IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT BOYS AND YOUNG MEN OF COLOR - MINORITIES NOW CONSTITUTE A MAJORITY

The Boys Initiative’s Minority Male Youth 2050 project aimed at addressing issue

Washington, DC – May 17, 2012 –  Today the Census Bureau released a set of estimates showing that for the first time 50.4 percent of our nation's population younger than age 1 were minorities as of July 1, 2011. This is up from 49.5 percent from the 2010 Census taken April 1, 2010. A minority is anyone who is not single-race non-Hispanic white.

At the same time, achievement is declining among minority males. Today among males, only 28% of African Americans, 24% of Native Americans and Pacific Islanders and 16% of Latinos have at least an associate degree.

“This is a ticking economic time-bomb,” said Dennis Barbour, co-founder of The Boys Initiative . “We have known for some time now that this tipping point was coming. And we have known, because of it, that a well-educated and healthy work force of minority males will be essential if we are to sustain our economic position within the world community. Yet we’ve been failing miserably at addressing this looming crisis.”

“Quite apart from the issue of social justice, which alone is of great importance, our own self-interest in continuing to be a world economic power should be motivating us to focus on this. We desperately need greater investment in minority male capital development,” said Barbour.

To address this problem, in 2011, The Boys Initiative launched Minority Male Youth 2050. The initiative is guided by a steering committee of national experts in the area of minority male achievement. Its mission is to facilitate a cooperative endeavor among organizations and stakeholders that is focused on solutions.

MMY 2050 has already begun to play a leadership role across a spectrum of key players in the field of minority male youth. It has begun implementing its blueprint for the initiative and has assembled a growing number of national organizations in an alliance effort that will guide it.

The mission of The Boys Initiative is to shed light on the increasing problem of underachievement among boys and young men, to foster dialogue and debate about the issue, and to collaborate on solutions with those who are committed to the futures of our nation’s youth. The organization’s principal role is to serve as a hub for information exchange and action among the broad range of organizations whose work touches on boys and young men.

----- END ------

CONTACT: 
Dennis J. Barbour
202-841-7475
dbarbour@theboysinitiative.org
www.theboysinitiative.org

Tags: