Where’s My Daddy?

Broken homes, broken dreams have led to 50% of marriages ending in divorce, since the 90s. Add that statistic with another 27% of parents that have children that have never been married. Do you see where this is leading? Bad decisions, a rush to judgment, or simply incompatibility, often times the children are the victims. You want to know why a growing segment of today’s America’s youths have poor decision making skills, addictive personalities, and disconnect feelings; all roads lead to the lack of family values.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in November, 2009, there are approximately 13.7 million single parents in the United States today, and those parents are responsible for raising 21.8 million children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today).  Statistics have shown children from broken homes are at a greater risk to have academic and social problems. With 84% of these households led by women, and less then 40% receiving child support, 27% of the children also live in poverty, and that number is projected to be higher in minority communities.    

Last week a report by the Council of Great City Schools was released, A Call for Change: the Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools. Haven’t ready it yet, but I guess, it focuses on poor test scores and the high number of males in the juvenile justice system. Same old story.

In 1996, our organization, New Jersey Minority Educational Development, after six years of trying to force change in the nation’s  most violent city,  and poorest city per capita, Camden, New Jersey. Deciding enough was enough; we must attack the problem at its root, and redefined what it is to be a man.

With 31% of Camden’s total population consisting of adult minority males between the age

of 18 and over, an estimated 55% of them have not completed high school, and barley 40% of its current minority male high school students graduate each year.  A major make-over was needed, with over forty percent of the male dropouts unemployed, 70% either on probation, on parole, or have been incarcerated as an adult or juvenile, and an additional 50% or more owing child support, has helped cause up to 70% of the city’s children under the age of 18 years old to live in poverty.  We believe no other city in the United States has been affected more by the failure of our nation’s educational system to graduate minority males from high school.

Through community involvement and partnerships, we created a 10-year plan called the 100% Graduation Rate Program, which increased the black and Hispanic male high school completion rate from 39% to 89%, enrolled 49% first time college students, with a 48% and 23% college retention and graduation rate. This all points to the fact it can be done, by planning and action not talk.

This type of change can happen… with the challenges that face our country’s family futures, especially the minority community. The question of where’s is my daddy, can be answered by redefining what a man is, the first clue is education.