The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee has announced $2.66 million in grants to 439 local non-profit organizations – including 36 in Rutherford County — as part of the 2021 annual
getting back to our lead story now, a new study on black males in public education entitl entitled yes we can, 47% of black males graduating compared to 78% of white students getting their high school diplomas. it looks to possible solutions closing that gap. joining me from new york, john jackson, president and ceo of the shot foundation, the organization that conducted the study. and jeffrey canada who heads the harlem s children zone. gentlemen, we need your wisdom, your smarts. we need some solutions. john, let me start with you. were you surprised at all by the findings in the report? well, we conducted the study two years ago. and it indicated that 48% of black males across the country were graduating from high school. we were as stannishedo see that there was very little progress. in fact, the numbers are headed
see some strategies that i think are sort of highlighting what we should be thinking about and how we should be looking at this. i think mentoring is absolutely one of those strategies that makes sense. but i think we ve got to really take off our blinders and take a much wider view of innovation and thinking about how we move forward. i really agree with john, that the levels in new york city and new york state are not where they need to be. but i don t agree that we haven t really tried to push for innovation in this city. that we really have. and i think that it s not nearly been enough, and we will agree on that. and we ve the got to do a better job. what do you think john, what do you think about the education secretary s push to get more african-american males in front of classrooms as teachers? i think that s extremely important. in fact, the shot foundation is working with deutsche bank and brooklyn college to increase the number of african-american male teachers in the c