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Other Reports and Findings on Black Youth

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
This report provides a review of the available academic research and professional literature with the purpose of answering questions such as why do so many LGBT youth become and remain homeless. Contained within the report is information about the harassment and violence LGBT youth experience in the shelter system, as well as an exploration of mental health, substance abuse, and risky sexual behaviors issues. The report also examines the response of the federal government to youth homelessness and makes policy recommendations that can help curb some of the problems that the report identifies.

Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth are being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis

The Urban Institute
This report discusses the impact of low high school graduation rates for minority youth. This report also discusses inaccuracy of the data most often used to report dropout and graduation rates and attempts to correct for the other data shortcomings. Narratives about students from Alabama, Florida, New York, Illinois, and Mississippi are present throughout the report. For a brief overview of the report: http://www.urban.org/publications/410936.html

Voting Patterns of Young People by Race and Ethnicity, 1988 to 2004

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)
This fact sheet details voter turnout and candidate support in 2000 and 2004 elections among African Americans, Latinos, and Whites in the United States.

The Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Men of Color: Analyzing and Interpreting the Data

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute
Instead of focusing on females in connection to teen pregnancy to discuss the sexual and reproductive health of young adults, this survey/report investigates the sexual and reproductive health of young males. This report/survey includes the rates of Sexually Transmitted Diseases that are found in the population of men who are 15-29 years of age, as well as, information outlining the overall nature of male sexual practices including the rates of impregnation.

A "Shout Out" from Youth to Our Nation’s Leaders

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute
In connection to the survey/report "The Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Men of Color," this report chronicles information gained by the Youth Task Force. The Youth Task force is comprised of men who are 17-28 years of age and from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. The Youth Task Force organized forums in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta to hear from other young men of color. This report is a combination of the views voiced in the forums, as well as, the diverse experiences and views of the eight Task Force members about recommendation for positive change concerning men of color.

A Way Out: Creating Partners for Our Nation's prosperity by Expanding Life Paths of Young Men of Color

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute
This report examines public policy that has had a negative impact upon men of color youth. The second part of this report makes policy recommendations that can have a more positive impact on young men’s of color lives.

How the Juvenile Justice System Reduces Life Options of Minority Youth

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute
This report addresses racial disparities in the juvenile justice system dealing with such issues as the overrepresentation of minority youth, access to legal, as well as, recommendations for how to reduce racial disparities in the juvenile justice system.

Community Health Strategies to Better the Life Options of Boys and Young Men of Color: Policy Issues and Solutions

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute
This report assesses boys and young men of color access to health care considering the following: access to community based services, access to mental health and substance abuse services, access to health care professionals and services, access to physical and behavioral health services within criminal justice, juvenile justice and foster care systems, and outreach and enrollment in health care coverage programs. The report also includes recommendations to policy makers.

Survey Snapshot: Views and Experience of Young Black Men

Kaiser Family Foundation
This is a summary of survey findings that explored the views and experiences of African-American men. The summary is based upon a subgroup of interviews with 400 African American men between the ages of 18 and 29. The actual survey consisted of response from 1,300 African-American men.

Fact Sheet: Young African American Men in the United States

Kaiser Family Foundation
This fact sheet highlights information about the education, health and overall status of young African American men. This fact sheet also compares African American Men to Whites, Hispanics, and Asians. The report was released at a July 2006 event, "Paths to Success: A Forum on Young African American Men."

Survey of African Americans about HIV/AIDS Media Campaigns

Kaiser Family Foundation
This report analyzes survey data that seek to look at the reach and impact of the Rap-It-Up and Know HIV/AIDS campaigns. The Rap-It-Up Campaign represents the single-largest public education effort on HIV/AIDS and related issues directed toward the African American community. The Know HIV/AIDS campaigns were shown during top-rated shows among African American viewers such as Girlfriends, One on One, and The Parkers. This report analyzes the effectiveness of these media campaigns by keeping track of the number of times the programming is broadcast, the number of viewers who see it, how many call the toll-free telephone line or visit the companion Web sites, and the like. This report also contains findings from a nationally representative telephone survey among 800 African Americans respondent from 18 years of age and older conducted in Spring 2004

Electoral Engagement among Minority Youth

CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement)
This fact sheet examines the voting behavior of minority youth and compares them to both white youth voters and older voters. For this report, youth are between ages 18 and 24. This fact sheet contains graphs showing support for 2004 presidential elections reported by race and also a look at youth voter turn out from 1972 to 2004.

