Links:
The Black Star Project's website:
Black Star Journal:
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BMe Men from Detroit, Michigan with Trabian Shorters (second from right)
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2013 BMe Leadership Award Winners
Several groups of black males were spotted today near you, helping to build, protect and educate the community. The groups were spotted in Detroit, Philadelphia and Baltimore and ranged in ages from 19 to over 60. The only thing the men apparently had in common was a personal commitment to the well-being of other people's children, strangers, and neighbors.
A total of 50 men were spotted by BMe ( Black Male Engagement): "The network of inspired black men and their friends" and awarded a total of $600,000 in small grants paid for by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Open Society Foundations Campaign for Black Male Achievement. The men weren't awarded the grants just for what they do, but for who they are and what they represent.
They represent our chance to live in communities where people look out for each other, turn their talents into income, vacant lots into playgrounds, hopelessness into confidence, and death into new life.
These 50 BMe Leaders are among 400 other BMe Brothers who applied for funding and are also making a difference. Those 400 hundred are part of over 3,000 black men who have posted video testimonials of things that they consistently do to make a difference. All of whom do so simply because they can and because they care.
Now that BMe exists, we invite anyone of any race or gender to connect to local men like these on the interests that we share in common. Whether its youth development, entrepreneurship, health, education, homelessness, the environment and more we can each do our part and do even more together.
So nominate the inspired black men in your own life to join the network. Share the news and videos about BMe Brothers. Attend the events and participate in the projects they lead. Invite them to work with you if they don't already.
Trabian Shorters
BMe Founder
Click here to view over 1000+ videos of black man doing great work in their community!
Click Here to see BMe 2013 Leadership Award Winners
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Dream Deferred:
Are We Leaving Black Students Behind?
By Joy Resmovits
July 27, 2013
NEW YORK -- When Dwight Davis, a black educator from Washington, D.C., thinks about his good teachers, he spouts their names in rapid succession. But when he reflects on the bad ones, their identities fade into a nightmarish blur. It's their actions that haunt him.
There was that time one teacher confused him for a special-education student, so she mistakenly told Davis' mother that he would be held back.
Overall, Davis sensed that no one cared. Though he excelled in elementary school, as he got older, he recalls, he fell in with the wrong crowd. His grades dropped, and he wound up in lower level classes, courses that attracted "all the bad teachers." They were so bad, he explained, that he nearly stopped attending school. But he still mysteriously pulled C's and D's. "They just wanted to push me through," he says. Teachers were passing him on, he felt, because that was easier than catching him up.
Davis's experiences in D.C.'s public schools mirror nationwide trends among black students, a group that often gets shortchanged on teacher quality. As a result, black students, especially older ones, frequently struggle to perform at the same level as their white counterparts.
Despite the disadvantage, black students in earlier grades have made great strides in closing the so-called achievement gap between black and white students, particularly in reading. Between 1994 and 2012, the gap in ninth-grade reading narrowed from 33 points to 13, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the most reliable national education exam.
But as students progress through the school system -- as they're "pushed through" -- they often drop off academically. The gap between black and white high school students, kids at the threshold of adult life, remains profound. For 17-year-olds taking the same reading test, white students still outscore black students by 26 points.
"We have to figure out how to fix the horrible cultural narrative, which says that teaching black kids is at best rewarding and at worst impossible," says Amy Wilkins, who now works on civil rights issues at the College Board. "We've created a narrative around these children that makes them totally unattractive, this big cultural racism that says no."
Davis, meanwhile, is preparing to begin his 10th year teaching in his own city, Washington. His first years were rough -- he felt he had to insulate his fifth graders from what he saw as bad teachers, teachers who just passed along students who didn't learn or try.
He's now in a better school, and he's mentoring a young, African-American teacher, but he's worried those carefully-honed skills might leave the community. "I'm teaching him as much as I can," he says, "but if he goes to a private school, all of that teaching will be somewhere else. It'll be lost on us."
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Pre-College Leadership and Impact Program
for Young Black Men
at the
University of Illinois at Chicago
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Young Black Men from Eagle Academy in New York City, New York
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I am currently seeking 20 high academically performing African American males to
participate in the University of Illinois College of Education's inaugural Pre-College Leadership and Impact Program that will be hosted on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago from July 31, 2013-August 9, 2013.
The Pre-College Leadership and Impact Program is for young males entering their junior or senior years in high school who have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. The young males will stay in a UIC dormitory during the ten-day program. Each young male will receive a $400 stipend
for his participation.
The Pre-College Leadership and Impact Program, under the direction of Dr. Alfred W. Tatum, will serve to nurture the next generation of African American male leaders. During week 1 of the program, the selected participants will develop leadership skills by engaging in a series of physical, intellectual, and creative exercises. During week 2 of the program, the participants will lead a group of elementary-aged African American males.
