Registration opens for community At-Promise Summit

October 9, 2008

Registration is now open for the first of four planned conferences at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College focusing on improving educational and career outcomes for African-American males.

The first At-Promise Community Summit on the Black Male Initiative will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23. It will start with a working lunch and conclude by 5 p.m.
There is no charge for participation, but registration is required.

The first conference – a partnership between Cincinnati State and the Ohio Justice and Policy Center --  will focus on the early life stages of African American males. Experts from a variety of disciplines will offer presentations and engage in conversations as part of a broad effort to develop a long-range community action plan.

As Cincinnati State Interim President John Henderson notes, many of the statistical measures involving African American men are disturbing. This demographic represents more than 40 percent of the American prison population, for example, but just 14 percent of the nation’s young men, and the unemployment rate for black males is double what it is for Asian, Hispanic and white males the same age.

The underlying premise of the At-Promise Community Summit, Henderson notes, is that young African American males represent a population with tremendous potential, not one necessarily “at-risk.’’ 
 
The first summit session, to be held at the Conference Center on Cincinnati State’s Clifton campus, will be organized around Early Childhood, Middle School and Young Adulthood.
Among the scheduled presenters:

• Angelina Jackson, Race and Justice Project Director for the Ohio Justice and Police Center
• Crystal Bossard, Program Chair, Early Childhood Education, Cincinnati State
• Verline Dotson, Director, Head Start Community Action Agency
• Judith Van Ginkel, President, Every Child Succeeds, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
• Dorothy Battle, Interim Co-Director, Center for Access and Transition, University of Cincinnati
• James Davis, Assistant Hamilton County Public Defender
• Kenneth Ghee, Professor of Psychology, University of Cincinnati
• Mark Staples, Adjunct Instructor, Psychology and Sociology, Cincinnati State
• Kenneth Washington, Psychology Supervisor, Warren Correctional Institution
• Jennifer Williams, Director, Out of the Crossfire, University of Cincinnati

For more information, contact Lana Teetor at 513-569-1549 or lana.teetor@cincinnatistate.edu.