CSBA Voices Support for President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” Initiative
Investment in education cited as key to success
SACRAMENTO, Calif., (February 27, 2014) – Responding to President Obama’s announcement today of the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative to improve opportunities for boys and young men of color, CSBA Executive Director & CEO Vernon M. Billy offered his praise and encouraged the initiative’s supporters to view California schools as a key partner in the effort.
“The ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative launched today by President Obama is an important step in making a significant investment in the future of America,” said Billy. “This effort, linking key foundations, businesses and communities, is a great first step to ensure that the promise of our most important resource – our children – is realized in every community in our nation. And for those of us involved in education in California, we are excited about the opportunity to partner with sponsors of this initiative to ensure its success.”
In today’s announcement, President Obama revealed that this initiative is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach to build ladders of opportunity and unlock the full potential of boys and young men of color. It will utilize proven tools that expand opportunity at key moments in the lives of these young people, including ensuring access to basic health, nutrition, and to high-quality early education. In addition, efforts will be made to partner with communities and police to reduce violence and make classrooms and the streets safer.
The President offered his commitment to build a broad coalition of supporters to help break down barriers, clear pathways to opportunity and reverse troubling trends which show too many of the boys and young men of color slipping through the cracks of society.
According to the White House, data shows that boys and young men of color, regardless of socio-economic background, are disproportionately at risk from the youngest years through college and the early stages of their professional lives:
- By the time they hit fourth grade, 86 percent of African-American boys and 82 percent of Hispanic boys are reading below proficiency levels – compared to 54 percent of white fourth-graders reading below proficiency levels.
- The disproportionate number of African-American and Hispanic young men who are unemployed or involved in the criminal justice system is a perilous drag on state budgets and undermines family and community stability.
- African-American and Hispanic young men are more than six times more likely to be victims of murder than their white peers – and account for almost half of the country’s murder victims each year.
“Our schools still represent the most significant opportunity to fundamentally change the life trajectory of these young men to help them reach their full potential,” Billy added. “On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision, the My Brother’s Keeper initiative represents another important opportunity to partner with local schools to develop strategies and programs that will have the greatest impact on these young men.”
President Obama will sign a Presidential Memorandum establishing the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, an interagency effort chaired by Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson, that will help determine what public and private efforts are working, how to expand upon them, how the federal government’s own policies and programs can better support these efforts and how to better involve state and local officials, the private sector, and the philanthropic community in these efforts.
For more information on the initiative, visit www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper.
About CSBA
The California School Boards Association (CSBA) is the non-profit education association representing the elected officials who govern public school districts and county offices of education. With a membership of nearly 1,000 educational agencies statewide, CSBA brings together school district governing boards and county boards of education to advocate for effective policies that advance the education and well-being of the state’s more than 6 million school-age children. CSBA provides policy resources and training to members, and represents the statewide interests of public education through legal, political legislative, community and media advocacy.