by April Ray | Education
The Importance Of Higher Education On Black Youth
The gap between female and male enrollment is widest for African American students, according to a 2018 National Center for Education Statistics report. Considering black students are already underrepresented in higher education, this shows a concerning absence of young African American men in college.
While some people may think higher education is too much of an investment of time and money upfront, it turns out the benefits consistently outweigh those costs – especially for young African American men. Read on to learn the top 6 benefits of higher education that show the importance of young African American men going to college.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #1 – Expanded Career Options
Jobs for those with only a high school diploma are in trades or more labor intensive. It’s harder for young black men to show their true potential in these positions. Additionally, vocational certifications only prepare you for one trade, and can’t be applied elsewhere without an additional certification.
Job mobility is limited for candidates with only a high school diploma, which can result in young black men being stuck in jobs that might not give them much satisfaction. Higher education typically has general education requirements which allows students to explore different subjects and get a better idea of what they want to do without wasting time, money, or credits.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #2 – Higher Earning Potential
Not only does going to college expand career options, but pursuing higher education unlocks a higher earning potential for young black men. A college degree signals a greater professional capacity to potential employers, which translates to higher salaries.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that men with higher education earn 84% more than men with only a high school diploma. The unemployment rate is also lower for degree holders compared to those with just a high school diploma. African American high school graduates with no college education are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than African Americans with a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
Money isn’t everything, but it provides less financial worries and more control over life. Higher earning potential makes it so young black men can keep their heads above water and even enjoy disposable income and give back to their communities.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #3 – Transition to A Young Man
In addition to having financial independence, young black men gain a sense of self away from home. Developmentally, they have the opportunity to shape their identity, reflect on their own values, and establish how they want to interact with others interpersonally. This provides young black men with a healthy way to have a clear sense of who they are and what type of man they want to be, that is rooted in their own understanding of their values.
Higher education teaches students to think critically in ways that high school doesn’t offer. Building these skills enable young men to make more thoughtful and informed decisions in their personal lives as well as their academic lives. In college, students are taught to be self-motivated, responsive, and most importantly, open to learning from their mistakes.
It’s inevitable that young black men are going to deal with adversity and setbacks in college, but it’s important to allow them the space to figure it out on their own. Not having their parent’s oversight challenges a young black man to step up in ways that he hasn’t before. And as a result, they have the opportunity to transition into the responsible young men that we know they have the potential to be.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #4 – Improved Confidence
Getting to class on time, completing assignments, and participating in group projects are standards that will be set in college. Like-minded, engaged peer groups provide a culture of support that will help African American young men welcome this kind of responsibility. The structure of higher education allows for students to consistently be rewarded for putting in hard work. Having that feeling of
self-assurance and appreciation of their abilities is important in building self-confidence. A sense of control and social support can be transformational for young black men – purposeful living can motivate them to become the best versions of themselves.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #5 – Happier & Healthier
Higher education also provides the opportunity for young black men to enroll in classes and sign up for activities that excite them, without the structured limitations of high school. They can meet people from various backgrounds and cultures that have similar interests, in addition to discovering new interests they didn’t know they had.
For decades, it’s been well established by institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that educational attainment improves health and life expectancy. Greater educational attainment is associated with health-promoting behaviors like eating fruits and vegetables and doing regular physical activity.
This is extremely important for African American men, who have a lower life expectancy than their white peers. Completion of higher education is key to having adequate food, housing, insurance, and other basic necessities for a happy and healthy life.
6 Benefits of Higher Ed For African American Boys | #6 – Become A World Traveler
Travel can be one of the best learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Through study abroad programs, alternative spring breaks, and internship opportunities around the country, students can make global connections.
Traveling is a great way to grow as a person – meeting new people, experiencing different cultures, and learning how to go about daily life in a foreign place are all great ways to develop personally and professionally. No matter where your student enrolls, leaving what they’ve always known is the first step in discovering where they fit in the world.
Higher education expands career options, boosts earning potential, and helps develop character for young African American men.
Whatever the path, higher education can help young black men get there. The Blue Heart Foundation is focused on the empowerment and education of under-served youth, and we believe that college education can change a community. We provide our young men from disadvantaged backgrounds with academic support, financial assistance, and leadership training to become first generation college students.
With a 100% college acceptance rate, our young men have earned thousands of dollars in scholarships to universities across the country. Contact us today to learn more about how we can provide students with the tools to succeed and excel in today’s academic and social environment.
