Good evening. Im Joshua Johnson of qkqed news. Imagine that your fate was determined by a coin toss. Heads you win, tails you lose. Or die. Sounds extreme. But that is what many africanamerican boys in oakland face as they work to complete high school. In the last decade, the number of black males who have died on the city streets is nearly equal to the number who have graduated from its high schools ready for college. But now there are new efforts in the School System to turn this around. The strategy . Pair black boys with upstanding black men. In hopes of teaching the kids a better way forward. Morning, sir, how you doing . Good. Siswe teaches the Manhood Development class at oaklands sky lie high school. Glad you could be with us. He and about a dozen africanamerican male teachers are focused on making sure plaque boys graduate high school. Take a step back. Yall ready . Were trying to make transformations. A lot of our brothers are failing disproportionately. If we look at statistics in oakland were the highest in everything we dont need to be in. Youll see higher rates of dropouts, lower rates of graduation, higher rates of chronic absence, higher rates of suspension. June yus williams is ceo of the urban strategies council, an oaklandbased nonprofit working to eliminate persistent poverty. In 2010, the council partnered with oakland unified in developing solutions for improving the academic and social outcomes for black boys. That same year, the district launched the office of africanamerican male achievement. Chris chatman is the executive director. The Manhood Development class is one of the offices programs. One of the strategies with our Manhood Development classes, just getting eye level with the youth. How do we put the swag in education, in learning . One challenge to restoring that swag, that swaggering sense of cool, was getting boys motivated to even show up to school. What we found was that if kids werent excited about being in school, and they werent engaged and being encouraged, then they would get turned on to the streets. Back at skyline, abaca took me on a tour of the campus. Skyline is one of eight high schools and three middle schools in oakland that offer the Manhood Development class. The students come from varying academic, economic, and family backgrounds. Define manhood in the context of this program. What does it mean to be a man . I just want brothers to embrace all aspects of manhood. Not just the strength but the compassion, the love, aspects of fatherhood, aspects of husbandhood, aspects of brotherhood. Ready, one. One. Every day abaca, known as brother siswe, leads the boys in exercise. It focuses their minds to become better students. And my major concern is a lot of brothers dont know how to receive information, take notes, sit down somewhere. A lot of my brothers need fathers, period. I dont know whatever way i can put it. As a Manhood Development program is opportunity for us to connect with these young men to make them feel valued, loved and supported. In elementary school, a lot of the teachers used to tell me ill never accomplish anything. And i was one of the smartest kids in my class. Abaca says sometimes the class feels more like therapy. Might have to deal with a brother that lost a cousin, a brother that might be having a baby next week. Students built altars to honor fallen classmates and on the record victims of gun violence, stark reminders of the trauma many carry into the classroom. I grew up on 94th. That was a bad area. A lot of killings happened. Wesley brownly, a 15yearold freshman, is a student in the manhood class. When he graduated from middle school, he had a 3. 5 gpa. Once he started high school, it began to drop. I seen myself hanging out with kind of the wrong friends and all that, bad stuff. Looking good so far. I just got to turn in a big history assignment. And im kind of late on it already. Whatever support you need, between myself, the youth center, you know, tutoring on campus, its time. Before, i always worried about sports. Now, brother siswe made us dig deeper into school. We dont have a good education we might not get to the school we want, we might not have a good job when we get older. A few miles away a Charter School is trying a more comprehensive approach targeting kids starting in kindergarten and all of the nearly 75 students enrolled are africanamerican boys. A lot of the boys come to this school have failed in other schools, been kicked out, expelled. And, you know, we are not quick to do that. Dr. Mark alexander, a retired epidemiologist, is is Board Chairman of the 100 black men of the Bay Area Community school. The school, which opened in 2012, focuses on an educational mix known as s. T. E. A. M. Science, technology, engineering, the arts, and maths. It currently serves Elementary Students but the goal is to expand coverage through 12th grade. I grew up in foster homes. I grew up in very, very tough situations. I used to fight a lot. I used to get suspended. And so i see a lot of myself in these boys. And i see the genius in a lot of the these kids. I know that it only takes a few people to just give someone the encouragement that they need to really thrive. Kids start every morning with breakfast then line up to repeat their morning affirmations known as the scholar holler. Who are we . We are leaders we are empowered whos ready to learn . We are the school offers a homework club, aeronautics class, help forring in medicine and science. The goal is to make sure all the needs of africanamerican boys are met. If you had not received the kind of support as a boy that you are providing to these africanamerican boys at this school, where would you be today . Id be in san quentin. Or dead. You seem very sure of that. Absolutely. I had people that refused to let me fail. Who said, youve got to do this, youve got to do this. There are no other options for you. And weve got to have that. We have to have that attitude towards our children today. Dr. Alexander says the situation is more dire than people may think. Its not just an africanamerican issue or even an oakland issue. Its an economic issue that impacts everyone in california. A state where minorities now make up the majority. When we fail black boys, latino boys, whomever it is, theres a cost attached to that. Incarceration, social services, added police protection, insurance rates, the litany goes on and on and on. And its a huge price tag. When you invest up front and you make those boys successful, you turn that, you invert that. Good to see you, congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations, man, excellent. For chris chatman, success begins by acknowledging achievements every step of the way. This year, chatmans office cosponsored an annual honor roll event celebrating africanamerican boys and girls from 8th to 12th grades who maintained a 3. 