Understanding African American Young Men

1
Understanding African American Young Men
Workshop Facilitators

• Alfred Bangoura, MN Park and Recreation Board
• Corliss Outley, University of Minnesota
• Tangene Hayslett, YMCA Beacons Program/Franklin
  Middle School

2
Welcome and Introductions

• Welcome
• Introductions
• Lets Talk!

3
Session Overview

• Agenda
• Housekeeping
• Ground Rules
• Turn off cell phones/pagers
• Be respectful
• Everyone has a right to be heard
• Dont make assumptions
• Reinforcement this is a safe place!
• Additional rules?
• Lets Begin!

4
Facts about American Youth

• 1 in 2 will live with a single parent family at
  some point
• 1 in 2 will never complete a single year of
  college
• 1 in 6 has no health care
• 1 in 12 have a disability
• 1 in 12 live at less than half the poverty level
  (18-20K/yr)
• 1 in 138 will die before their first birthday
• 1 in 910 will be killed by guns before age 20

5
Facts about American Youth

• 1 in 2 will live with a single parent family at
  some point
• 1 in 2 will never complete a single year of
  college
• 1 in 6 has no health care
• 1 in 12 have a disability
• 1 in 12 live at less than half the poverty level
  (18-20K/yr)
• 1 in 138 will die before their first birthday
• 1 in 910 will be killed by guns before age 20

6
Facts About American Youth

• 10-19 year old population is rising to 44 million
  through 2020, highest ever after a 25-year
  decline
• Total minority youth population may exceed 50
  percent by the year 2030
• Many improvements in youth indicators of
  well-being some trickle down impacts on violent
  crime, teen pregnancy, poverty, high school
  graduation rates
• Yet the persistence of vulnerability and
  risk-taking among a subset of youth is well
  documented although less so with certain
  demographic teen groups

7
Moments in America

• Every 1 second a public school student is
  suspended
• Every 9 seconds a h.s. students drops out
• Every 17 seconds a child is arrested
• Every 25 seconds a baby is born to an unmarried
  mother
• Every 40 seconds a baby is born into poverty
• Every 1 minute a baby is born to a teen mother
• Every 4 minutes a child is arrested for drug
  abuse
• Every 7 minutes a child is arrested for a violent
  crime
• Every 41 minutes a child under 20 dies from an
  accident
• Every 2 hrs a child under 20 dies from a firearm
• Every 4 hours a child under 20 commits suicide
• State of Americas Children report by Childrens
  Defense Fund 2000.

8
Positive youth Development A Brief History

• Characterized by fragmented set of programs (no
  single entity to address youth issues)
• Neither a field nor approach
• Emerged out of the youth at-risk paradigm of the
  1980s and early 1990s.
• Fashionable to talk about youth at-risk

9
Brief history

• Stopping/decreasing negative behaviors deemed
  necessary
• Problems with this approach WHY?
• Began to be applied to broader indicators and
  used to stereotype
• All youth at risk (Highland Park, Columbine)

10
Prevention vs. Development

• Problem with prevention
• Problem free is not fully prepared
• Causality with prevention programs
• Prevention focuses on part of the child and only
  a certain percentage.
• Issues led to youth development perspective
• Focuses more on what do we want all our children
  to possess, what type of human beings do we want
  them to be, what do we want them to be able to
  succeed in adolescence and adulthood.
• Can they be used together?
• yes services for youth intended to both help
  reduce problem behaviors as well as increase
  prosocial attitudes and skills.

11
Health Field Analogy

• Illness free is not necessarily healthy.
• Thus enhance health through better diet, more
  exercise, better relationships with others, and
  expansion of interests and abilities.
• Thus, twin goals
• Reducing illness
• Creating a healthy lifestyle

12
Scaffolding Youth Development

• Youth, like an emerging building, need support
  during construction - development.
• Eventually, when ready to stand on their own, the
  scaffolding can first be lessened and eventually
  withdrawn.

13
Introduction to Positive Youth Development

• One way to address the challenges confronting
  youth today
• A process which prepares young people to meet the
  challenges of adolescence by becoming socially,
  morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
  competent.
• Involvement of the family, schools and community
  are essential!

