In Focus: Youth of Color
Apr 12, 2013 | Permalink »
Supporting Black Male Achievement in Education and Employment: The President’s 2014 Budget
This week, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. This proposal reflects the Administration's priorities to ensure a world-class education for all students, provide opportunities for employment, and build strong communities. The budget includes several areas of investment that could provide education and employment opportunities for black boys and young men along the age continuum from cradle to career. It also expands supports to low-income communities for revitalization, poverty reduction, increased jobs, and decreased violence.
This budget still has many hurdles to cross, and the outcome is far from certain. The proposed resources, however, are an indication that the President and his Administration understand the need to invest in our youth, the workforce, families, and distressed communities-even in the face of tough choices about reducing budget deficits.
It is important to recognize that these resource allocations alone are insufficient to fully address the large gaps in academic achievement and employment for black youth, or the number of communities that need to be strengthened and rebuilt. In particular, there is a need for far greater investment in older black youth who have been disconnected from school or work. Many of the increased investments reflected in this budget are for competitive grant programs that serve a small number of states or communities. And in some cases, the mandatory or formula program allocations do not reflect the large numbers of youth and their families that we know are in need. Still, we view the resources in this budget as an opportunity to do more than was done in the past to impact outcomes for black males, particularly those in high-poverty communities.
Apr 09, 2013 | Permalink »
132,000 Black Men and Boys are Too Precious to Lose
The gun violence issue most keenly affects black men in America. While black males are 6 percent of the United States population, they constitute 48 percent of the homicide victims who die by firearms in our nation. On average, about 4,900 black males are killed with guns every single year. Between 2000 and 2010, 53,850 black males died by firearms in America. Between now and 2025, if we don't act, more than 68,600 black males will face the same untimely death. That means, in a single generation, over 132,000 of our nation's black men and boys will lose their lives to bullets.
The vast majority of these black males that are dying are young. In 2010, more than half of black male homicide victims were between the ages of 13 and 29. Eighty-six percent were under the age of 40.
Gun violence in black communities, however, is far bigger than the issue of gun reform and whether tougher gun control laws will reduce access to guns. It's really about concentrated poverty. For black males, issues of gun violence are largely concentrated in distressed neighborhoods within communities.
For several decades, these black communities have lacked the infrastructure and resources to make them viable places to live, work, or raise a family. Jobs left these communities decades ago, so employment prospects are few. Their school districts are struggling, and many fail to graduate half of their students each year. Illegal underground markets and gangs have crept into many of these communities, exposing everyone to less safe neighborhoods. The revitalization of some neighborhoods and the return of higher-income residents has pushed long-time low income residents into further concentrated poverty. It should not be surprising to us that crime and violence have been difficult to contain in these communities.
The absence of opportunity for education and economic self sufficiency makes growing up in these neighborhoods difficult for young people, in particular young black boys. Often, it breeds anger, resentment and hopelessness. When black boys in these communities have no positive prospects and the future before them is empty, what are they supposed to do? What are their options? Only the most resilient are able to overcome the devastation in their communities and families to graduate from high school, complete college, move forward into careers and stable lives. The vast majority are left to their own demise.
Often, the media paints gun violence in black communities as some isolated black-on-black issue that has little relevance for the rest of America. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gun violence, and the ensuing death of young black men, is the ugly byproduct of concentrated poverty and lack of opportunity. Failure to address the issues of concentrated poverty in our communities has implications for the nation as a whole. Lost lives equals lost human capital, lost earning power, and lost innovation.
So, when debating gun violence, the biggest issue to be tackled is not how much we control access to automatic weapons or how long of a waiting period we need when someone applies for a license. The biggest issue we face is transforming our most crime-riddled cities into safe, thriving communities where black men and boys have real opportunities to be educated and employed, have the ability to support themselves and their families, and are able to contribute substantially to the growth of their communities and the nation.
Apr 03, 2013 | Permalink »
Investing in Boys and Young Men of Color: The Promise and Opportunity
The path to adulthood can be especially difficult for many middle- and high-school-aged young men of color. They are more likely to grow up in poverty, live in unsafe neighborhoods, and go to under-resourced schools—all of which affect their lifelong health and well-being. What is at stake for America is the possibility of losing an entire generation of productive men who will fall short of their potential, live less healthy lives, and fail to build and strengthen their communities.
In 2011, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) created the Forward Promise initiative within its Vulnerable Populations Portfolio to place a strategic emphasis on the needs of middle school- and high school-aged young men of color. RWJF’s goal is to strengthen educational opportunities, pathways to employment, and health outcomes for these young men.
CLASP worked with RWJF to conduct a scan of issues facing boys and young men of color in the areas of education, health, and pathways to employment. The goal of the scan was to understand both the barriers and opportunities in this work in order to make an informed decision about where to place resources to best influence outcomes for boys and young men of color. The results of the scan are available in our brief, “Investing in Boys and Young Men of Color: The Promise and Opportunity.”
From the scan came eight key ideas for investing in boys and young men of color:
Recommendation #1: Promote school discipline approaches that address behavioral problems without pushing students out of school
Recommendation #2: Increase the use of data to target interventions to boys of color at risk for dropping out of school
Recommendation #3: Expand opportunities for young men of color to work, learn, and develop career-enhancing skills
Recommendation #4: Elevate the importance of a “caring adult” in policy and programmatic efforts to re-engage out-of-school males
Recommendation #5: Provide options for out-of-school males to attain a secondary credential with pathways to postsecondary education
Recommendation #6: Increase the cultural competency of health professionals and educators who work with boys and young men of color
Recommendation #7: Change the philosophy and culture of how youth systems provide services to youth experiencing violence and trauma
Recommendation #8: Increase access to health care services for boys and young men of color