Sexuality and Youth in Communities of Color

SEICUS (The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States)
This fact sheet summarizes the findings about minority youth’s sexual behavior, attitudes about sexual behavior, and contraceptive use from The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS) Survey and The National Survey of Adolescents and Young Adults.

HIV/AIDS among Youth

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
This fact sheet draws attention to the persistent risk of HIV/AIDS infection among youth between the ages of 13 and 24. Included in the fact sheet is information about contraction rates, survival rates, and prevention recommendations.

Civic Engagement among Minority Youth

CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement)
This fact sheet examines the civic engagement of minority youth. Civic engagement for this fact sheet is evaluated from three main measures: voter turnout, voter registration, and volunteering.

Voter Turnout among Young Women and Men

Circle (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement)
This fact sheet compares the civic engagement of young men and women between ages 18 and 24 by examining voter turnout rates.

Evaluation of Reclaiming Futures: Communities Helping Teens Overcome Drugs, Alcohol and Crime

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This is a forthcoming report evaluating the program "Reclaiming Futures: Communities Helping Teens Overcome Drugs, Alcohol and Crime" from May 2002 to April 2007. The program being evaluated is an effort to promote new opportunities and standards of care in juvenile justice by uniting communities and coordinating services to improve drug and alcohol treatment. The main emphasis of the evaluation is to measure the impact of this program on the systems each site is trying to change.

Evaluation of the After School Project: Analysis of an Initiative to Increase and Improve After-School Programs in High-risk Neighborhoods

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This report evaluates the After School Program. Operating in San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston from January 1999 through June 2006, this program was designed to create a centralized mechanism to increase and allocate after-school resources to high-risk communities and connected youth to after-school programs. This program also was designed to foster the expansion of quality, adult-led programs for youth 6 to 18. The evaluation of the After School Program documented the successes and barriers of operating after-school programs this way in at risk communities.

Concordance between Self-Reported Maltreatment and Court Records of Abuse or Neglect among High-Risk Youths

Robert Wood John Foundation
This report examines the concordance between measures of self-reported maltreatment and court records of abuse or neglect in a sample of detained youth. The data used in the report were collect by the Northwestern Juvenile Project and includes interviews from 1,829 youth between the ages of 10 and 18. Self reported cases of child maltreatment were compared to court records of abuse or neglect in Cook County judicial system and found that official records seriously underestimate the prevalence of maltreatment of high-risk youth.

Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Smoking Cessation Associated with Employment and Joblessness Through Young Adulthood in the U.S.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This report assesses the relationship between trends in labor force participation and trends in tobacco use. Tobacco use is most prevalent among individuals with the lowest incomes and educational levels. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience, and Youth Survey 1979-1998, the authors of the report analyzed yearly surveys of 4,050 daily smokers and 1,912 people who quit smoking during the course of the survey. They found that joblessness is more strongly associated with persistent daily smoking among women than among men. And also, they found that European women are the most affected by unemployment when it comes to smoking.

Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Status Differences in Overweight and Health-Related Behaviors among American Students: National Trends 1986-2003

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This report provides an analysis of long-term trends in the percentage of American students who are overweight and who engage in three health-related behaviors thought to be associated with being overweight. This report also seeks explanations for the higher rates of obesity and overweight among racial/ethnic minorities and among individuals of low socioeconomic status, while examining the effects of gender. Data used for this study were derived from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future and annual surveys of nationally representative samples of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. A key finding of the study was that youth from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds, of lower socioeconomic status, and in higher grades were more likely to be overweight and to engage in less healthy behaviors.

Every Kid Counts in the District of Columbia: 13th Annual Fact Book 2006

The D.C. Kids Count Collaborative for Children and Families
This fact book is a data source for indicators of child well-being in the District of Columbia. Included in this report is information about population trends, economic security, family attachment and community support, homeless children and families, child health, safety and personal security, education, and selected indicators of ward, neighborhood cluster and region. Also, the report contains recommendations to improve the lives of youth in the District of Columbia.