14
Youth Development Defined
A process which prepares young people to meet the
challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a
coordinated, progressive series of activities and
experiences which help them to become socially,
morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
competent. (National Collaboration for Youth
Members, March 1998)
15
Positive Youth Development

• Is focused on adolescent development
• Is focused on developmental assets of youth
• Positive youth development addresses the broader
  developmental needs of youth, in contrast to
  deficit-based models which focus solely on youth
  problems. (National Collaboration for Youth
  Members, March 1998)

16
Positive Youth Development

• A process which prepares young people to meet the
  challenges of adolescence by becoming socially,
  morally, emotionally, physically, and cognitively
  competent.
• Positive youth development addresses the broader
  developmental needs of youth, in contrast to
  deficit-based models which focus solely on youth
  problems.
• Preventing high risk behaviors, however is not
  the same as preparation for the future Pittman
  Fleming, 1991

17
Positive Youth Development programs purposely
seek to build competencies for adulthood
(Pittman, 1991)

• Physical competence
• knowledge, attitudes, behaviors that assure
  future health well-being
• Social competence
• Skills to establish more positive relationships
• Cognitive competence
• Good reasoning, problem-solving and planning
  skills.
• Vocational competence
• A broad understanding of life options steps to
  take to make choices
• Moral competence
• The development of character, values personal
  responsibility

18
Some Reported Outcomes to PYD

• Young people participating in community-based
  organizations are more likely to
• report recognition for good grades
• graduate from high school
• go to college
• feel good about themselves
• indicate higher levels of self-efficacy

19
Some Reported Outcomes to PYD

• Young people participating in community-based
  organizations are more likely to
• view themselves as worthy
• view themselves as effective in control
• find a job they enjoy
• value community service

-Community Counts How Youth Organizations Matter
for Youth Development (1999)
20
Features of PYD Programs

• Physical and psychological safety
• Appropriate structure
• Supportive relationships
• Opportunities to belong
• Positive social norms
• Support for efficacy and mattering
• Opportunities for skill building
• Integration of family, school, and community

-Community Programs to Promote Youth Development,
2002.
21
Safety

• Fundamental to participation
• Two facets
• creating a safe environment
• handling conflicts
• Often related to accessibility

22
Appropriate Structure

• Predictability consistency
• Adult supervision
• Setting limits
• rules of membership
• Related to program focus

23
Supportive Relationships

• Youth desire and require guidance from adults
• Adults attitudes are key
• Committed
• Consistent
• Communicative
• Caring

24
Opportunities to Belong

• Development of confidence and personal identity
• High quality program content
• Embedded learning goals (life skills)
• Age appropriateness

25
Positive Social Norms

• Require commitment from youth
• Set high expectations
• Teach responsibility
• Demand accountability

26
Support for Efficacy

• Youth need to know they matter
• Programs may be youth-centered or run entirely by
  adults
• Adults perspectives are key Youth as resources
  vs. youth as problems

27
Skill Building Opportunities

• Content attractant for youth
• Curriculum focus developmental skills
• Embedded Curriculum (life skills)

28
School, Family, Community Integration

• Collaborative planning by
• Youth serving agencies
• Social services
• Educational institutions
• Policy makers
• Community leaders
• Youth
• Parents

29
An obvious but essential truth

• Youth WILL develop, no matter what
• It is to the benefit of all concerned that
  their development be positive!

30
Most Important
All youth are developing.
All youth have strengths.
All youth have needs.
All youth can contribute to their communities.
All youth are valued.
31
Building Relationships are the Key
32
The Power of Adults

• Adults most effective when they work in
  partnership with young people.
• supportive friends and advocates in contrast to
  adults motivated to save, reform, or rescue young
  people from their circumstances (Walker, 1998, p.
  15).
• Primacy of adults in supporting youth efforts to
  navigate pathways to adulthood,
• Importance of enabling youth to have real voice
  and power in planning, organizing, and leading
  programs and activities.

33
Discussion

• Think about an adult who was very important to
  you in your growing up.
• What are the characteristics of these significant
  adults? What made them important to you?
• Think of 5 traits

34
How can I develop a positive relationship with
youth?

• Keep attention off yourself by refusing to
  lecture on your favorite topic.
• Avoid too much advice. This refers back to the
  acceptance. If constantly giving advice, youth
  feel wrong and rejected.
• Identify a genuine interest of the person. Find
  out what they like and pursue conversation on
  that subject. Rememberbe sincere!!

