Miami Urban League Report Card on Black America 2010: Where we stand

Miami Urban League Report Card on Black America

2010: Where we stand

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The Report Card

• Where does Black America stand when it comes to the major indicators of “quality of life?”– Educational opportunity– Jobs and income security– Crime & safety– Family stability– Health & access to care

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Is it the best of times?• The country elected its first Black

president.• 65% of Blacks voted in 2008.• 83% of Blacks 25 and older have

at least a high school diploma and 20% have at least a Bachelor’s degree.

• 2.5 million Blacks were in college in 2008, double the number 15 years earlier.

• Oprah, LeBron, Jay Z and others symbolize rising Black wealth.

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… or the worst of times?• The gains of suburban Blacks

have not been matched in the urban core.

• Black children are falling behind in education.

• Blacks are far more likely to be unemployed than their White peers.

• Blacks are far more likely to die of treatable diseases, and preventable ones like AIDS.

• Blacks are far more likely to come in contact with the criminal justice system than their White peers.

Education

Falling into the gap

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A young population

• The Black population of the U.S. as of July 1, 2008: 41.1 million – 31% were younger than 18 (compared

to 25% of all Americans)– Just 8% were 65 and older– The youth of the Black community

compounds the risk and the opportunity. When young people fail, the community falters.

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The achievement gap• 56 years after Brown vs. the Board of

Education, Black students continue to face significant barriers to achievement, and sizable gaps in their performance versus everybody else.

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The achievement gap (cont’d)

• On average, Black and Latino students are two to three years of learning behind White students of the same age.

• 48 percent of Black and 43 percent of Hispanic fourth and eighth graders are “below basic” in reading and math, versus 17 percent of Whites.

Source: McKinsey & Company, National Assessment of Educational Progress

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The graduation gap• Nearly one in three high school students in

the U.S. fails to graduate high school on time.

• An estimated 1.2 million students drop out each year – an average of 7,000 every school day, or one every 26 seconds.

• On average, only 50 percent of Black and Hispanic students complete high school on time and receive a diploma.

Source: America’s Promise Alliance, “Cities In Crisis 2009” report

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A 2007 Johns Hopkins University study found that:

• 1,642 of the nation’s 13,743 high schools (about 1 in 8) could be classified as “drop-out factories”– Schools graduating less than 60% of the

freshmen within four years

• That means for every 10 freshmen attending these schools, 4 will drop out by their senior year.

Source: Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University

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The Johns Hopkins researchers found that:

• More than 1 in 3 Black and Hispanic students attend a “dropout factory”:– 38 percent of Black students– 33 percent of Hispanic students

Source: Alliance for Excellent Education, Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University

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The results are clear

• Just 13% of all U.S. schools (the “dropout factories”) produce 51% of all of the nation’s dropouts.

• These schools are responsible for:– 73 percent of all Black dropouts– 66 percent of all Hispanic dropouts– 81 percent of all Native American dropouts

Source: Alliance for Excellent Education, Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University

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Crisis in the urban core• In 16 of America’s 50 largest cities, the principal school

district has a graduation rate below 50%.

– Main school district graduation rates: Indianapolis (31%), Cleveland (34%), Detroit (38%), Milwaukee (41%), Baltimore (41%), Atlanta (44%), Los Angeles (44%), Las Vegas (45%), and Columbus (45%).

• The graduation gap between urban and suburban schools in these cities was as high as 43% (Cleveland), 39% (Baltimore), 38% (Columbus), 35% (Milwaukee) and 33% (Nashville).

• 77% of suburban students in the 50 largest cities graduate on time versus 59% of urban students.