At The Blue Heart Foundation, we believe in empowering African American boys by equipping them with more than just academic knowledge. Our mission is to nurture a strong, positive mindset, instill the value of higher education, and introduce the transformative wisdom of metaphysical principles. We are committed to helping these young leaders develop the confidence, critical thinking skills, and spiritual grounding they need to overcome obstacles, excel academically, and lead with purpose.
Email
support@theblueheartfoundation.org
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by April Ray | Education
San Diego Mentorship Program Helps Boys Go To College
UCSD campus on April 6, 2019. Original Article by By Anica Colbert, Ebone Monet https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/apr/11/san-diego-mentorship-program-blue-heart-foundation/
The
Blue Heart Foundation celebrated its fourth annual signing day at UC San Diego last Saturday. The event announces which colleges the Blue Heart students decided to attend. According to its website, the nonprofit focuses on empowering under-served high school students in San Diego County and it aims to help at-risk youth get into college. Blue Heart founder and CEO Tracy Morris talked about growing up in San Diego and his own need for strong role models.
“I grew up in southeast San Diego without a strong father figure, and a lot of things that people say is that there is a need for male role models. With that being said, I kinda looked at what I needed as a young person, or as a teenager growing up, to help me focus on my goals, to be able to provide new experiences and just a guideline to what I wanted to do with my life.
And I think most importantly, I just wanted someone or somewhere that I could consistently go to, that I knew would be there,” said Morris.
Morris and graduating seniors Amir Duke and Kylen Dent sat down with KPBS Evening Edition host Ebone Monet to talk about how Blue Heart made an impact on their lives.
by April Ray | Education
November 17th, 2018 University of California San Diego – The Blue Heart Foundation held our monthly personal/professional development workshop. This month we focused on Careers in Politics, the importance of image and the UC application process. Our presenters came with a wealth of knowledge and we believe both sides grew from the experience.
Tony Young and Omar Passons discussed the political process and importance of civic engagement. Both advised our youth that their political attitudes are shaped by their unique experiences and diverse backgrounds, so it’s essential that they learn more about politics and get involved so they can channel their energies towards effecting a positive change.
Touching on the point that if they are engaged in politics, they will be more likely to serve in their communities in areas such as health, education and charity work. This level of involvement will continue as they grow older and the years of experience will refine their understanding of how civil engagement in our country works—especially when they are able to vote, sign petitions, and even run for office themselves.
Taryell Simmons presented on the importance of image and discussed “code switching”. Code-switching is a fundamental and even vital component of the human language. There are both social and professional benefits to changing the way in which you speak based on who you are speaking with. It is important for people to feel comfortable throughout all of the different groups in their lives, and code-switching is they a way to stay connected to all of these groups at once. Even the Past President of the United states President Barack Obama understands the importance of code switching. Back in January of 2009, president elect Barack Obama went to get lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl. Ben’s Chili Bowl, is a famous restaurant in a historically black neighborhood. After paying for his food, the cashier asked the President if he would like his change, to which he replied “Nah, we straight”.
Kyler Nathan IV (UCSD Admissions) provided information on the UC Application Process. The college application process can seem intimidating, especially if students don’t have parents or siblings who have already been through it and can offer advice. Mr. Nathan noted that since there are so many steps, such as writing an essay and obtaining letters of recommendation, a good way for students to get started is to create a to-do list during their junior year of high school.
“Once you can see it visually, the number of tasks and a schedule to do them, it simplifies a lot of things and It will take away a lot of the anxiety.” Though there is often prep work that happens beforehand, students generally begin filling out college applications the summer between their junior and senior year of high school. Though today was an overview of the process for all, one can never start preparing early enough for the steps required to move towards higher education.
by April Ray | Education
California Western School of Law held the 4th annual Prepare to A.I.M. for Law Youth Conference June 2, at the Moot Court Room, 350 Cedar Street in San Diego.
A.I.M. for Law, which stands for “Achieve. Inspire. Motivate,” is an outreach program that prepares high school and undergraduate students, primarily from underrepresented communities, for the law school application process and the first year of law school.
During the one-day conference, that was themed #Dare2See, students engaged in interactive activities that address a successful transition to and through college, with an eye toward law school, as well as key tools needed to get into law school. They spoke to current law students, practicing attorneys/judges, law faculty, and staff, and got a taste of the first year of law school by performing an oral argument before judges.
“The youth conference responds to a growing gap in education particularly for young people from underrepresented groups,” said A.I.M. Program Director P
rofessor Leslie Culver. “That is, an ability to envision an educational/career path beyond high school. In particular, the legal field suffers from a lack of diversity, as many students – primarily racial students – do not see lawyers that look like them, so for many, it is not a desirable or thought of career choice.”