35

• Use nonverbal communication. It is sometimes much
  more effective than verbal. A pat on the back or
  even empathic silence may be the best response.
• Understand the youth involved
• Their neighborhood
• Their families
• Their personal life
• Their Stories!!!
• See the youth and begin to understand the
  conditions in which they live

36
Culturally Competent Youth Workers

• Cultural competence
• The ability of individuals and systems to work or
  respond effectively across cultures in a way that
  acknowledges and respects the culture of the
  person or organization being served
• Must be aware and respectful of the values,
  beliefs, traditions, customs, and parenting
  styles of the audience being served.
• cultural competence is something that we work
  toward it is not achieved overnight or in a
  single workshop setting!! (Lynch and Hanson,
  1998)

37
Vital Ingredients

• Three vital ingredients to developing or
  accomplishing cultural competence
• Self-knowledge/awareness,
• Experience and knowledge about a particular
  culture, and
• Positive change or action for successful
  interaction with the identified culture
• These ingredients are paramount to individual
  cultural competence AND an organization's
  cultural competence

38
Self-awareness

• It is not possible to be truly sensitive to
  another culture until one is sensitive to his/her
  own, and
• the impact that cultural customs, beliefs,
  values, and behaviors have on youth development
  practice.
• A professional's impression of a family's
  functioning style may be influenced by his/her
  own, sometimes unexamined, assumptions.
• Assumptions are those things we take for granted
  or accept as true without proof.

39

• Youth practitioners may have to step outside
  their own framework
• may appear that a child's deficit may be a
  weakness, when in fact it may be the strength in
  their culture

40
Culturally Competent Programming

• Appoint board/committee members from the
  community so that voices from all groups of
  people or stakeholders in the community
  participate in the decision-making process(es).
• Actively recruit a multi-ethnic and multiracial
  staff.
• Provide ongoing staff training and support to
  develop cultural competencies.
• Develop, mandate, and promote standards for
  culturally competent programs/activities/events.

41

• Learn as much as possible about an individual's,
  family's, and/or community's culture
• Know that for some program participants,
  additional services such as clothing,
  transportation, and assisting in resolving a
  child's problem in school are helpful.
• Make sure that activities, discussions, videos,
  written materials, and guest speakers reflect the
  cultural and ethnic diversity of the students,
  the community and society in general
• Adhere to traditions relating to gender and age
  that may play a part in certain cultures.
• Have an awareness of how different groups show
  respect, cooperate, communicate, etc.

42
African American Young MenAn Introduction
43
African American Young Men

• Studies show African American males are more
  likely to
• To lack jobs
• 24.7 aged 16-19 years twice the national avg.
• To be suspended from school
• Represent 8.6 of school enrollments 23 are
  suspended
• To drop out of school
• 50 drop-out rate compared to 25-30 for other
  ethnic groups
• To be incarcerated
• 305 per 100,000 compared to 105 for whites
• To die from violence

44
African American Boys Who are they?

• Many powerful forces affect the development of
  African American men
• Masculinity
• Street Life
• Negative Image
• Specific steps must be taken to encourage them to
  understand what they face so they can make
  decisions that will help them survive.

45
Masculinity

• Bombarded with macho images
• Media, home and community
• I gotta be hard
• boys dont cry
• Consequently, boys are taught to cope and resolve
  problems differently
• Limited range of emotions
• Focus on either humor or anger
• Self-destructive
• Alcohol, drugs, material consumption or sex

46
Street Life

• Street life, its the only life I know.
• The Crusaders, 1975
• Authors view hip hop as specific to the
  expressiveness of young black males. Why?
• Cool pose
• Expressiveness is exhibited through style of
  dress, disposition, slang and walk
• Refers to presentation of self, values and roles
• Positive and negative consequences

47
Media

• This group is stereotyped and stigmatized more
  than any other group in America
• Media
• Portrays black men as
• Endangered species
• Superathlete
• Criminal
• gangster
• Sexually perverted
• Only positive aspects are via entertainers or
  athletes

48
Howmework

• Bring in something that is representative of
  African American young men