Chronic absence, suspension derail Oakland black boys

High rates of chronic absence, suspension and poor academic performance signal that more than half of African American male students in the Oakland Unified School District are at risk of dropping out, according to new research.

The Urban Strategies Council, an Oakland-based community advocacy organization, found significant disparities between African American boys and their peers: Fifty-five percent of black boys in the 2010-11 school year were falling off course from graduation or were at risk of doing so, compared with 37.5 percent of students overall in the district.

From kindergarten through 12th grade, researchers found that black boys struggled with regular attendance and suspensions and scoring proficiently on standardized tests or maintaining grades above a C average – warning signs that they might drop out.

Among African American males who were not on track to graduate, 73 percent in elementary school were chronically absent, missing 10 percent or more of school days for any reason, according to the findings released this week. In middle school, the same percentage had been suspended at least once. Nearly two-thirds of high schoolers were chronically absent and had less than a C average; 41 percent had been suspended at least once.

The council's reports on dropout indicators are part of Oakland Unified's African American Male Achievement Initiative, an effort launched in 2010 to improve academic and social equity for black boys. The findings provide "a sense of urgency" for the district, said Chris Chatmon, executive director of the district's Office of African American Male Achievement. "We need to understand what's going on if we're going to effectively intervene and improve outcomes and graduation and success of African American males," said Junious Williams, chief executive officer of the council. 

Chatmon, who plans to hold a community meeting next month to discuss the council's findings, said improving attendance among black boys requires working with other agencies and the community and presents different challenges in different age groups.

In kindergarten and first grade, African American boys in the district were more than four times as likely as their white peers to be chronically absent, the council found. 

"Five-year-olds don't miss school without an adult knowing at home," said Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, an initiative that seeks to improve student success by reducing chronic absence. 

Families might face hurdles, such as transportation or health problems, in getting their young children to school, or they might not understand the importance of kindergarten, said Chang, who has worked with Oakland Unified to address chronic absenteeism. 

"Once you miss a month or more of school, and you miss a month or more in kindergarten and first, you're not on track for reading in third grade," she said. "We've got to make sure kids have a chance to start on the right track."

One way the district has tried to target chronic absenteeism among young black students is by working with the Oakland Housing Authority. Forty percent of students at four West Oakland schools live in public housing; 30 percent of those students were chronically absent in 2010-11. Chatmon said the district saw an uptick in school registration by reaching out to West Oakland families living in public housing.

By the time black boys reach middle and high school, different factors begin to undermine attendance, Chatmon said.

"Street culture becomes more attractive than learning and school culture," he said. "How do we define school culture? What is it? What would get our students getting up at 5 in the morning, running to school? … You get school culture right, then you will produce African American boys that produce high academic outcomes."

Cultural clashes and misunderstandings also factor into high rates of suspension among black boys, Chatmon and Williams said. 

"We still have a teaching and administrative body that doesn't … understand the cultural context of where our students come from," Chatmon said. "We have to do a lot of work with our adults to authentically engage with our boys, with our families, to understand our community context."

African American boys made up 17 percent of Oakland Unified students in 2010-11, yet they represented 42 percent of students suspended. Disruption or defiance of authority was the most common reason for discipline, accounting for 38 percent of their suspensions.

Subjective standards for disruption and defiance – the reason behind more than 40 percent of suspensions in California and the recent target of criticism and legislative action – could be contributing to high suspension rates among black boys, Williams said.

The council recommended that Oakland Unified carefully monitor such offenses and clearly define what constitutes impermissible behavior. The district also needs strategies for prevention and intervention so students are not suspended for single incidents, Williams said.

In many ways, Chatmon said, that work already has started.

"This is a 'we' problem," he said. "We are taking this on with the frame of full-service community schools that call out everybody, humbly. We can't do it in isolation."