The successful June conference had 22 attendees and ran from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“Often waiting until college to introduce a legal career to students can be too late if students have not been academically successful in college,” added Professor Culver. “Turning grades around midway through one’s college career can be extremely difficult, thus making it more difficult to have law school options.”
For more information on the A.I.M. for Law Program visit: https://www.cwsl.edu/student-life/campus-resources/diversity-services/aim-for-law
by April Ray | Education
Blue Heart had the opportunity to attend the San Diego Association of African-American Educators (AAAE) Youth Conference on the University of San Diego campus learning about professionalism, code switching, priority career sectors such as science, technology, and engineering, plus the history of HBCUs and prominent African-American educators from the past who still influence education today.
STEAM Education encourages young natural scientists and promoted critical thinking. By actively engaging in learning about their surroundings. It has been shown Active learning leads to increases in examination performance that can raise average grades within the STEM fields by a half a letter. Educators encouraged this type of engagement to remain critical thinkers and interested in the sciences. On this day there was a Q & A with our students touching on opportunities in education as well as STEM based careers.
Painful as some of these experiences were, I was grateful to have them in middle school and high school, so that when the time came to head for college, I already had some fluency navigating between different cultures (to make life even more interesting, I had a small crew of Latino friends from my hometown who I also spent time with in college, enjoying getting to know another group who were so much like young, African-Americans in some ways and so different in others).
I watched as too many others from my hometown and other predominantly black cities struggled in a university setting where suddenly they really were a minority.
For these kids, being members of a minority group was an abstraction, because everywhere they turned in their own lives — from school to the corner store and their own street corners — they were surrounded by others who looked and acted like them. (I used to tell my private-school classmates that, before I joined their world, the only time I saw white people outside of a department store or gas station was when they got lost driving through my neighborhood.)
But once these students left those mostly black neighborhoods for top colleges such as Indiana University, Purdue University or Notre Dame, they were suddenly surrounded by a culture they hadn’t experienced firsthand. On top of the normal pressures of leaving home and family to take on a ramped-up academic challenge, they had to learn how to navigate white social structures while retaining their own sense of what it meant to be black.
I learned early on, thanks to that g-word nonsense, that expertly navigating another culture wasn’t a rejection of where I’d come from or a signal that I was any less authentically black. And returning to my roots wasn’t being phony or perpetrating a put-on.
It was being fully who I am. This is a lesson too many other young people from too many other cultures have to learn the hard way — making their way in an American culture that too often still demands assimilation or marginalization.
As more cultures join America’s melting pot, that’s why code-switching remains so valuable.
by April | Education
To often in society, the focus is on athletic prowess or celebrity; not so much on focusing on the growth of the youth and celebrating their academic accomplishments. In this vein The Blue Heart Foundation held its 3rd Annual Signing Day and Awards Ceremony. The purpose of this dinner is to acknowledge the dedication and drive of the members of the Blue Heart Foundation’s mentoring program HEART (Higher Education And Rising Together) as they work to improve the quality of life of themselves as well as community.
As Blue Heart graduated their second class of seniors the feel was that one that created a sense of celebration as well as community. These young men are the driving force for many successful community clean-ups, programs and events. Blue Heart feels it’s very important to acknowledge these young men for their accomplishments. Cassandra Irving exclaimed “Our son has had the wonderful opportunity to be part of such a great experience, The Blue Heart Foundation Inc., has given him various opportunities to better himself, and in doing so has extended his perceptions of how much he can impact others as well as himself, by showing compassion for others’ lives, and experiences. He has always had words of encouragement to share with others, but his participation with Blue Heart has allowed actions as well.”
As the awards portion of the event began with the recognition from: – Ashley Campbell – Community Aide to Susan Davis, U.S. Representative for California’s 53rd congressional District – Stephanie R. Allen – Assistant to U.S. Representative for California’s 51st congressional district Juan Vargas and our great friend – Mathew Gordon – Community Representative for San Diego City Council President Myrtle Cole Mathew’s beautifully compelling presentation filled the room with appreciation and love.
Now we get to signing day … Where will the seniors be taking the next step in their academic journey? First was Dylon Renee Irving who committed to Morehouse College followed by Quincy Ferebee (Southwestern College) whom stated “When Tracy trusted me, I has no choice but to give 110 %. Next was Shamari Linton (CSU San Marcos) followed by Kai Miller (CSU San Marcos), Julien Juju Bean Moore (Fullerton College and concluding with Xavier Tillis (CSU San Marcos) whom said “I’m not done with Blue Heart and going to come back to mentor” I’m proud to be a member of The Blue Heart Foundation.” For more on The Blue Heart Foundation visit their website at theblueheartfoundation.org