Source: America’s Promise Alliance, “Cities In Crisis 2009” report

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The racial gapGraduation Rates by State & Race, 2007 (%)

All Students White Hispanic Black Asian Native Am.WH-BLK GapMichigan 70 77 44 38 78 49 -39New York 68 79 46 47 76 40 -32Pennsylvania 78 84 50 49 79 38 -35Ohio 74 80 48 47 76 31 -33North Carolina 63 70 50 45 74 44 -25

Source: Alliance for Excellent Education

In five states where the Black graduation rate was below 50 percent in 2007, the average “graduation gap” between White and Black students was 32.8%.

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Florida’s graduation gap

• In Florida, approximately 81% of White Students graduate from high school on time, compared to 66 percent of Hispanics and 58 percent of Blacks.

• 8 of the state’s estimated 163 “dropout factories” are located in a single, majority Black school district in Miami-Dade County.

Source: Florida Department of Education, Center for the Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University

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Ethnic Makeup and Share of A and F Schools By District

5

29

23

7571

80

58

85

77

47

0

13

40 0

30 0

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

School District

Percent

%HIS

%BLK

%WH

%F

%A

Miami’s “dropout factories”

Source: Urban League of Greater Miami, Miami-Dade Public Schools

Percentage of District schools rated “A”

Percentage of District schools rated “F”

Miami’s two majority-Black school Districts (1 and 2) have the fewest “A” rated schools, and District 2 is home to 8 of the county’s 13 “F” schools. 13% of District 2 schools are rated “F”, while just 23% are rated “A”.

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Resources, not race• The McKinsey and other studies have found

that the achievement gap is not about race, it’s about resources.

– Black students are more likely to live in lower income communities, with fewer property tax dollars for school funding;

– Urban and lower income school districts have difficulty attracting the highest quality teachers;

– Black and urban students are more likely to be taught by less inexperienced, lower paid instructors than their White and suburban peers.

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The parent factorMore than 30 years of research have shown that the level of parental involvement is more important to academic achievement than family income, parental education level, racial, ethnic or cultural background.

Source: Center for Law and Education, Institute for Responsive Education

More parental involvement means less absenteeism, more homework completion, higher grades and test scores, higher high school graduation rates and increased college enrollment.

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Education and priorities• For many parents in the urban core, non-

traditional work hours, stress, one-parent households, lack of information, lack of access to homework help, computers and other resources, and a community environment that devalues education all can negatively impact parental involvement.

• When that happens, Black children suffer.

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Charter schools growing• A study by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA finds

increasing numbers of parents in struggling school systems turning to charter schools.– In Washington D.C., 61% of the District’s 46,000

students attend charter schools.– 84 percent of the District’s charter school students are

Black, versus 78 percent in regular public schools. – Nationally, in 2008, Black students made up a third of

charter school enrollment -- twice their share in public schools.

Source: “Study: Charter school growth accompanied by racial imbalance” Washington Post article by Nick Anderson, 2/2/2010

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College completion• Even when Black students make it to college,

fewer than half get a diploma within six years. --

Source: "Graduation Rate Watch: Making Minority Student Success a Priority."

• Even at the nation’s 83 HBCUs, just 37% of Black students get their degree within six years, according to an Associated press analysis. -- Source: USA Today, 3/30/2009

• At 38 HBCUs, the graduation rate for Black men is 25 percent or less. -- Source: USA Today, 3/30/2009

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It’s not just about civil rights

• Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century. But closing the achievement gap is also an economic necessity for America.

– If the U.S. had narrowed the performance gap between Black, Hispanic and White students between 1993 and 1998, U.S. GDP in 2008 would have been $310-$525 billion higher, adding 2 to 4 percent to our GDP.

Source: McKinsey & Company study: “The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools”

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Closing the gap matters to the whole country…

• The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) estimates that American 15 year-olds perform at the level of students in Portugal and the Slovak Republic, well below countries like Canada, the Netherlands, Australia or South Korea.


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The U.S. ranks 25th in math & science


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The U.S. is no longer the best- educated country in the world

• By far, the greatest factor in declining U.S. global educational standing is the gap between the proficiency of White and Black and Hispanic students.– 40 years ago, the U.S. had the world’s

highest graduation rates. Now we’re 18th out of 24.

