Did you know that November is Hip-Hop History month? Whether you are a huge fan, a mild enthusiast, or would prefer to hear anything else when your kids are controlling the music, you can't deny that hip-hop has had a significant influence on modern culture. Harvard University's Hip Hop Archive, which is devoted to the serious study of hip [...]
It is an ugly truth: parents of African American children live with the constant fear that our children, especially our sons, may have an encounter with the police that ends in their arrest, or even worse, in their bodily harm. We know we need to have “The Talk” with them about what to do if they are ever stopped, [...]
As you probably know if you've been paying attention to the news recently, Trayon Christian is a 19 year old Black college student who is suing the NYPD and Barney's--one of NYC's luxury department stores--for wrongful arrest after he purchased a $350 Ferragamo belt in the store using a debit card. Christian was stopped by police as he tried [...]
The Wall Street Journal recently revealed news which should gladden the hearts of parents of teenagers everywhere: "cognitive empathy", the wiring in children's brains that enables them to understand and care about how others think, only begins to develop at age 13. So when your sweet middle schooler disappears and is replaced by an eye-rolling, door slamming "who is [...]
When is it good to help our boys, and when is it better to let them fail? In yesterday's New York Times Motherlode Blog, found here, a mother writes passionately of her need to help her middle school son with his schoolwork despite hearing from his teachers that she shouldn't because "we want to see what your child can [...]
Did you know that the number of words a child is exposed to between ages 0-3 is significantly related to that child’s ultimate intellectual and academic success? Studies have shown that the more parents talk to their children, the faster children’s vocabularies grow and the higher the children’s IQ test scores are at age three and later. These studies have [...]
GCP spent the last two days at NBC's Education Nation Summit 2013, which was held at the New York Public Library's main branch. This summit, produced by NBC News, gathered more than 300 of the country’s top thought leaders and influencers in education, government, business, philanthropy, and media to discuss ways to improve our nation's educational system. The [...]
Does your teenaged son have an interest in a tech, coding or gaming career? All Star Code wants to help him pursue that interest. All Star Code is a new non-profit initiative that seeks to attract, prepare, and place high-potential, qualified young black men in the tech-career pipeline and help them achieve full-time employment at technology companies early in [...]
Greetings GCP'ers! Today we focus on several opportunities to examine and explore the impact of race on our sons' education. American Promise: We hope by now you have heard about "American Promise", the Sundance Grand Jury prize winning documentary which follows the journeys of two African-American boys and their families from kindergarten through high school graduation. (Check out our [...]
School is out for most of the nation, which means it is report card time. Are you eagerly anticipating your son's great grades, or awaiting with trepidation what that dreaded envelope will bring? Before you open that envelope, take a deep breath and remember the following: 1. Your son's grades, good or bad, do not define him. Good grades [...]