Via:  http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/chronic-absence-suspension-derail-oakland-black-boys-16298

Los Angeles' Community Foundation Announces Bold, New Initiative For Black Male Youth

LOS ANGELES, May 3, 2012 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- California Community Foundation (CCF), the public foundation for all of Los Angeles County, has announced a five-year, multi-million dollar investment in the future of Black male youth, in partnership with several private foundations and local, nonprofit organizations.  The goal of the initiative, called BLOOM, which stands for Building a Lifetime of Options and Opportunities for Black Men, is redirecting Black male teens who are or have been in the county probation system away from adult incarceration and onto a path of educational and employment opportunities, thus significantly improving their chances of success as adults while reducing the costs and consequences of juvenile and adult incarceration to California taxpayers.

Here are some key facts:

• Black youth comprise one in ten teens in Los Angeles, but approximately one in three youth under the supervision of the county probation department.
• Black youth are 11 times more likely than their white counterparts to be placed under the county probation jurisdiction.
• Black youth have a juvenile felony arrest rate 16 times greater than that of white youth.
• The homicide rate among Black males is 13 times greater than white males.
• The cost to taxpayers to incarcerate a youth in an L.A. County probation camp is approximately $100,000 per year, and to house an inmate in state prison is $240,000 per year.
• In 2011, 33 percent of youth under county probation supervision were Black males.
• In 2011, only 15 percent of students in L.A. community colleges were Black males.

The seed for BLOOM was planted in 2010 when the leadership of the California Community Foundation (CCF) asked if there was a role for philanthropy in addressing these realities.  CCF formed an advisory committee of more than 20 diverse members of the community, conducted and evaluated research, held numerous formal and informal conversations in the community, and concluded that an ambitious and hard-hitting initiative should indeed be undertaken.  It was determined that the initiative should focus on expanding educational and employment opportunities for Black males 14-18 years of age currently or recently under county probation supervision, and living in South Los Angeles.

"BLOOM is the only philanthropic initiative in the nation, we believe, wholly dedicated to Black male youth involved in the justice system," said Antonia Hernandez, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation.  "Because of the magnitude and seriousness of the initiative, we have formed a public-private-nonprofit partnership in Los Angeles to ensure its success."

"BLOOM is new and bold, and it's overdue," added Carl Ballton, chair of the community advisory committee, and president and CEO of the Union Bank Foundation.  "The initiative aims to begin improving education and job options – normal opportunities for most L.A. residents – for one of the most vulnerable, misunderstood and underachieving segments of residents: Black teenage boys who have had a run-in with the legal system."

Funding, job opportunities and other support for Black male youth through the BLOOM nonprofit partners are being contributed by private sector partners such as the Automobile Club of Southern California, Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation, Operation HOPE, The James Irvine Foundation and Union Bank Foundation.

BLOOM will address four areas:

1. Job and educational programs so that Black male youth are exposed to new and interesting vocational and educational paths, in partnership with public, private and nonprofit organizations;
2. Assistance through grants, technical and other support for community-based organizations serving them;
3. Communications to foster a more positive environment in which Black male youth are respected, encouraged and treated as potential assets in the community; and
4. Advocacy to address unfair practices that result in long-term encounters with the criminal justice system.

Several community-based nonprofit organizations already serving Black male teens in South Los Angeles have been selected as the first recipients of two-year grants through the BLOOM Initiative, including Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade, Community Coalition, Los Angeles Urban League, Youth Justice Coalition and Youth Mentoring Connection.

Also involved in BLOOM are the Liberty Hill Foundation, which will provide technical assistance and capacity building programming to the nonprofits, and the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, which will monitor and evaluate the BLOOM Initiative throughout its duration.

BLOOM was officially announced last night as part of a town hall for the community that included a panel discussion by subject-matter experts, followed by a question and answer period.  The event also served to introduce the spokesperson for the BLOOM Initiative, actor and activist Larenz Tate, whose credits include the television show "Rescue Me" and films such as "Ray", "Love Jones", "Crash" and

 "Menace II Society."

California Community Foundation (CCF) is a public, charitable organization serving Los Angeles County since 1915.  It encourages philanthropy by individuals, families, companies and organizations, and serves as a steward of their charitable funds and legacies.  It also makes grants to nonprofits and collaborates in addressing the needs of vulnerable members of the community.  In addition, it engages in community problem solving with business, civic, government and other organizations.  For more information, visit www.calfund.org or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/calfund.