– In 1995, the U.S. was first in college graduation rates. Today we’re 14th.


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… and it matters to individuals

• Educational attainment is tied to:– lifetime earnings– health outcomes – higher instances of incarceration– civic participation– and other key indicators of quality of life

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The McKinsey Study found…• Eighth graders who scored in the top quartile in math

had 40 percent higher medium income 12 years later.• A high school dropout is 5-to-8 times more likely to

wind up behind bars.• A person without a high school diploma is more likely

to smoke, to be obese, and to suffer poor health over their lifetime.

• High school graduates are twice as likely to vote as dropouts, and college grads are 50 percent more likely to vote than high school graduates.


Jobs and economic opportunity

The wealth gap

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Black America’s “Great Recession” didn’t start in 2007• Long before the “Great Recession”

threw one in ten Americans out of work, Black America was suffering from high rates of joblessness.

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Disproportionate joblessnessAfter falling during the 1990s, Black unemployment peaked at 17.3% in January, while the highest jobless rate for Whites was 9.7 percent (in February.)

Unemployment by Race, 2000-2009

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Black

White

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

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Little improvement Black v. White Unemployment, 2010

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

20.0

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Black

White

And while unemployment is slowly declining, Blacks remain out of work at nearly twice the rate for Whites.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Black 17.3 16.2 16.6 15.9 15.3 15.6White 9.6 9.7 9.3 8.6 8.5 8.7

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

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Location, location…“…a large segment of the Black population has simply been hit harder than everyone else. That’s indisputable fact. There are a number of reasons.

Many of the cities where Black Americans are concentrated are in the Rust Belt; St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore. The jobs in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana and the auto plants of Flint,Michigan that made possible the American Dream for millions of Blacks and Whites in the 1950s and 60s are gone. “

“Black Unemployment Is Not News” article by Joel Dreyfuss, The Root 2/7/2010

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Black America is struggling• The median income for Black households

was $34,218 in 2008, the lowest of any group.

• A single Black woman with children had a median annual income of $25,958 in 2008.

• “One in five Black families lives in poverty.”

• Four out of 10 Black families headed by a single mother are poor.

“Black Unemployment Is Not News” article by Joel Dreyfuss, The Root 2/7/2010, U.S. Census Bureau

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The “wealth gap”• Median net worth of a single White woman

aged 36 to 49: $42,600 (about 61 percent of their White male counterparts)

• Median wealth for a single Black woman aged 36 to 49: only $5 (that’s not a typo: $5!)

• Median household wealth of all working age Black women 18 to 64: $100 (Hispanic women 18 to 64: $120)

Source: Insight Center for Community Economic Development data, cited by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 7/14/2010

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The “wealth gap” (cont’d)• Median wealth of married or cohabitating

White women: $167,500 • Median wealth of married or cohabitating

Black women: $31,500• 46% of Black and 45% of Hispanic women

have zero or negative net worth (vs. 23% of single White women)

• 33% of Black and 38% of Hispanic men have zero or negative net worth (vs. 15% of single White men)

Source: Insight Center for Community Economic Development data, cited by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 7/14/2010

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Banking on our future?

• A 2010 study by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development found that a quarter of Black and a third of Hispanic women have no relationship with a bank or other mainstream financial institution, making it harder to build wealth.

Source: "Lifting As We Climb: Women of Color, Wealth and America's Future,” study by Mariko Lin Chang, Insight Center for Community Economic Development

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“Prey-day” lending

• Lack of banking relationships makes Blacks more vulnerable to predatory lending, and more reliant on “non-traditional” sources like payday loans. – These loans carry interest rates of up to

200%

Crime and community

The “security gap”

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Crime and economics

“Between 1993 and 2001, the Black violent crime rate declined by 60%.6 Between 1990 and 2004, the Black teen pregnancy rate declined by 46%. These improving trends have ended, and it is likely that the worsening economic conditions of African Americans since 2001 have played at least a partial role.”