0 grade point average. One of the skyline Manhood Development students, 15yearold jayvon, performed a spoken word event. Im 11 years old, in the sixth grade, and i cant read. The teachers dont notice me. I cant read. Jayvon did not have the gpa needed to win an award. But he plans to get one next year. His performance at the event was both a painful reminder of what black boys are up against and a moving testament to their potential. But on this biggest day of the school year i was coming down the lane ready to do my thing. And at the same time that i heard my knee snap i see my familys dream shattered. Im asking yall, what are my odds . I cant read. The office of africanamerican male achievement is seeing some early signs of progress. Ready . Go. Some of the participating schools are reporting fewer discipline problems, better grades, and improved attendance. But reversing the old trends remains daunting. I definitely think that in these programs sometimes theres a lot put on the man or woman thats coming to the aid or support our children. And it just because im here for one month doesnt mean all these brothers are going to start automatically going to class and wanting to do their homework and Different Things like that. Theres many layers and layers and layers that we have to peel back. Lets continue the conversation now. Joining us here in the studio tonight are tiago robinson, a Manhood Development facilitator at oakland high. Jill tucker, education reporter for the San Francisco chronicle. And joining us from denver, Pedro Nogueira, prove soar of social ology at new york university. Welcome. Jill tucker, let me start writ you. You spent a year following these programs for the San Francisco chronicle documentary series even odds. What made you decide to. The on this . In the 15 years that ive been covering education in california, i kept reporting the same statistics about africanamerican males across california, and specifically in oakland. And they didnt change very much. In a good year in oakland, the Graduation Rate for africanamerican males is 50 . Homicide is the leading cause of death for africanamerican males in oakland age 15 to 34. And another statistic that i recently stumbled upon about a i cant remember ago was the number of africanamerican males graduating from oakland high schools ready for college, ready for the uc or csu system. Over the last decade, 802. In that same time period, 787 africanamerican males were killed. Only a difference of 25 people. Almost the same exact number. In certain years, more killed than graduated college ready, other years the opposite. It was so close over the decade. It was a moment this has always been a story in the back of my mind. This is the time, i want to go into the schools, i want to be that entry point for our readers to see what its like for these students to grow up in oakland, these africanamerican males. What their lives are like. And also chronicle what the district was trying to do. A somewhat radical approach to addressing the needs of africanamerican males. Basically saying, we are going to create an office of africanamerican male achievement. A department in the School District specifically for one gender and one race. And were going to create classes just for africanamerican males. And at the same time open a school that was made for and by africanamerican memorandas. One of the people who works in those classes is tiago robinson. You teach one of the Manhood Development classes at oakland high. Tell us how your background personally relates to what youre doing with these kids. Well, i actually went through oakland unified school. So not making it, i was one of those that didnt make it, ended up dropping out in the innocent grade. So and, you know, running the streets, know oakland very well, doing things that i shouldnt have been doing. And as you start to get older and people believe in you, my opportunity changed. And one of the things i always wanted to do, though, was to come back to oakland and give back and work with the oakland youth. And the fact that you kind of came up the rough side of the mountain is one of those things i imagine gives you relate ability to a lot of these boys. You get real street cred because of where youve been. Yeah, definitely. Professor, let me ask you about these programs on a larger scale. I know you spent some time looking at the work thats been done in oakland schools yourself as well as some of the work thats done in other districts across the country trying similar things. What do you think of this kind of approach . Does it go far enough or is there more that needs to happen . Well, i want to applaud the district for taking this initiative to try to address this large problem. But i want everyone to keep in mind it is a large problem. Its not simply about addressing this Manhood Development class. You have to understand that theres an economic aspect of this problem. If you look at the unemployment rates for young men, particularly africanamerican men, ages 16 to 25, some of the highest of any group in the country. If you dont address that problem, youre not going to see this issue go away. Youre talking about violence and homicide which is not going to be addressed by this initiative by itself. So what i would encourage those who are working on this to think about is, how do you integrate some other aspects into this program