August 2015 Education


White House: Closing Education Gap Would Boost U.S. Economy


BY FREDDIE ALLEN


WASHINGTON — Men of color would earn $170 billion more a year, if they reached the same education level as White men, according to a new White House report.


The report examined “opportunity


gaps facing youth of color” and found stunning correlations between the educational and employment success of young men of


color and how


that success can directly impact the national economy.


Not only would closing the education attainment


gap result


in higher annual earnings for men of color 25-64 years-old, it would also increase


the gross domestic


product, the value of the production of goods and services, by 1.8 percent in the United States. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that GDP decreased by an annual rate of 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2015.


The high school graduation rate for Black students is 17 percentage points lower than their


White


classmates and only “28 percent of Blacks have a college degree by their late 20s, compared to nearly half of White men,” the report said.


The report said that youth of


color encounter a number of barriers to opportunity at higher rates compared to their White peers.


“For example, while 20 percent


of all children under age 18 live in poverty, 38 percent of Black children and 30 percent of Hispanic children live in poverty, compared to 11 percent of non-Hispanic stated the report.


White children,”


access to early childhood education, increasing will


start school


likelihood at


that they


disadvantage to their more affluent peers.


When young students fall


behind in their reading skills, it makes it harder for them to catch up to their peers in later grades and increases the chances that they will drop out.


When young Black men


Poor students often don’t have the


considerable


Attorney General Loretta Lynch address the 106th annual NAACP convention in Phila- delphia. (Abdul Sulayman/Philadelphia Tribune)


disconnect from school, they are more likely to connect to the criminal justice system at considerable expense to the rest of society.


substantially in


“The cost of incarceration is far higher than investing


education or other programs to increase opportunity, even before one takes the returns to the investments into account,” the report said. “The cost of incarceration for a single juvenile is over $100,000 – twice as high as tuition at the most expensive college in the country or a year of intensive mentoring.”


And even though crime is down in


recent years, spending on corrections at the federal, state and local level is $80 billion, according Obama.


to President


A history poverty, lack of access to early childhood education and early interaction with the criminal justice system can follow a young Black man deep into adulthood and contribute to an early death or a lifetime of missed employment opportunities and lower rates of employment compared to White men.


“Even difference when there the in the likelihood report.


committing a crime, individuals stated


a black individual


is little of of


color are much more likely to be arrested,” example,


“For is


nearly four times as likely as a white individual to be arrested for marijuana possession, even though black and white individuals reported using


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Background DoSomething.org is one of the


largest


organizations in the US that helps young people rock causes they care about. A driving force in creating a culture of volunteerism, DoSomething.org is on track to activate two million young people in 2011. By leveraging the web, television, mobile, and pop culture, DoSomething.org inspires,


empowers and


celebrates a generation of doers: teenagers who recognize the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action.


marijuana at similar rates in 2010.” The report continued: “In 1984,


the majority of State and Federal


prisoners were White. In 2011, the majority of the more than 1.5 million prisoners were minorities, including 930,000 prisoners who were Black or Hispanic (61 percent).”


“Among adults 16 and older,


Black men are nearly 15 percentage points less likely to be employed than White men,” stated the report.


And because the labor force


participation rate only tracks people who are either employed or looking for work, more than 1 million Black men languishing in American prisons remain unaccounted for in the labor market artificially narrowing the employment chasm between Blacks and Whites until they return home.


“The wholly


economic opportunity and crime is not


relationship clear-cut.


between For instance,


crime fell throughout the most recent recession. Nevertheless, experience of past decades suggests that improving economic opportunity can also help lower crime rates,” the report said.


The report noted Chicago-based that the Becoming a Man


(BAM) program has achieved success at steering disadvantaged young men away from the criminal justice system by taking a different approach


Rather than offering targeted job opportunities, the report said that


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


BAM, which primarily serves young Black and Latino men, teaches their members how to make better decisions “in high-stress situations through in-school sessions focused on making participants


more aware of their


automatic responses and on thinking about the appropriate response to the situation at hand.”


crime


BAM not only reduced violent arrests among


program participants from 2009-2010, the


young men also got better grades. An evaluation of the program during the 2013-2014 school year showed a 31 percent decline in the likelihood of arrests for BAM members.


The White House report said that


scholarships and one-on-one coaching can also help low-income students graduate from college.


The high


incarceration, increased


costs coupled of mass with the awareness about the


militarization of local police forces and the controversial practices of the for-profit prison industry have driven lawmakers crime


sentencing justice


policies in favor of smarter guideline,


to reconsider tough on restorative


and community-based


rehabilitation programs. During her keynote address at


the NAACP’s annual convention in Philadelphia, United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch noted the launch of the Smart on Crime initiative and it’s impact on mandatory minimum sentencing and investments in rehabilitation and reentry programs.


“The early results of these efforts have been extremely promising,” said Lynch. “I am not just hopeful, but excited about where these reforms will lead us in the years to come.”


Making the criminal require broader reform


system more efficient, more effective and more fair on the federal will


efforts


bipartisan support in Congress, said Lynch, adding that those efforts have to involve repairing the relationship between


young people enforcement.


“Ultimately, we need children to see possibilities


for themselves


beyond the cycle of criminality and incarceration that has too often become a tragic and familiar fact of life,” said Lynch. “America is a land of second chances – but it must also be a land where we give opportunities to young people who haven’t gotten a chance at all.”


and law


justice level


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