Higher poverty rates, lower graduation rates and rising joblessness are directly correlated with increases in crime.

Source: Economic Policy Institute

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Incarceration nation• 2,297,400 Americans were in federal and

state prisons or local jails by midyear 2008• Of that total, Black men were incarcerated at

6.6 times the rate of White men. • One in 21 Black males was incarcerated at

midyear 2008, versus one in 138 White males.

• Black males (846,000) outnumbered White males (712,500) and Hispanic males (427,000) among inmates in prisons and jails.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Incarceration nation• About 37% of male inmates at midyear 2008

were Black, down from 41% in 2000. • More than 333,000 Blacks were on parole as

of year end 2009, making it hard to find a job.• Nearly 1 in 20 Black men is currently in

prison.• Black American men have about a 1-in-3

chance of serving time in prison during their lifetime.

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Criminal injustice?

• Studies show Black court defendants are:– More likely than White defendants to be

represented by a public defender– Less likely to receive adjudication or a plea

bargain– More likely to receive long or maximum sentences– More likely to receive the death penalty in murder

cases– More likely as juveniles to receive adult sentences

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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The “war on drugs”

• Of the 211,338 Americans currently serving time in federal prison, 57.9% are White, 38.5 % are Black, and 33% are Hispanics of varying race.

• 93.5% are men.

• 51.3% are incarcerated for drug offenses, versus 2.8% for homicide

Source: Federal Bureau of Prisons

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Blacks are the primary victims of violent crime

• In 2008, the crime rate against Blacks was 26 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older; versus 18 per 1,000 for Whites.

• Blacks were victims of rape/sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault at rates higher than those for Whites.

• In 2007, 49% of murder victims were Black, 47% were White, and 2% were Asians, Pacific Islander, and Native Americans.*

*Includes Black and White Hispanics.Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

Black households

Seeking stability

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Marriage inequality

• While 50% of all Americans were married in 2008, the figure for Blacks was 30%, despite nearly identical divorce rates.

• 47% of Black Americans have never been married, versus 30% of Whites.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Women heading households

• 45.3% of Black women have never been married, versus 28% of White women.

• 29.3% of Black households with children are headed by a single woman, versus 12.5% for White households.

• 13.2% of Black households with children are headed by a married couple, versus 21.4% for White households.


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Grandparenting

• 6.2% of Black grandparents are living with their minor grandchildren, twice the share for Whites.

• Of these, half are responsible for the children’s care.

• Approximately 1.2 million Blacks (mostly women) are the primary caregivers for their grandkids.


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Marriage and poverty• Single female-headed households are

more likely to fall into poverty. In 2008, the poverty rate for Black households with children was 28.2% (versus 14.9% for Whites.)– The poverty rate for single female-headed

Black households with children was 42.1%– The poverty rate for married-parent Black

households with children was 8.3%Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Health and access to care

Unhealthy trends

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Statistics tell the story• Black America faces a number of health

challenges.– 14% of babies born to Black mothers in 2008

had low birth weight.

– 26% of Black men and 17% of Black women were smokers.

– 36% of Black men and 53% of Black women over 20 were obese.

– 39% of Black men and 43% of Black women had high blood pressure.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Census Bureau

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Black America and asthma• From the U.S. Department of Health:

– About 3,807,000 Black Americans reported having asthma as of 2008.

– Black women are 30% more likely to have asthma than non-Hispanic White women.

– Blacks are three times more likely to die from asthma related causes.

– Black children have a 260% higher emergency room visit rate, a 250% higher hospitalization rate, and a 500% higher death rate from asthma compared to White children.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health

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Access to care• 19.1% of Black Americans had no health

insurance in 2008.

• Blacks represent 13% of the U.S. population, but 30% of the uninsured.

• Combined, Blacks and Hispanics represent approximately half of the nation’s uninsured.

