The City of Long Beach released the action plan for President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Challenge last week, with initiatives to create a community that better serves young men and boys of color.
In accordance with Safe Long Beach, a violence prevention plan, the city was granted $1.5 million toward My Brother’s Keeper, an initiative that cultivates youth into career and college-ready citizens, engaged and contributing members of society and stresses the necessity of safety and second chances for all.
When voting to accept the challenge in January 2015, the city said it recognized the need to pay special attention to young men and boys of color because they are “disproportionately exposed to violence in their communities, overrepresented in the criminal justice and child welfare systems, and underrepresented in the employment and education sector,” according to the press release.
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The path to uplift and cultivate youth is outlined with six milestones:
- Enter school prepared to learn through early development programs
2. Read at grade level by third grade
3. Graduate from high school primed to pursue college or transition into a career
4. Complete post-secondary education or training
5. Successfully enter the workforce
6. Be safe from violence and provided second chances
Tracy Colunga, neighborhood relations officer for the City of Long Beach, said she is excited for the newly implemented Court Diversion Program, part of the sixth milestone.
The program is designed to reach out to young men, ages 16 to 24, who, when confronted with a misdemeanor charge, can instead choose to take part in reform and diversion programs, such as Promising Adults, Tomorrow’s Hope.
The Court Diversion Program is aligned with Prop 47 and Prop 36, which rethink the ways in which the criminal justice system succeeds in rehabilitating those charged with minor convictions by reducing nonviolent, non-serious crimes to misdemeanors.
“We want to provide second chances to [our youth] and let them know they’re being supported all along,” Colunga said.
But the path before the sixth milestone is studded with many programs that attempt to reconstruct boys’ lives from an early age, beginning with education.
The second milestone assesses boys’ reading level by third grade. If they are not at or above the standard, they enter a program where mentors read to them and encourage reading at home.
According to research presented in the action plan, children who are not at reading level by third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school by the age of 19. Reading twice a week, one-on-one with an adult “has a significant positive impact on a child’s reading efficiency,” according to the report.
“Our City’s commitment to President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative brings together every corner of our city to support our young people and keep them safe, healthy and on track for success,” Long Beach City Mayor Robert Garcia said in a statement.
The task force includes the Long Beach city government, the Long Beach Unified School District, Cal State Long Beach and many community organizations and public mentors. The MBK task force said it is currently seeking volunteers to mentor for several of the programs, as mentors are essential to the initiative’s success. Those interested can fill out a commitment card linked to the MBK website.