Media Contact: Barbara Lee Phone: (213) 452-6258 E-mail: blee@calfund.org

Tobacco brands target black youth, study finds

Tobacco marketing is targeting California's low-income and African American youth, according to researchers who examined advertising throughout the state. 

Academic researchers funded by the state's Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program found that there was greater visibility of menthol cigarette advertising at retailers near high schools where there are larger African American student populations. 

According to the most recent statistics issued by the Federal Trade Commission, the tobacco industry spent $10 billion on marketing in 2008. 

"There is a systematic targeting (of disadvantaged communities) by the tobacco industry, which is an extraordinary public health problem," said Lisa Henriksen of the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who presented the research at a legislative briefing in Sacramento last week. "The addition of menthol to cigarettes makes it easier to smoke and more difficult to quit."

Henriksen's research, published last year, found that as the proportion of black students increased at a California high school, so did the share of both menthol-related advertising and Newport brand promotions at nearby retailers.

 The study looked at all cigarette advertising, but specifically analyzed promotions and price discounts for Newport and Marlboro, two of the most popular brands with underage smokers, researchers said.

The University of Michigan's Robert Lipton also presented research at the briefing showing that in the Los Angeles area, communities that tended to be dense, poor and minority had greater rates of underage tobacco sales. 

Henriksen's ongoing study of menthol cigarette marketing has found that African American students were better able to recognize a Newport ad than teens of other races. Regardless of race, however, nonsmoking students who were familiar with the Newport ad were 49 percent more likely to start using tobacco than nonsmoking students who weren't. 

And according to a recent analysis of California K-12 schools conducted by Henriksen, tobacco retailers were within 600 feet of 24 percent of school campuses; 38 percent of schools were within 1,000 feet of a place where cigarettes were sold. Stores near California high schools featured an average of 25 cigarette ads, Henriksen said at the briefing. 

"We're really talking about a horrendous burden on low-income and communities of color, where tobacco retailers are more highly concentrated," Henriksen said. "The kinds of stores in those communities contain more ads for cigarettes, and they also have more underage sales violations." 

A spokesman for Philip Morris' parent company, Altria Group, which manufactures Marlboro cigarettes, said in a statement that the company is "committed to responsibly marketing its cigarettes to adult smokers." 

"Kids should not smoke any cigarettes, menthol or non-menthol," Altria spokesman David Sutton wrote in an e-mail. "Based on our review of the limited literature and data available, menthol cigarettes do not appear to have a unique role in smoking initiation." 

Lorillard, the makers of Newport cigarettes, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Although California has the second-lowest smoking rate in the country at about 12 percent, tobacco use among African Americans in the state is between 3 and 6 percent higher than the statewide average, according to the California Department of Public Health. 

Carol McGruder, co-chairwoman of the Oakland-based African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, said advertising aimed at black youth is one reason smoking rates remain high. Henriksen's research "validates what we knew, which is that the tobacco industry is targeting our community," McGruder said. 

Eliminating disparities and minimizing youth exposure to tobacco advertising are among the goals of the state Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, which advises the California Tobacco Control Program, said Dr. Michael Ong, an assistant professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA who chairs the committee. 

Ong said locating tobacco retailers near schools is not good public health policy. "In terms of trying to reduce harms from tobacco use in California, we do need to try to further restrict easy access to tobacco, particularly from our youth," he said. 

Last week's briefing on tobacco advertising and menthol cigarettes comes at a time when policy issues are being considered at the national and state level. 

The Food and Drug Administration is considering a ban on menthol additives to cigarettes. In June, California voters will consider Proposition 29, a ballot initiative that would impose a $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes. A portion would go to research on tobacco, and the state Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee has endorsed the bill. 

Cigarette makers like Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds oppose the ballot initiative and have started a campaign committee called Californians Against Out-of-Control Taxes and Spending, which argues that the state "can't afford to start a new billion-dollar spending program when we have a $10+ billion budget deficit and can't pay for critically-needed existing programs like education and health care."

California Watch 

By Bernice Yeung