About the Initiative

While much progress has been made since the passage of the Civil Rights Act, educational and economic successes still remain beyond the grasp of many African American males.

In school, young Black men have higher rates of suspension, expulsion, dropout and placement in special education than other groups. In adulthood, African American males are more likely to be unemployed and incarcerated or on probation than men of other racial groups. In fact, African Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S. population but Black males represent nearly half the male prison population.

This is a dilemma that demands a solution. As a child welfare agency that strives to maximize opportunities to promote successful futures for the children we serve, we are convinced of the need to find effective solutions for our at-risk clients who confront the unique challenges of growing up Black, male and poor. That’s why The Children’s Aid Society has created The African American Male Initiative.

In 2005, drawing upon consultation with an interdisciplinary group of experts and key local stakeholders, The Children’s Aid Society launched the African American Male Initiative to more fully understand the issues facing our Black male children, and to develop a combined set of interventions to improve the outcomes for this vulnerable population.

To do so, The African American Male Initiative’s primary goals are: (1) To more fully understand the issues facing our Black male clients and (2) To create new program strategies that will better address the needs of this vulnerable population.

In 2006, the African American Male Initiative formed a Study Group of Experts, which met to discuss barriers to success for African American Males. The Study Group agreed that the dehumanization of Black males over the years has left this population particularly vulnerable and often underdeveloped. As such, the African American Male Initiative is unique in that it moves from a deficit model (i.e. rehabilitating African American males with poor outcomes, such as school dropout, incarceration, poor health) to one that starts early, using individual and community strengths to lead African American males toward meeting their fullest potential.

In 2007, Steps to Success, the first programmatic strategy of the Initiative, was launched to serve a cohort of 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade (now 4th, 5th, and 6th grade) Black males in Harlem from their point of entry into the program through, at least, their high school graduation. Steps to Success has become an incubator of new ideas and strategies for improving the social, emotional, academic, and health outcomes of African American male youth.

At The Children’s Aid Society, our experience tells us that improvements in outcomes take time, but after only two program years we have already seen promise, which is encouraging and makes us especially proud. For example, for two years in a row, 100% of the boys have been promoted to the next grade.

To learn more about the African American Male Initiative, please view our publications at: http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/news/publications#aami

Staff

Roger Ball, Program Director
Lorna Palacio Morgan, Senior Program Quality Advisor
Jessica Silk, Special Projects Manager

For more information, please contact Jessica Silk at 212.949.4969 or jsilk@childrensaidsociety.org.