Thursday, May 26^th

Using Soccer to Save Kids

ESPN documentary cameras follow probation officer Gina Castaneda, and she's 'at a loss for words.'

The film crew is still following Gina Castaneda.

Though the debut of the mini documentary about the Santa Cruz County juvenile probation officer and her inspirational-if not innovative-gang intervention program is less than six weeks away, the cameras have yet to finish shadowing Casteneda.

They're with her at work and in court, when she coaches her daughters' little girls soccer team and, of course, at Aztecas soccer games at the indoor soccer arena at Ramsay Park.

Castaneda started the Aztecas soccer program three years ago as a way to help troubled teens find a positive activity. Dozens of gang members have gone through the program, which will be featured in HERoics, a series of six short documentaries about women's courage, struggles and breaking through barriers.

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The Recession's Biggest Victims

The Great Recession Could Well Be Known as the 'Black Mancession'

The Great Recession is sometimes known as the "Mancession" because men were hit so hard by unemployment, but a better term for it might be the "Black Mancession."

While recent data show white men are finding more job opportunities than they did last year, black male job seekers are still in an economic black hole. In April, the jobless rate among adult white males was 7.9 percent, up from 4.1 percent three years ago but down from 9.3 percent in the same month last year.

Compare that to the jobless rate of 17.0 percent among black men, down from 17.7 percent a year ago but more than double the rate of 8.4 percent three years ago.

"Since the 1920s the two-to-one ratio has defined black-to-white unemployment in the U.S.," said Charles Gallagher, chair of the sociology department at La Salle University in Philadelphia. But, he added: "This recession has been particularly hard on black men." Read More

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The Failure of American Schools

Three years ago, in a New York Times article detailing her bid to become head of the American Federation of Teachers union, Randi Weingarten boasted that despite my calls for "radical reform" to New York City's school system, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and I had achieved only "incremental" change. It seemed like a strange thing to crow about, but she did have something of a point. New York over the past nine years has experienced what Robert Schwartz, the dean of Harvard's education school, has described as "the most dramatic and thoughtful set of large-scale reforms going on anywhere in the country," resulting in gains such as a nearly 20-point jump in graduation rates. But the city's school system is still not remotely where it needs to be. Read More

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Teen Unemployment Summit: Chicago Youth Speak On Need For Jobs

Four legislators, several Chicago-area service providers and dozens of high-school and college-aged youth sat down on the South Side Monday for a summit on a problem that's approaching fast: summer jobs for teens.

Teen unemployment across the country is at a record high, and with school letting out soon, a county jobs program in transition and federal dollars drying up, many worry that the crisis could get worse over the summer. And that could have dire consequences in Chicago.

"A summer job keeps students off the streets. It shows them responsibility, motivates them to continue doing good," said state Rep. Toni Berrios, one of the attendees of Monday's summit at the Chicago Urban League. Read More

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Men Share Their Success Stories to Help Black Joliet Teens

Growing up in Joliet, Danny Johnson and Henry Woods both knew they were "statistics."

Johnson was 2 when his father was murdered. By 19, he was a high school dropout with a low-paying job and his girlfriend was having his baby.

Woods, raised by his father, also dropped out of high school. He was repeatedly in trouble with the law.

But these two black men beat the life that awaits most dropouts.

Johnson, 21, will graduate from Joliet Job Corps this month with a diploma and credentials as a security officer. He has full custody of his daughter and is doggedly looking for work.

Woods, 38, works in "corporate America," and he and his wife have started a small food takeout on Woodruff Road – half a block from where he was shot as a teenager. He has a nice home in the suburbs and three children who live a life that couldn't be more different than his earlier years. Read More

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