Sexuality, Poverty and the Inner City

Kaiser Family Foundation
This report is a compilation of papers that examine the behavior of inner-city youth paying special attention to the informal rules and norms of various communities. This report includes papers on a predominantly black deeply poor Philadelphia neighborhood and a white working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia. This report grapples with questions about how to discourage women from having children out of wedlock, as well as, considering the impact of joblessness on youth behavior.

Exposure of African-American Youth to Alcohol Advertising, 2003-2004

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at Georgetown University monitors the marketing practices of the alcohol industry to focus attention and action on industry practices that jeopardize the health and safety of America’s youth. This report details the exposure of African-American youth to alcohol advertising in magazines and on radio and television. Analyses for this report were derived from industry-standard sources of data regarding media usage, including TNS Media Intelligence, Mediamark Research Incorporated (MRI), Nielsen Media Research and Arbitron Ratings.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
This report summarizes data collected from a national school-based survey of teenagers in grades 9-12 conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as, state and local school-based surveys conducted by state and local education and health agencies from October 2004 – January 2006. The survey asked questions to assess the practice of health-risk behaviors among youth and young adults that could result in the following: unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, physical inactivity, unhealthy dietary behaviors, obesity, and asthma. The report summarizes these findings by grade, age, race, and ethnicity.

Youth Violence: Lessons from the Experts

National Adolescent Health Information Center
This report provides statistics on youth violence and dispels the following ten myths on youth violence: 1) violence results from other crimes; 2) violence and homicide are carefully premeditated behaviors; 3) teens are prone to recklessness; 4) acts of violence are usually committed by strangers; 5) there are "violent" and "victim" types; 6) girls are not violent; 7) we just need more police; 8) violent youth are born that way; 9) black youth are more violent than white youth; and 10) black youth commit violence against white youth.

Protecting teens: beyond race, income and family structure

Center for Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota
This monograph utilizes data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to challenge the emphasis on racial, economic and family factors common in previous research on risk behaviors among teens. Other factors that influence teenagers’ behaviors regarding substance abuse and sexual activity include peer groups and academic success.

Drug Use Among Racial/Ethnic Minorities

National Institute on Drug Abuse
The purpose of this report is to provide policymakers, program leaders and staff, health administrators, scientists, and others with information that may help them understand the nature and extent of illegal drug use, associated behaviors, and problems that now affect our Nation’s racial/ethnic minority populations and the current non-Hispanic White majority population. Its content has been culled from reports on these topics and data from the U.S. Census and several epidemiological studies.

This Is My Reality: The Price of Sex: An Inside Look at Black Urban Youth Sexuality

MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions
This report and accompanying video summarizes findings from a California Endowment- and Ford Foundation-sponsored research study conducted in ten cities in 2002. The study involved more than 40 focus groups and a survey of 2,000 Black urban youth and young adults. The results reveal many insights from low-income Black youth on their attitudes and behaviors around sexuality, relationships, marriage, pregnancy, parenthood, sexually transmitted disease, and the impact of various media channels on their sexuality. Analysis of the research findings by experts in the fields of psychology and media/entertainment are included in the report, as are suggested strategies for promoting healthy sexuality among Black urban youth.

Who Will Care When Parents Can’t? A Study of Black Children in Foster Care

National Black Child Institute
This exploratory study was conducted to determine how Black children were faring in the foster care system where they are over-represented. The findings are based on information collected from 5 cities on over 1,000 children.

Factors Affecting the Health of Men of Color in the United States

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
This report describes the factors influencing the health of men of color in the United States and makes policy recommendations to ameliorate their health status. The factors emphasized include the social circumstances, cultural norms and discrimination that can be detrimental to the health of men of color as well as the failures of the health care system.

The Political Perspectives of Young African Americans

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
This report presents research and data on the political beliefs and attitudes of African American Youth. It provides a general overview of the political thinking of the post-civil rights generation at the turn of the 21st century.

