A better way to educate black young men By Hillary Rodham Clinton and David C. Banks

[riversedge]

It is an uplifting story.




Hillary Clinton Verified account @HillaryClinton
12m12 minutes ago

If you want to read some good news today, my friend David Banks and I published an op ed in the @NYDailyNews about how the Eagle Academy schools are transforming lives in New York and elsewhere. Check it out:

Link to tweet

A better way to educate black young men
By Hillary Rodham Clinton and David C. Banks

Jun 04, 2018 | 5:00 AM
A better way to educate black young men


David Banks is president of the Eagle Academy Foundation, which operates schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem and Newark, N.J. (Richard Harbus for New York Daily News)

Brenton James, a young New Yorker, received his bachelor’s degree in economics, philosophy and politics from the University of Pennsylvania earlier this month. Like his fellow graduates, Brenton applied his keen intellect and studied hard to earn his diploma.

But unlike most of his U Penn classmates, Brenton’s early indicators hadn’t pointed to an Ivy League education. An African-American raised by a proud, single mom in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, Brenton faced the fears, challenges and low expectations that young men of color commonly confront.


We know that children need love from their parents, the support of their teachers and nurturing from a community that believes in them. But the challenges faced by young men of color require a special level of response. All too often, black boys grow up without their fathers, leaving a void that impacts their transition to manhood. They are left to face a hostile society, frequently feared, even in their classrooms as little boys where they are suspended three times more often than their classmates. As they get older, they have to wonder, “Can I meet a friend at Starbucks and avoid arrest? Can I rent an Airbnb apartment without the neighbors reporting that it’s being robbed?”

Indeed, the odds that young men like Brenton will engage with the criminal justice system are higher than the odds that their schooling will open doors to success and prosperity.

But Brenton beat those odds when he enrolled in the class of 2014 at Eagle Academy for Young Men. There he entered an environment where young men feel physically and emotionally safe, where they take the armor off — a place where they are loved and nurtured, pushed but not feared. Brenton would be accepted by 20 colleges and universities and become the Eagle Academies’ first Ivy League graduate.

The idea for the Eagle Academy schools was hatched when the New York City chapter of the mentoring organization One Hundred Black Men read a Columbia University study that — referencing data from earlier research on prison inmates — said that 75% of prisoners incarcerated in New York State prisons came from just seven New York City neighborhoods. This study ignited a response that set out to create quality schools for young men in these communities. Both of us (a then-U.S. senator and a New York City school principal) got involved. In 2004, the first Eagle Academy for Young Men, an all-male, public school, opened in the South Bronx.

The objective was simple: improve outcomes for inner-city young men with a rigorous college-preparatory education, bolstered by strong parental involvement, mentorship and nurturing structures that encourage boys and build brotherhood and community pride.
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[Phoenix61]

1. Imagine a public school doing a great job

This is why charter schools aren't necessary.

[brer cat]

2. Give them hope and opportunity

and watch them grow. I hope the success of 100 Black Men here will make it a model for other areas.

[dlk]

3. What an Inspiring Story!

Just think, for a moment, how different (better) our country would be if Clinton had been allowed to be president. Programs, such as this one, might have been implemented across our country, creating productive and prosperous adults, as opposed to fodder for the profit-driven prison system.