The selected participants who will be referred to as Leader Candidates will engage in five days of leadership briefings focused on the following leadership frames:
Day 1: Collaborative Leadership
Day 2: Cultural Leadership
Day 3: Community Leadership
Day 4: Youth Leadership
Day 5: Academic Leadership
Please disseminate and have interested folks reach out to me for an application. --
Alfred W. Tatum, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Director, UIC Reading Clinic
University of Illinois at Chicago
College of Education
1040 W. Harrison M/C 147
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 413-3883 |
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The Sheilah A. Doyle Foundation
Offers Support for Bereavement at
Comfort Zone Camps
Giving children affected by homicide
hope for a bright future!
 The Sheilah A. Doyle Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization that provides support and assistance to children ages 7-17 whose parent, legal guardian, or sibling fell victim to homicide. Through our partnership with Comfort Zone Camp and our college scholarship program we believe that we can transform a child's tragedy into a bright future.
Comfort Zone Camp is the nation's largest bereavement camp offering weekend camps to children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. They provide camps today in Virginia, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and now Chicago. The organization has served more than 8000 children to date and have been in existence since 1998.
The Sheilah A. Doyle Foundation partnered with Comfort Zone Camp in 2011 to bring children a camp specific to homicide loss. The camp weekend is available free of charge.
The camp will be held at Camp Manitoqua in Frankfort, IL from Friday, September 13th, 2013 to Sunday, September 15th, 2013.
The deadline for all camper application is Aug. 9, 2013.
Click Here to Learn More about The Sheilah A. Doyle Foundation
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335 Cities Have Signed Up for the 2013 Million Father March!!! Click Here to See If Your City Has Signed Up.
Every Father and Every Man in America Should Take A Child to School on the First Day of School for the
Million Father March!!! This Is How We Make America Great!!!
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Call 773.285.9600 and ask for Vince Cain to lead the effort in your city. Women should encourage and support men in this effort. Women can also take the lead. We have everything you need to create a successful Million Father March in your city.
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"Are All Americans Criminals
Because of the Way We Treat
Black Men in America?"
"This speech by Professor Michelle Alexander is one of the best speeches of the 21st century. This speech is in the dynamic tradition of speeches by Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This is a speech that should be studied by every student in America for content, form, delivery, historical research and political veracity.
Additionally, Professor Alexander's book is a bible for understanding the actions and policies of America in relationship to race and incarceration over the past 50 years. Every high school and college student in America must read the great American book--The New Jim Crow! And every adult in America should watch this video!!
Michelle Alexander reminds us of "Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker and Ida B. Wells"! She is a freedom fighter and a movement builder! Watch this video and then call The Black Star Project (773.285.9600) to do something."
Phillip Jackson
The Black Star Project
Please click here to see and hear Professor Michelle Alexander speaking on "The New Jim Crow"!
Click here to purchase and read her book, "The New Jim Crow'
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Black Parents in the South Favor Increased School Choice, Says New Survey
The report surveyed 1,700 black voters in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi in March 2013. In each state, 85 percent to 89 percent of those surveyed wanted as many educational choices as possible. More than half of those surveyed in each state-55 percent to 57 percent-said they would send their child to an alternative to their assigned school, if given the choice.
Across the four states, about half of the survey participants expressed support for charter schools. The more familiar they were with charter schools, the more likely voters were to support them, the survey found.
And unsurprisingly, those who rated their regular public schools highly were less likely to indicate they would opt out if an alternative were available. Those who rated their regular public schools poorly were much more likely to say they would move their children to an alternate school if it were available.
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OUR LOVE IS THE HEALING WATER...FOR THEM. Please help our struggling young. No amount is too small for you to contribute. I'm reaching out to you again on our fragile children's behalf.
As you know, building the National CARES Mentoring Movement has been my unceasing passion since 2005, when, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I founded it as a project of Essence Communications while I was the magazine's chief editor. When I learned then that a staggering 86 percent of Black fourth graders were reading below grade level, I asked myself two questions: How could this be, and What am I prepared to do about it? You can make a difference in the lives of our children right now by clicking here and donating. Or, if you prefer, please mail your donation to us at 5 Penn Plaza, 23rd floor, New York, NY 10001.
Our work at CARES is equipping under-resourced Black children with the shift in consciousness and undergirding they need to discover the limitless possibilities within themselves; and we are surrounding our youngsters with a community of adults who support and sustain, challenge and champion, value and validate their minds, hearts and spirits. To date, we have connected over 125,000 mentors with more than 130,000 children, and we are currently designing and piloting culturally rich curricula for mentors and academic tutors in 15 locales.
We can no longer be satisfied that our own children--ones raised with every opportunity--are doing well, while ever so near their peers are languishing. Combining our spiritual and financial resources--and our willingness--we have all we need to secure a generation--if we stand together. Please link arms and aims with me and my National CARES Mentoring Movement family as we do our part in building what Dr. King asked us to build: The Beloved Community.
For the children,
Susan L. Taylor
Founder and CEO
Click Here to donate to National CARES Mentoring Movement
Click Here to learn more about National CARES Mentoring Movement
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