Diverging Generations: The Transformation of African American Policy Views

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
This report analyzes generational cleavages in Black public policy preferences. Utilizing data from Joint Center public opinion polls, the report attempts to understand and anticipate changes in political beliefs amongst African Americans. Emphasized policy areas include education, crime, social security and environmental policy.

The Time is Now! The State of AIDS in Black America

Black AIDS Institute
The report explains the policies and politics that have helped shape both the AIDS epidemic amongst African Americans and our nation’s response to it. It then articulates the challenges faced in reshaping, and ultimately stopping, the epidemic. It is the first report in a series from the Black AIDS Institute intended to empower African Americans with the information to join the fight against AIDS in their communities.

Getting Real: Black Women Taking Charge in the Fight Against AIDS

Black AIDS Institute
The number of Black women with HIV is the fastest growing segment of the infected population. This report responds to these circumstances as health journalist Hilary Beard talks to HIV experts focusing on women of color, relationship and sexual health counselors, and Black women themselves to uncover how the broader social forces working in Black women’s lives have conspired to undermine their sexual health.

National Healthcare Disparities Report, 2004

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
This report compiles research and data on the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health care. It focuses on disparities in access to healthcare and quality of care. The report demonstrates the pervasiveness of these disparities and offers some possibilities for improvement.

Civic Views of Young Adult Minorities: Exploring the Influences of Kinship Communities and Youth Mentoring Communities on Prosocial Civic Behaviors

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)
This working paper details the importance of social support systems in encouraging civic engagement amongst minority youth. It reports the results of a qualitative study of 131 young adults that included a journal survey and focus groups. Researchers found that, for these young people, civic engagement was more than altruism and the promotion of agenda but also about the affirmation of the individual’s membership in a community.

Giving Back to the Community: African American Inner City Teens and Civic Engagement

CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)
This working paper attempts to provide a multi-dimensional exploration of the obstacles to civic engagement faced by inner city Black teenagers. The paper is the result of ethnographic research with Philadelphia civic groups working with at-risk 15 to 19 year old African Americans. This research resulted in a broader understanding of innercity communities and a reconceptualization of what civic engagement means in these communities.

African Americans Views of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at 20 Years: Findings from a National Survey

Kaiser Family Foundation
This report, African Americans Views of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic at 20 Years: Findings from a National Survey, examines African Americans views and knowledge of HIV/AIDS, including analysis by race/ethnicity, of trends over time, and among African American subgroups. The report is based a nationally representative survey of 2,683 adults, ages 18 and older, including 431 African Americans.

Exposure of African-American Youth to Alcohol Advertising

The Center on Alcohol Advertising and Youth
This report investigates the over-concentration of Alcohol advertising in Black communities and its effect on African-American youth. The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) commissioned Virtual Media Resources (VMR) to audit the exposure of African-American youth to alcohol advertising in magazines and on radio and television in 2002. The Center finds that African-American youth were even more overexposed to alcohol advertising than non-African-American youth.

The Role of African-American Churches in Reducing Crime Among Black Youth

The Manhattan Institute
This paper examines the hypothesis that the religious involvement of African-American youth significantly shields them from the deleterious effects of neighborhood disorder and decay on youth crime. This hypothesis is tested by examining the fifth wave of data from the National Youth Survey (NYS), focusing on black respondents given the historical as well as contemporary significance of the African-American church for black Americans. Results from a series of multivariate analyses indicate that: (1) the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime among black youth are partly mediated by an individual’s religious involvement; and (2) involvement of African-American youth in religious institutions significantly buffers or interacts with the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime, and in particular, serious crime. Theoretical and methodological implications of the present findings are briefly discussed.

And Justice for Some

Building Blocks for Youth
This report investigates the overrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos in the juvenile justice system. The report presents several sources of data and utilizes both original and previously published analysis. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the involvement at each stage of the justice system from arrest to incarceration.

Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
This focused report highlights the most critical findings from the Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report on the overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system. As the latest statistics show, disproportionate minority representation is clearly evident at each stage of the juvenile justice system and becomes more apparent as youth go deeper into the system. In 1997, youth of color made up about one third of the juvenile population nationwide but accounted for almost two-thirds of the population in secure juvenile facilities. While the disproportionality has been attributed to differences in behavior, such an explanation fails to support the large discrepancy in numbers.