• 1 in 4 Black Americans are covered by Medicaid, including 44 percent of Black children.

Source: Centers for Disease Control, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

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“Food deserts”• Black America suffers disproportionately from

lack of access to fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy food, contributing to obesity and poor health.

“In one of the richest countries in the world, there are 23.5 million Americans, almost half of which are at or below the poverty line, who live in "food deserts". These are usually communities where there is limited or no access to foods necessary to maintain a healthy diet. Food deserts occur mostly in low-income urban or rural areas where it's either cheaper or easier to purchase a burger and fries combo than fresh produce.” -- Article, Low-income Blacks stranded in food deserts, by Marqui Mapp, TheGrio 6/22/2010

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HIV/AIDS• Even as the HIV/AIDS rate declines

nationwide, Black America faces a growing epidemic.– In 2007, the most recent year for which data is

available, Blacks “accounted for 51% of the 42,655 (including children) new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 34 states with long-term, confidential name-based HIV reporting,” according to the CDC.

– Blacks “accounted for 48% of the 551,932 persons (including children) living with HIV/AIDS in those states.”

Source: Centers for Disease Control

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AIDS and Black America

• HIV is now the 4th leading cause of death for Black men and the 3rd for Black women.

• Blacks have 7 times the new infection rate of Whites, and the HIV-related deaths are highest among Blacks.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

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Black women & children• From to the Kaiser Family Foundation:

– Black women account for the largest share of new HIV infections among women (61% in 2006) and the incidence rate among Black women is nearly 15 times the rate among White women.

– Black women account for most new AIDS cases among women (66% in 2007); White and Latina women account for 17% and 15% of new AIDS cases, respectively.

– Black women represent more than a third (36%) of AIDS cases diagnosed among Blacks, while White women represent 15% of AIDS cases diagnosed among Whites (as of 2007.)

– Although Black teens (ages 13-19) represent only 15% of U.S. teenagers, they account for 68% of new AIDS cases reported among teens in 2007. A similar impact can be seen among Black children.

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HIV: Silence = Death• Factors in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS

in the Black community include:– The stigma associated with same-sex

activity, i.e., man having sex with men– High incarceration rates, and infection of

women by formerly incarcerated men– Intravenous drug use– These factors are particularly acute in

lower income communities

Searching for solutions

Moving forward, together

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What can be done?• To improve the life outcomes of Black

America, we must support our children, by:– Taking back our schools, and mobilizing parents to

demand quality, results-oriented education

– Supporting efforts to encourage school systems to offer financial incentives to attract and retain good teachers, and to replace bad ones

– Creating “communities of concern” among adults -- with churches, fraternal organizations, local businesses, police departments, citizens and families working closely together

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What can be done? (cont’d)• To improve our schools, we must:

– Find creative ways to get more parents into the school building, interacting with teachers

– Support the spread of technology, computers and Internet access into the urban core

– Become a visible presence at local school boards

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What can be done? (cont’d)

• To combat economic insecurity we must– Build a more educated Black workforce

– Financially support historically Black colleges and help them to better fulfill their purpose

– Improve the technological proficiency of the Black student and workforce

– Promote an “attitude adjustment” toward careers and work among our youth. Sports and music can’t be the be-all and end all

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What can be done? (cont’d)

• To build community security we must:– Encourage marriage before children– Create a culture of celebration of the Black family– Encourage communities and police to find

channels of communication, and to work together to combat crime in our neighborhoods

– Broaden the reach of the Black church, “beyond the pulpit” so churches can meet the needs of families outside the sanctuary walls.

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The Development RevolutionTo change the state of Black America is going to take “revolutionary” action. Adults, and particularly Black men, must get re-engaged in our communities, to save our children’s future.

These are the building blocks of the Urban League of Miami’s “Development Revolution,” and the foundation of our strategy.

Documents

Miami Urban League Report Card on Black America 2010: Where we stand