so that you can start to address the problems early on with children, but also particularly as they enter adolescence and they start to need to earn a living. How do you address that part of it as well . Because if you dont address the economics of it youre not going to find a real reduction, itser in homicide rates or unemployment or dropping out of school. It seems like a lot of whats done, professor, since weve got you on the line, is a hybrid approach, whether you look at Something LikeOakland Unifieds program, some people are credentialed teachers, some who are supervised by credentialed teachers, harlem children zone, wraparound services. Seem like the hybrid approach where its community and nonprofit and some governmental or semigovernmental agencies. That seems to be the way things are going now. Do you think thats the rye way to go forward or are there other strategies that maybe sneed to be tried to help africanamerican boys that arent really on the table right now . I cant say enough about the importance of there being an employment aspect to this. If you look at numbers of those who are killed over that period jill tucker described, i bet very few of them had jobs, very few of them had careers. Youve really got to recognize the young people who think theyre going somewhere because theres something to live for, because they have a family, they have a career, they have a future, are going to be make different decisions than young people who are headed nowhere. And so we really have to address that aspect of the problem. And i think whats interesting about this as well, that the district is looking at longterm solutions. So if they get kids to college, theyre going to help them continue through college. They dont want to just stop at the classroom door of Manhood Development. I think what is very different about this program, what oakland is doing, is they are looking very specifically not just at all the kids at the bottom of the achievement gap but theyre looking at a very specific subgroup, as i said. Theyre looking at africanamerican males. And as professor nogueira said, they have very specific needs. And so how this is working is looking at them as individuals, looking at the issues that they face as africanamerican males in oakland. The fear that teachers have of them or shop owners have of them or as president obama said, the doors that lock as they walk by. Thats a very different life that they lead than, say, a latina female. Her issues that land her at the bottom of the achievement gap are very different. So looking at this, what they call targeted universalism, is trying to identify the needs of these kids. So its jobs. Its confidence. Its mentors. Its role models. Its father of coursefigures. Giving them those things that they need as africanamerican males is what the district is trying to do now and that is very different than the no child left behind approach of, okay, just throw money at everyone at the bottom of the achievement gap and see what happens. Let me ask you about that. For people who look at black boys in particular and feel like they basically are staring frankly into a black hole, they have absolutely no idea what the cultural issues are, no idea where to begin in terms of rendering help, what have you found, if you had one key for everyone who has to deal with africanamerican boys on any level to breaking the ice, to breaking the surface, to making an inroads, whats the one most essential thing you found that it takes to kind of begin that conversation . Dont give up. You know, dont give up. Because, you know, theyre going to try you. Just like any kids will. And just see if youre for real. What do you mean by that . Give me an example. A lot of kids even for me, what are you doing this for . A paycheck. This summer we met at oakland high with 25 africanamerican men, young men, bad attendance, low credit, bad grades. And so we met with the families during the summer. Called the families in. A lot of the young help was like, youre just doing this for a paycheck. I have to say in front of my administrator, no, im not, im doing this because i care. I think once kids see that you care, you can be like the pied piper. Theyll do anything that you say. So i think its just really caring. And if people do that, teachers do that, then its easier to break the cycle. Jill, let me ask you about your presence in the story. We were joking around since the very beginning of this about you, the wellmeaning white lady, who ends up parachuting into east and west oakland to meet all these black kids into this universe that is very foreign i would imagine to your experiences in life. For people who feel that way, it can be very easy to both say, how do i get started, and to ask, well, why black kids . Why not hispanic kids . Theres plenty of asian kids in the bay area, why not start with them . Why this group of students is theyre not even a primary part of the population. Africanamericans, only 4 of the population or less in parts of the bay area. Why black boys . Why not start with hispanic kids or someone else . Well, for the most part africanamerican memorandas are at the bottom of every statistic thats out there. Lower than english language learners on some test scores or special education students. So this is a group of kids that is always on the radar as being at the bottom. Theres been a Movement Across the country in the obama administration, elsewhere, to address the needs of men and boys of color. Weve had a lot of issues with trayvon martin, with fruitvale station. Its really at a moment where this topic is at the forefront. And to a large degree, its about time. It was not easy going into these classrooms and gaining trust and getting the students and even the staff to open up to me. But on the other hand, theres a lot of mes out there. People who will never know what its like for these kids to get out of bed every morning. It was a privilege to actually try to understand a little bit what was their lives were like. Many of these kids were heroes for getting out of bed in the morning given the trauma and experiences theyve had. These kid