activity Programs in Urban Environments."

The feature takes a slight change in direction as the representative of the History and Sport Sociology Academy and director of the Women's Sports Foundation, Don Sabo, provides an eye-opening look at how youth sports in urban areas are not serving all constituents. His presentation of the findings of a large-scale study done by his organization will certainly raise eyebrows among readers who thought that gender equity in youth sport has made positive strides universally. The Motor Development and Learning Academy selected Jackie Goodway of Ohio State University as its representative. Jackie makes a convincing argument about the connection between skill and the promotion of physical activity among urban youths in her piece, "What's Skill Got to Do with It? A Developmental Approach to Promoting Physical Activity in Urban Youths."

The final two articles of the feature stem from the work of two teachers and a scholar, who describe how they are working to combat the obstacles that militate against the delivery of quality physical education in urban settings. "Meeting the Needs of Urban Youths in Columbus City Schools" is the title of the work done by Dena A. Deglau from the University of Delaware and her colleague Diane Barnes of Columbus (OH) City Schools. Aaron O'Neill, a teacher at National Teachers Academy in the heart of Chicago, poignantly concludes the feature with his article "Struggling to Engage Urban Youths in Meaningful Physical Education: A Bailout Plan to Survive and Thrive."

The experiences and data shared by these authors provide convincing evidence of the need to address the requirements for effectively interacting with urban youths. It provokes thought about the need to better prepare pre-professionals to face the challenges of educating and mentoring this often underserved population.