Improving the Employability of African American Males Through Education and Training I. TOPIC Self-Sufficiency The Other Alternative II. LOCATION Sunflower and Humphreys Counties, Mississippi III. SUBJECT Improving the Employability of African American Males Through Education and Training IV. SUMMARY Unemployment among African American males in Sunflower and Humphreys Counties, Mississippi, was disproportionately higher than among the total population. African American males also accounted for a disproportionately high percentage of inmates in Sunflower County's Mississippi State Penitentiary. Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress, a community action agency serving the two rural Mississippi delta counties, established partnerships with Life Help Mental Health Agency, the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the Mississippi Valley State University Entrepreneurial Program, and the Mississippi Office of Community Services. In October 1990, the partners received a Demonstration Partnership Project grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Community Services to launch a program, Self-Sufficiency The Other Alternative, to help develop the academic and functional abilities of economically disadvantaged African American males with inadequate skills, thus improving their chances of entering the work force. The program's self-sufficiency case management services helped participants raise their reading and math levels, created an environment in which participants felt that a system cared about their well being, taught participants ways to be better citizens and how to participate in society, enabled participants to support each other and reduce their dependence on professional assistance, and linked participants with more advanced training and education programs. V. SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE Established partnerships to educate and train African American males so that they could enter the work force, educated the community about the plight of African American males in the rural Mississippi delta, and established a coalition within the local community to hire trained participants. VI. CONTACT Sylvester Roberts, Executive Director Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress (A Community Action Agency) 414 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Indianola, Mississippi 38751 601-887-5655 601-887-4888 (FAX) VII. CASE STUDY The Problem: Unemployment among African American males in Sunflower and Humphreys Counties, Mississippi, was disproportionately higher than among the total population. Unemployment for African American males was 19.6 percent and only 2.2 percent for white males. Factors contributing to this high unemployment rate are deficient basic educational and vocational skills, inadequate labor market information, lack of employment opportunities, racism, a history of termination from employment, personal and family problems, and a prison record or on probation. Of all inmates in Sunflower County's Mississippi State Penitentiary, 70 percent are African American males, compared with 46 percent nationally. The Approach Adopted: Sunflower-Humphreys Counties Progress, a community action agency serving the two rural Mississippi delta counties, established partnerships with Life Help Mental Health Agency, the Mississippi Department of Corrections, the Mississippi Valley State University Entrepreneurial Program, and the Mississippi Office of Community Services. The partners designed a program to help develop the academic and functional abilities of economically disadvantaged African American males with inadequate skills, thus improving their chances of entering the work force. The program includes basic education and skills training, vocational training, self-sufficiency support services, and an intense ethnic orientation education course focusing on the perception of African American males in the rural south and the impact those negative perceptions have on the region's social and economic life. How They Implemented The Approach: In October 1990, the partners received a $100,000 Demonstration Partnership Project grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Community Services to launch their program, Self-Sufficiency The Other Alternative. The partners also raised an additional $100,000 in matching funds from several local sources. Participants were referred from the court system, substance abuse programs, programs operated by the project's partners, and the community at large. In total, 161 African American males, aged 18 to 44, entered the program. Each participant was assessed to determine his functional literacy skills and needs. All 161 participants were unemployed, only eight had finished high school or a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) program, 48.7 percent tested below a sixth grade math level, 73.7 percent tested below a sixth grade reading level, 62 percent had police records, and 30 percent had a history of substance abuse. Getting a job was the top concern for most participants. Participants also had a limited knowledge of how the United States does business and what it takes to survive in the United States' economic system. Many of the participants accepted their own situations in life and had very little hope of achieving economic success. A case manager worked with each participant to develop an Individual Employment Plan to address his specific needs. These plans included basic and specialized training, tutoring needs, substance abuse counseling, family counseling, legal assistance, transportation and rental assistance, and job counseling and placement services. Ongoing case management and skills training were continuous elements of the program. The case manager maintained a portfolio on each participant that included all aspects of the participants' needs and accomplishments during the program. A central program element was an intense ethnic orientation and education course, "Ethnic Specifics," to help participants understand how they are viewed by the community and how prejudice has affected their lives. The course presented the problems of minority males who are in jail, on probation, substance abusers, and separated from their families. The presentations portrayed the failure of society to address this group's needs and the additional burdens posed by double standards in the work place, the criminal justice system, and in daily life. The course was available to the local community as well as program participants, which improved the community's awareness of the specific problems faced by African American males. This heightened awareness helped garner additional support throughout the community for the goals of the program, which resulted in additional community partnerships and private businesses participating in training and placement activities. Results: All 161 participants were enrolled in basic skills courses, 4.9 percent received GEDs, 69.6 percent were engaged in an active job search, and 21.7 percent found employment. The program's self-sufficiency case management services helped participants raise their reading and math levels, created an environment in which participants felt that a system cared about their well being, taught participants ways to be better citizens and how to participate in society, enabled participants to support each other and reduce their dependence on professional assistance, and linked participants with more advanced training and education programs. The "Ethnic Specifics" course increased participants' self-awareness. The course also focused the community's attention on the plight of African American males and demonstrated the need for community-based alternatives to incarceration for selected offenders. VIII. KEY WORDS African American Males Case Management Community Action Agency Counseling Demonstration Partnership Project Dislocated Workers Education Employment Ethnic Specifics General Equivalency Diplomas Job Training Jobs Partnerships Prejudice Prisons Probation Self-Sufficiency Substance Abuse Unemployment ref: sunflowr.L4doc