NEWS RELEASE

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Al Shaw
Telephone: 312.673.3865
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Cell: 312.593.0719
April 23, 2010 ashaw@communityrenewalsociety.org

REACHING BLACK BOYS SYMPOSIUM, TO ADVANCE BLACK BOYS’ ACHIEVEMENT

Educators, advocates and community leaders convene to talk solutions for Black Boys in Chicago

(Photo with Caption)

CHICAGO, April 22, 2010— More than 200 educators, policymakers and community leaders gathered at
National-Louis University, on Tuesday morning, to discuss promising practices for raising the achievement of
black boys. The “Reaching Black Boys” symposium was inspired by the findings in the June 2009 issue of
Catalyst Chicago.

Nearly one in four black male students was suspended at least once last year, a rate that is twice as high as the
district average. This finding is part of an upward trend that has resulted in a near doubling of the number of
suspended students over the past five years, according to Catalyst Chicago.

The Golden Apple Foundation, MAGIC of Woodlawn, National-Louis University, Urban Prep Academies for Young
Men and Catalyst Chicago discussed what leaders can and need to do to improve educational outcomes of black
boys and change the community’s view of the issue.

Keynote speaker Dr. Pedro Noguera, a New York University professor who is a national authority on minority
males and the achievement gap, said that no one really knows why the school system is failing young black and
Latino men.

“The way we socialize boys might be implicated in this,” Noguera said. “The women’s movement was very clear
that what we have to fight against is the narrowness of gender roles… (but) there has been no corresponding
movement among men.”

Noguera also called attention to factors like the chronically high unemployment rates among African-American
young men and the growth of the U.S. prison system.

Black male students lag behind their peers academically in every grade, have the highest dropout rate of any
racial or ethnic group (54 percent), and fewer than half of those who graduate go on to college. For the young
men, these numbers are a tragedy, and for society it is a crisis.

Three teenagers were also present at the symposium. Faki Mohn, an 18-year-old senior at Hales Franciscan High
School and member of MAGIC of Woodlawn, said students need to see the connection between school and adult
life more clearly.

“Some of them may not want to go to college… (but after dropping out) they can’t even get the job they want,”
Mohn said.

Panelists suggested that making changes, incorporating rituals and values in schools, the use of restorative
justice discipline methods like peer juries, and parent education would help address the challenges African-
American and Latino boys face.

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“This symposium is one additional step along many thousand miles of steps,” said Reverend Calvin Morris,
executive director of the Community Renewal Society, which publishes Catalyst Chicago. “Challenge us to do the
kinds of things you wish us to do, and after that, come do it with us.”

Panelists at the symposium included: the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ;
Jefffrey Jackson, president of 100 Black men of Chicago; Dennis Lacewell, principal of Urban Prep Academy for
Young Men, Englewood Campus; Shelby Wyatt, a Kenwood Academy High School counselor who helped launch
the Brotherhood mentoring program at the school and wrote a guide to successful mentoring; and Keilan Bonner,
a Golden Apple scholar currently teaching math at King College Prep High School.

Catalyst Chicago is published by the Community Renewal Society. The Community Renewal Society empowers
people to build just communities by working to eradicate racism and poverty. It does so by publishing
newsmagazines, organizing in progressive communities, providing training, and encouraging individuals and
communities in sustained and strategic efforts to create systemic change.

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