New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new initiative this week to help reverse some of the negative trends afflicting young minority males in the city. The initiative, funded partly from city funds and partly from his own foundation, is looking to launch “boldest and most comprehensive effort” to tackle the rising numbers of unemployment, poverty and incarceration among this group.
“A job is the best anti-poverty and anti-crime program ever devised anywhere in the world,” Bloomberg said.
New York City will spend $127 million in public and private funds on programs designed to help young black and Latino men.
Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg will kick in $30 million from his foundation and hedge fund manager George Soros will match that amount, according to the mayor’s office. The remaining $67.5 million will be paid by the city.
The Young Men’s Initiative was first reported by The New York Times on Wednesday. The mayor’s office called it the nation’s “boldest and most comprehensive effort to tackle the broad disparities slowing the advancement of black and Latino young men” in a statement.It will include job placement, fatherhood classes and training for probation officers and school staff on how to help the young men get ahead. More than a dozen city agencies will be involved. The program will target about 315,000 black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24.
Sounds promising. We hope that this will be the start of significant change in NYC, but some aren’t so sure. Some critics of the plan say that job training is helpful, but where are the so-called jobs they will be filling?
Any of New York family care to give their two cents on this? Do you think this is the right approach? Get more details on the plan here.
E. Mattox says
I truly believe this city holds a plethora of creativity and talent within its youth. So when I read this plan, I knew there are others who agree with me. This plan clearly highlights valid challenges with achievable recommendations. Thus, I’m excited to see each phase unfold. ~Hopeful for NYC youth
LRJR says
I welcome it. I especially endorse the multi-dimensional approach of it all. It’s an initiative that our community desperately needs. There is always some areas of improvement but hey what’s the alternative.
Chris C says
It will be interesting to see how this project works and the type of training it provides. IF the funding actually gets to the people and places where it can be of use, a program like this can do nothing except help. Even if it is just a small ripple in an ocean, it is helpful nonetheless. I hoep people like Kevin Powell and Russell Simmons get involved in the strategies for this program.
Anonymous says
Why do politicians think that throwing “money” at a structural problem will somehow miraculously solve it? Poverty, joblessness & crime are STRUCTURAL* issues which call for structural REFORM* in an increasingly DE-constructed world where the “goal-posts” are being moved at the whim and fancy of the power-brokers and the ELITE* classes…
One does NOT* have to look far to see that these endemic problems have been created out the fractiousness of postmdernity and the nebulous power-shifts created out of the Industrial Revolution which placed ANGLO-SAXONS* at the head of this “last” world empire – relegating disproportionately “PEOPLE OF COLOR” to the periphery of disadvantage and fragmented societal change…
One does not have to gained a PhD in Sociology to understand the BASICS* of why (young) BLACK* men are in this current debacle with the looming specter that within another generation 80% of Black males will definitely be on the endangered species list and the realization of the 18th century dream of EUGENICS* would have become a reality in the middle half of the 21st century…
We can sit by and allow the like of SOROS*, BLOOMBERG*, GATE$S, & the “ORACLE” of Omaha to use their ill-gotten gains to carve out a world where Black FOLKS* will continue to stand in line (cap in hand) waiting for a “MORSEL” of stale bread (kneaded at the DEVIL’S table) and fed to all those who have been systematically starved into submission and compliance…
The choice is ours!!!
I know these are “hard” words and who can bear them but when was the “TRUTH” ever palatable?
Tamaradbrown says
hope it works, but what i found is tht most of the money will go to pay the big wigs salary and the crumbs will be left to the ppl it was intended to help..we can throw all the money to a problem we want, but that doesnt necessary change ppl hearts and minds..ppl change ideologies not money..We need to stop blaming the white man and look into the mirror.. the white man didn’t make AA boys drop out of school or groom their 7yr to make crack cocaine..Self responsibility!!! I understand tht life isnt fair, but was always told, when giving lemon make lemonade..if we spend half our time being proactive vs pointing the finger ,the elements tht hinder us wouldn’t..Go to school learn all they can( knowlegde is power), teach and love the kids, make their own business, who said we have to work for someone else..NO MORE I DIDN’T KNOW!!