One of the many horrific things about the Charleston massacre is that it happened in a house of worship. As has been widely reported, the shooter targeted a historic church and sat in a bible study class for an hour before opening fire. We have always thought of a church as a safe and peaceful haven, and have encouraged [...]
Joe Brewster and Perri Peltz, the folks who brought you the powerful short documentary "A Conversation With My Black Son" (see our earlier GCP post about it here) are back with "A Conversation About Growing Up Black", in which a group of young men discuss the impact of race and racism on their lives. These thoughtful young men talk [...]
Bryan Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama in 1989 and has spent years defending innocent people condemned to death. His highly acclaimed and award-winning book, “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” tells the stories of his clients and their pursuit of justice. In a recent interview with The Charlotte Observer, found here, Stevenson offered [...]
Parents of teenaged Black boys know about the conversation we are obligated to have with our sons as we send them out into a world in which they can be misjudged and endangered simply because they are teenaged Black boys. Because we need them to stay safe, we know we have to tell them what to do and how [...]
This is the first in a series of profiles of young men who successfully navigated adolescence, academia and adversity to become interesting and productive citizens of the world. Their stories of what worked for them can offer inspiration to our sons as they contemplate their future, and to parents as we try to guide them along the way. GCP [...]
Here's an inspirational story for you, as reported in Yahoo! Sports: Braylon Edwards, who was a Cleveland Browns rookie in 2005, promised back then to give $10,000 in scholarships to 100 Cleveland area eighth-graders if they could graduate high school with over a 2.5 GPA and 15 hours community service. Of the 100 who were afforded the opportunity, 79 [...]
Here's an inspirational story from The Washington Post to savor along with your Thanksgiving leftovers: Coach Natalie Randolph, an African American believed to be the only woman currently coaching a high school football team in the country, led her Coolidge High School Colts earlier this week to the Turkey Bowl, Washington D.C.'s public school football championship. This was the [...]
GCP is dedicated to bringing you information about what educational programs are working for our children around the country. The University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute operates four charter schools on Chicago's South Side which have the express aim of sending their students (mostly African American from low income families) to college, and the schools are impressively achieving this [...]
GCP is keenly interested in promoting educational models and practices which have demonstrated success with our boys, particularly those that can be scaled up to impact the greatest number of children. As you know, much of the current education reform discussion revolves around how to effectively measure and improve teacher quality, whether standardized tests are the best way to [...]
In Part II of GCP’s interview with Dr. Pedro Noguera, Professor of Teaching and Learning at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, GCP asked Dr. Noguera for suggestions to help parents identify the best educational settings for their sons from pre-school to college. Pre-school Dr. Noguera noted that parents often look for the most [...]