Addressing needs of black youth

A Chinese proverb says, "If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed."
There is an Ohio agency specifically geared to trying to change the tragic direction young black men are headed, and it has partnered with local Mahoning Valley groups to set up a two-day conference to address specific needs and develop solutions.
The event is sponsored by the Ohio Commission on African-American Males -- CAAM for short -- and is supported by the office of Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, Youngstown State University, Community Corrections Association, Youngstown Area Development Corp.'s Minority Contractors Business Assistance Program, Youngstown schools and area juvenile courts and probation offices.
The Youngstown conference is scheduled for April 6-7. Details of the time and locations will be forthcoming.
Four targeted areas
The conference objective, says William M. Carter, the YADC executive director, is to inform residents and students of community services available in CAAM's four targeted areas -- health, education, employment and criminal justice.
The goal is, through a community effort, to inspire "positive behavior among youth, reduce crime and high school dropout rates, and to provide employment opportunities through apprenticeship programs in the skilled-trades industry," Carter added.
The first session includes a presentation from adults on job readiness and apprenticeship programs offered by the city schools. The second session will have presenters address students during the school day on topics related to the target areas.
Carter said these are the hoped-for outcomes after the sessions:
Establish after-school mentoring and recreation programs for youths sponsored by the collaborative partners, who will commit for a year.
Reduce the recidivism rate of black males by establishing employment programs and educational opportunities for them.
Sense of urgency
Carter, who is teaching a course this semester at YSU reviewing the civil-rights movement from 1940 to 1980 with a focus on young black males, said black men are "an endangered species."
"Young black males are now more likely than they were in 1960 to be unemployed, to be addicted to drugs, be involved in the criminal justice system, and to die from homicide and suicide," he said.
CAAM began in 1989. It was known then as the Commission on Socially Disadvantaged Black Males, says its Web site, caam.ohio.gov.
An executive order in 1990 put the commission under the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. In 1991, the General Assembly changed the name of the commission on black males to the Ohio Commission on African-American Males. In July 1999, that commission became a free-standing agency.
It was created to serve the state's black males who are experiencing problems and/or difficulties within the four target areas.
Marv West is CAAM executive director. He is a graduate of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, with a degree in industrial technology and has a master's degree in administration from Central Michigan University.
Major challenges
He said black males face three major challenges in the 21st century.
The first is a lack of positive role models in the lives of young black males.
"The second challenge is education. We are losing too many kids to the streets, and the streets are unforgiving," he said. "The third challenge is we have to provide more job opportunities for black men."
There comes a time where accountability and responsibility must become an integral part of everyone's life. For some reason, that teaching has been lost in this generation of black males. It is not too late, however, to try to do something about building positive frameworks for young black men.
I believe the words of poet and author Nikki Giovanni sums up what must be done by blacks for blacks. She said: "I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure, but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try."
ebrown@vindy.com