Outreach Initiatives

Some of Our Outreach Initiatives & Collaboration:

We do not prescribe to the notion that leadership consists of merely discussing various issues. We believe that leadership is best facilitated when one becomes actively engaged and involved in the issues/problems which need to be addressed within their respective communities. One of the marks of a true leader is one who is not only knowledgeable of various issues and problems which affect his/her constituents, but is also actively involved with the community trying to resolve those same issues. The Black Male Initiative Program (BMI) is doing just that. We have made it our duty to become as active and involved in as many issues that affect men of color as we can.

One of problems that adversely affect Black Males in this country is that of the prison industrial complex. Black Males in America are incarcerated at a clip which is higher than that of any other race based male cohort. Various systematic flaws & injustices have created a system which is largely profit driven and conducive to high rates of recidivism. This justice system’s many flaws have created an environment which does not do a good enough job in reforming those who have been incarcerated. Many of the incarcerated could have averted their predicaments had they received fair and equal justice. These unequal standards coupled with vast social neglect have created a climate where black boys are entering the “game” of life with two strikes against them before heading to the “plate”. It is largely incumbent upon those of us who have the “means”, to pitch in and contribute where we can.

Listed on this page is one of the initiatives and collaborative efforts that BMI is currently engaged in.

Project CREATE:

Project CREATE (Cultural Rehabilitative Enrichment Attained Through Education) is a literacy improvement and health risk reduction program designed to improve literacy rates and reduce health risk behaviors among youth offenders (ages 16-24) detained at the DC Jail. Project CREATE is a pilot program intervention and research project initiated by the Black Male Initiative and the Department of African-American-American Studies at the University of Maryland-College Park. Through individual tutoring and group mentorship provided by students, staff and faculty of the Black Male Initiative, Project CREATE aims to improve literacy among juvenile offenders while also reducing health risk behaviors (i.e., violence, substance abuse and high risk sexual behaviors) among youth offenders.

A disproportionate number of youth offenders in the District of Columbia reside in communities with high prevalence rates of HIV infection, substance abuse and violence. Currently, the District of Columbia has the highest rate of HIV infection where 1 of every 20 residents is infected with HIV. In the District, youth between the ages of 15-24 represent 50% of all new HIV infection cases. Project CREATE aims to address these public health issues among the District’s most vulnerable population of youth specifically youth offenders. Presently, the average 16 year old incarcerated offender reads on a 4^th grade reading level. Previous research has shown that illiteracy leads to educational failure/school drop which increases the probability for marginalized youth to engage in crime, serious violence and other health risk behaviors. An eighteen month pilot study on the improvement of literacy rates, specifically health based literacy, and the reduction health risk behaviors will be conducted among youth offenders detained at the DC Jail.

Following release from detention Project CREATE will work closely with youth offenders to document the social context of juvenile re-entry, the barriers to successful re-entry and how this vulnerable population of youth accesses community-based physical and mental health services. It is the intent of Project CREATE to improve literacy and health outcomes among this population with the hope that recidivism will also be reduced. Project CREATE will also provide social support services that may lead to post-secondary educational opportunities for young men interested in attending college. Project CREATE will work in conjunction with the District of Columbia Jail-Department of Educational and Re-Entry Services.

Food for Thought:

Incarceration Data

At yearend 2005 there were 3,145 black male sentenced prison inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,244 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 471 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

Within three years of their release from the federal Bureau of prisons in 1987, 40.8% of the former inmates had been rearrested or had their parole revoked (In other words, because they recidivated).
58.8% of the Black releasees recidivated compared to 33.5% of whites, and 45.2% of hispanics, compared to 40.2% of Non-Hispanics.
Source:U.S.Bureau of Prisons

According to the sentencing project (2001):
per 100,000 population in D.C.: 52 white males are incarcerated, compared to 1504 Black males.
per 100,000 population in Maryland: 248 white males compared to 1686.
per 100,00 in Utah: 372 white males to 2341 blackmales
Nationally, per 100,00: 366 white males to 2209 Black males
www.sentencingproject.org

The Nyumburu Black Male Initiative Program

“Progressive Leadership in Action”