Dellums Commission

1
Dellums Commission

• Established by the Joint Center for Political and
• Economic Studies in January 2005.
• Multi-Sector Leaders
• National Policy Makers
• State legislators
• Educators
• Health Professionals
• Public Policy Researchers
• Members of the Judiciary
• Faith and Business Leaders

2
Commission Charge

• Identify and examine national, state, and local
  systems, policies, and practices that have had
  the combined and cumulative effect of limiting
  life options for male youth of color.
• Make specific national and state recommendations
  for priority policy reforms to improve life
  opportunities for male youth of color.

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Life Options for Male Youth of ColorThe Norm

• By age 18, young men are ideally high school
  seniors thinking about future plans for work
  and/or education.
• It is a time when a young man achieves identity,
  engages in adult work and relationships, and
  resolves adolescent conflicts with family and
  society.
• The two primary developmental milestones of young
  adult males involve career and marriage.

4
Life Options for Male Youth of ColorThe Reality

• The reality for too many young men of color is
• dramatically different
• About 1/3 of male youth of color (African
  American, Latino, Native American primarily)
  fall into what the Department of Labor describes
  as a Disconnected Youth category.
• These young persons are socially and economically
  isolated and have limited to no participation in
  the labor force.
• They are disproportionately represented in all at
  risk categories.

5
Life Path for Male Youth of Color The Reality

• A 2003 Report on California Juvenile Justice
  System
• graphically describes the path for too many young
  men of
• color
• Age 5 Identification of emotional health
  problems
• by a teacher
• Age 7- Referral to special education
• Age 9 Interaction with a community mental
• health and/or child welfare agency
• Age 12 Admitted to hospital or residential
  program
• due to serious behavioral issues
• Age 14 Escalating behavior results in juvenile
  court intervention
• Age 16 Waiver to adult criminal justice system,
  often for non violent offences.

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Policies Under Review Include

• Health Access to Appropriate
• Physical Heath Care
• Mental Health Substance Abuse Prevention and
  Treatment
• Education
• Middle School gt High School gt College
  Transitions
• Literacy
• High Stakes Testing
• Impact of Zero Tolerance Policies
• Juvenile Justice and Criminal Justice
• Public Safety
• Rehabilitation
• Competency
• Community Family Support
• Foster Care
• Family Security

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Life Options for Male Youth of Color

• Issue of overrepresentation of minorities in the
  criminal justice system has been well reported,
  analyzed, and documented. It still persists.
• Issue of high rates of school failure within
  minority communities has been researched,
  documented, and analyzed for several decades. It
  still persists.
• Inadequate access to effective community based
  social and health services remain the reality for
  too many.
• ? There is a need to reframe the challenge as a
  community health issue and to provide information
  and resources to enable policy influentials to
  take immediate actions.

8
Dellums Commission

• Imperative for US society and economy that
  priority national and state policies be
  identified and adopted to promote healthy
  development of all young men.
• Report due Summer of 2005
• Our dialog today will help us find consensus on
  new policy directions for all young men of color.