Helping black teens prevail

How do you help 300 at-risk teens stay in school and out of jail? You link them with businesses who employ them for 24 hours a week -- as long as they keep their grades up -- and provide mentors to teach them life skills.

The Year-Round Employment Program was unveiled by James Shelby, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Urban League, at a State of Black America 2007 news conference at City Hall on Tuesday.

Backed by school superintendents, city and county officials and activists, Shelby said the entire Sacramento region needs to join forces to help young black men who need it most.

"The time to move is now," he said. "Solving the problem is not about blaming -- it's how do we fix it?"

The program, which is seeking 150 businesses to each take on two teens ages 14-18 for up to three years, "will change lives permanently through employment and mentoring," Shelby said.

The businesses -- which have yet to be recruited -- will provide the jobs and some of the mentoring. For the first three months, churches and community groups will provide mentoring on topics including how to handle money, workplace ethics, conflict resolution and birth control.

Young black men remain at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole, Shelby said, with 25 percent to 30 percent of them living below the poverty line, and they are vulnerable to drugs, gang violence and poor health care.

Those figures reflect the racial inequality that still persists nationwide, Shelby said. Nationwide, black unemployment is at 9 percent vs. 4.5 percent for whites; black life expectancy is 73.1 years, compared with 77.9 years for whites.

The black community also is hurt by a 15 percent high-school dropout rate nationwide, compared with a 12 percent rate for whites, Shelby said. In the Sacramento area, it's even higher -- between 19 percent and 44 percent of African Americans drop out, Shelby said.

The Sacramento City Unified School District reports a lower dropout rate -- 16.1 percent of African Americans scheduled to graduate in 2006 dropped out, compared with 12.2 percent for all students, said spokesman Marcus Walton.

Christopher Knaus, a lecturer in African American Studies at UC Berkeley, said "we're losing youth every day" because standardized tests aren't culturally appropriate and should focus on 'survival skills,' not just math and reading."

"Children begin to check out in fourth grade," added Ramona Bishop, the new superintendent of Del Paso Heights School District. "We must make school more relevant."

Bishop encouraged all parents to sit in on a middle-school class. "You'd say, 'What am I doing to my baby every day? No wonder they're dropping out -- they're bored to death!' "

The problem starts early, with two-thirds of children not enrolled in preschool, said Maggie Mejia, superintendent of Sacramento City Unified. But Mejia acknowledged, "Young black males need a great deal more support than we are providing."

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said the elimination of affirmative action in California contributes to the fact that African Americans are "losing at every index you can think of. We can't replace bad parenting, but we can create a network of support, write grants, get grants and implement the (Year-Round Employment) program."

African Americans need to turn out to elect officials to help get the job done, Shelby said.

The Urban League also proposed a task force to "study the physical, mental and social health of low-income minority males living in the Sacramento region," and a gang prevention initiative.

But the key will be the Year-Round Employment Program built around school schedules and augmented with mentoring, Shelby said. "Businesses have got to start hiring young African American men -- if they get out of their baggie jeans."

A 26-year-old man who just got out of prison after a dozen years was recently hired by a local produce company for $9.50 an hour.

"They gave him a chance, and now he can support his family," Shelby said. "The downward spiral can be stopped."

About the writer:

• The Bee's Stephen Magagnini can be reached at (916) 321-1072 or smagagnini@ sacbee.com.