Youth Crime/Adult Time: Is Justice Served?

Building Blocks for Youth
This report by the Pretrial Services Resource Center showed that 82% of the youth charged in adult court in 18 of the largest jurisdictions in the country were youth of color. Nearly two-thirds of all youth who were detained before trial were held in adult jails, and one-third of those were held in the general population with adult inmates. African-American (43%) and Latino (37%) youth were more likely than White youth (26%) to receive a sentence of incarceration.

Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity

A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General
This report is a Supplement to the first ever Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1999). That report provided extensive documentation of the scientific advances illuminating our understanding of mental illness and its treatment. This Supplement covers the four most recognized racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. It detail racial and ethnic differences in mental health and specific concerns for each sub-group.

Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General

Office of the Surgeon General
This report explores the problem of youth violence extensively, with particular focus on the scope of the problem, its causes, and how to prevent it. It reviews a massive body of research on where, when, and how much youth violence occurs, what causes it, and which of today's many preventive strategies are genuinely effective. Like other reports from the Surgeon General, this report reviews existing knowledge to provide scientifically derived bases for action at all levels of society.

Developing Resilience in Urban Youth

North Central regional Educational Library
This paper discusses the characteristics of resilient children and how to build protective processes within and around children so that they overcome risk at critical decision-making moments in their lives. The paper outlines a research-based definition of resilience, four major protective mechanisms that foster resilience, and examples of strategies that help to build those protective processes for students. Three critical transition periods for students are explored, followed by recommendations for programs and policies during each transition period. The paper then summarizes these recommendations.

PUBLIC OPINION ON YOUTH, CRIME, AND RACE

Building Blocks for Youth
This advocacy guide summarizes the public opinion research on youth and juvenile justice issues from the Building Blocks focus groups and national poll, as well as other polls. This research measured several dimensions of public opinion including public fear of crime and concern over racial disproportions in the criminal justice system. After summarizing the public opinion research, this advocacy guide makes recommendations about how advocates can frame the issues in their work (focusing on effective messages and messengers), and how they can use this information in their organizing and advocacy efforts.

OFF BALANCE: Youth, Race & Crime in the News

Building Blocks for Youth
This report explores the news media’s role in creating inaccurate public perceptions of minority youth criminality. The results of the study’s extensive content analysis of crime news revealed that although youth and racial and ethnic minorities rarely appear in the news, they are disproportionately criminalized when they do. The report concludes with recommendations for media outlets intended to correct this portrayal.

Disproportionate Minority Confinement: Year 2002 Update

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Describes developments in addressing disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) at the national, state, and local levels. This OJJDP Summary begins with a brief review of the most recent data, followed by an outline of national efforts by OJJDP and others during the past 5 years to address the challenge of DMC. It then presents an update of state activities, including a status report on state compliance with the DMC core requirement, highlights form state DMC assessment research and intervention initiatives, and an outline of remaining challenges. The Summary concludes with a look at the implications of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act’s broadening of DMC to encompass disproportionate minority contact.

Progress and Peril: Black Children in America

Children’s Defense Fund
This CDF publication, produced in conjunction with the Black Community Crusade for Children, focuses on the crisis of Black children and what can be done to help alleviate it. This book is addressed primarily to African American leaders, parents, and adults and urges them to take the lead in a massive and sustained effort to ensure all children physical, economic, and emotional security.

Out of School, Out of Work…Out of Luck? New York City’s Disconnected Youth

Community Service Society
In Out of School, Out of Work…Out of Luck? New York City’s Disconnected Youth, CSS tracks school enrollment and labor force participation trends since the late 1980s. It also explores disparities between gender, race, and ethnic groups. The city’s African-American and Hispanic youth, it finds, are twice as likely as Whites and Asians to be out of school and out of work. Prior CSS research has documented a “crisis of Black male employment” in New York City, finding that just over half of Black men (16 through 64 years of age) were employed in 2003. There is a connection between the low rates of jobholding among the city’s Black men and the high rates of disconnection afflicting New York’s Black youth.

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