The African American Regional Educational Alliances® (AAREA®) host “A Courageous Conversation about the Systematic Demise of Black Boys” at its 4th Annual Professional Development Breakfast in Oakland, with a panel of four experts in the field of African American male development. Outstanding educators working for educational equity for African American students will be honored with AAREA®’s Professional Development Awards. Proceeds from the breakfast go to support the African American Student Excellence and Achievement Awards.
The focus of AAREA®’s Professional Development Breakfast is to rejuvenate African American and other conscious educators and community leaders and to help them create a healthy balance professionally in the workplace and personally in their lifestyle. Each breakfast features a panel of experts to provide strategies and techniques for accomplishing these goals. The event is also a networking and professional development opportunity for participants and acknowledges and celebrates the contributions of African American educators in the region.
The panelists will be discussing the findings of Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males (http://blackboysreport.org/national-summary), which suggest that although the high school graduation rate for black males has increased by 10 percentage points over the last nine years, at the current rate it will take fifty years for black boys to catch up with their white counterparts. Attendees are encouraged to read the Schott Report for themselves.
The purpose of the “Courageous Conversation” at the 2013 Professional Development Breakfast is to provide attendees with practical skills and strategies on how to:
- Improve the learning and schooling of Black boys.
- Interrupt the “play yard to prison yard” pipeline.
- Increase their effectiveness as teachers and parents based on the results of the research presented.
The speakers at the 2013 AAREA® Professional Development Breakfast are
- Dr. Mark Alexander, PhD, Board Chair, 100 Black Men of the Bay Area Community School (100 BMBACS). 100 BMBACS is a public charter school with the mission to prepare young men with the skills needed to be leaders in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; and to instill confidence and a sense of responsibility for leading social change.
- Mr. Sulaiman Ali and Mr. Angelo Luster, Co-founders, the Empowerment Project Initiative (T.E.P). Mr. Sulaiman Ali and Mr. Angelo Luster were vital to developing and implementing the Adewole Program for African American males in grades K-12 in the Hayward Unified School District.
- Dr. Arthur D, Hall, Psy.D, Licensed Clinical Psychologist. For the past seven years, Dr. Hall has provided therapeutic services to male inmates in the California prison system in addition to his private practice. His experience and expertise provides “real world” insight into the “play yard to prison yard” pipeline.
- Mr. Glenn Singleton, CEO and founder, Pacific Educational Group (PEG). Mr. Singleton is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and trainer on racial equity. His new book, MORE Courageous Conversations about Race is well on its way to becoming a must-read for all who are truly courageous, racial equity leaders.
Outstanding educators working for educational equity for African American students will be honored with AAREA®’s Professional Development Awards: the Education Service Award, the Educator of Excellence Award, and the Membership Award.
The recipients of the awards in 2013 are
- Art Barboza, Founder and Advisor, Striving Black Brothers Coalition (SBBC), Chabot College
- Gregory Fobbs, Vice Principal, Ochoa Middle School, Hayward Unified School District
- Rev. Dr. Elston Perry, CEO and Founder, Primea Consulting
The breakfast will be held at R.T. Fisher Educational Enterprises, Inc.®, 520 3rd Street Suite 109, Oakland, CA 94607, from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. on January 26th, 2013.
