The Advocate No. 11: Summer 2019 by VUU Center for the Study of the Urban Child

ISSUE NO. 11 / SUMMER 2019

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

THE ADVOCATE

Netflix Series Linked to Suicide......... 2

Books for Mental Health..................... 5

Suicide Resources for Families........... 3

Billionaire Pays It Forward................... 6

CBC Creates Youth Task Force............ 4

NYC’s Food Fight.................................. 7

The Boris L. Henson Foundation....... 4

Black Beauties Reign............................ 8

Foundation offers help and hope for

missing loved ones

By Debora Timms

When Toni Jacobs describes her daughter, Keeshae, she recalls her as loyal, private and a mama’s girl. “She was just so sweet,” says Jacobs. “She could be feisty sometimes, but there was nothing she wouldn’t do for you.” Jacobs says that her daughter also was a hugger, something that she’s missed most about her daughter whom she last saw nearly three years ago. On Sept. 26, 2016, 21-year-old Keeshae Jacobs was upset over an argument she’d had with her boyfriend, says Toni Jacobs. After speaking with her mother about the argument, Keeshae said she was going to meet friends and would be back the next day. “It was nothing outside normal,” says Toni Jacobs in a recent telephone interview. “When I texted her ‘I love you,’ she replied, ‘I love you too. See you tomorrow.’ That’s the last thing I heard from her.”

enforcement officials, while not unusual, is often criticized especially in situations involving missing persons of color.

cause law enforcement and the media to take the cases less seriously, especially in the crucial first 24-48 hours.

The Black and Missing Foundation was created more than 10 years ago by Natalie and Derrica Wilson in Landover Hills, Md.

In a 2017 essay published at Ebony.com, La’Tasha D. Mayes quoted a study that noted only 20 percent of media coverage focused on missing black children even though they accounted for 33 percent of the cases.

Keeshae Jacobs

When her daughter failed to return to their Westover neighborhood home and no one had heard from her, Toni became frightened. Her sister told her to contact the police. “When I spoke to an officer, he didn’t seem to be very understanding,” Toni said, describing her first contact with Richmond police. “I told him she still lived at home with me and we talked and texted all the time. I even showed him my phone.” “I don’t think he took it seriously because she was an adult,” Toni added, saying almost a week went by before she spoke to a police detective. Such initial response from law

Keeshae (graduation cap) and her mother Toni Jacobs to bring awareness to missing persons of color; provide resources and tools to missing persons’ families and friends and to educate the minority community on personal safety. The foundation’s founders maintain that when children of color are reported missing, many times they’re reported as a runaway. Also, missing people of color are stereotyped as being involved in some type of criminal act. In both cases, that may

Using current statistics from the National Crime Information Center’s (NCIC) Missing Person Files, nearly 38 percent of the 612,846 reports made in 2018 were minorities, a percentage that would be even higher if Hispanics were broken down by race and not included in the total count for whites. On May 21, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) compiled a list of children missing from Virginia, which had 391 cases listed. There were also 337 persons listed as missing on the Virginia State Police website. As an adult, Keeshae Jacobs falls in that list. Richmond Police Officer Carol Adams is part of the Richmond Police’s Community, Youth and Intervention Services (CYIS) division. She agrees that in some places there may be disparities in police responses, but says that in Richmond, race does not play a role. Continued on page 6

VUU’s Center for the Study of the Urban Child was established in 2010 to serve as an essential resource hub and informational clearinghouse for researchers, practitioners, and community stakeholders who desire to improve the quality of life for urban youth through advocacy, education, prevention and intervention programming. By virtue of its mission, which is to translate research into actionable knowledge, the Center seeks to heighten awareness, sensitivity, and responsiveness regarding critical urban child issues in the academic, practitioner, and residential communities.

Center for the Study of the

URBANCHILDCTR@VUU.EDU 1500 LOMBARDY STREET, RICHMOND, VA 23220 804.257.5758

Mental Health Awareness Month provides yearlong tools for healing Mental Health America (MHA) is proud to have started May is Mental Health Month in 1949, and since then has led the observance by reaching millions of people through the media, local events and online mental health screenings. Over the past seventy years, it has become the most widely recognized mental health awareness effort in the world. Every year, MHA develops a toolkit for Mental Health Month around a particular theme. This year, MHA has chosen to expand on its 2018 4Mind4Body Mental Health Month theme with a variety of new tools and materials specifically designed for people living with chronic conditions and the people who care for them.

health conditions, as well as chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It can also help people recover from these conditions.

MHA’s 4Mind4Body theme proved tremendously popular last year, with more than 16,000 organizations downloading our health and wellness toolkit and making it part of their own Mental Health Month messaging. This year MHA has expanded on them with a set of new resources that are best characterized as essential parts of everyone’s recovery toolkit. As part of our 4Mind4Body theme, the 2019 Mental Health Month toolkit (available at www. mentalhealthamerica.net/may) explores the topics of spirituality, animal companionship (including pets and support animals), humor, work-life balance, and recreation and social connections as ways to boost mental health and general wellness.

For those dealing with a chronic health condition and the people who care for them, it can be especially important to focus on mental health. When dealing with dueling diagnoses, focusing on both the physical and mental health concerns can be daunting – but critically important in achieving overall wellness. Humor, spirituality, recreation, animal companionship, and work-life balance are important for everyone, but may be of special importance to people also living with chronic health conditions and those who care for them. Concluded Gionfriddo, “Living a healthy lifestyle may not be easy but can be achieved by gradually making small changes and building on those successes. Finding the balance between work and play, the ups and downs of life, physical health and mental health, can help you on the path towards focusing both 4Mind4Body.”

“When we talk about health, we have to focus on both physical health and mental health,” says Paul Gionfriddo, MHA president and CEO. “It’s important to see the whole person - and make use of the tools and resources that benefit minds and bodies together.

You can learn more about Mental Health Month and download MHA’s 2019 toolkit by going to www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may.

Mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common and treatable. A healthy lifestyle can help to prevent the onset or worsening of mental

MHA’s Mental Health Month 2019 toolkit is supported by contributions from Janssen Neuroscience Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.

Release of ‘13 Reasons Why’ associated with increase in youth suicide rates NIH-supported study urges responsible portrayal of suicide by the media Courtesy of the National Institutes of Health The Netflix show “13 Reasons Why” was associated with a 28.9% increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in the month (April 2017) following the shows release, after accounting for ongoing trends in suicide rates, according to a study published today in Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The findings highlight the necessity of using best practices when portraying suicide in popular entertainment and in the media. The study was conducted by researchers at several universities, hospitals, and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIMH also funded the study. The number of deaths by suicide recorded in April 2017 was greater than the number seen in any single month during the five-year period examined by the researchers. When researchers analyzed the data by sex, they found the increase in the suicide rate was primarily driven by significant increases in suicide in young males. While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant.

“The results of this study should raise awareness that young people are particularly vulnerable to the media,” said study author Lisa Horowitz, Ph.D., M.P.H., a clinical scientist in the NIMH Intramural Research Program. “All disciplines, including the media, need to take good care to be constructive and thoughtful about topics that intersect with public health crises.” “13 Reasons Why” is a web-based series that tells the story of a young girl who kills herself and leaves behind a series of 13 tapes detailing the reasons why she chose to end her life. Although this show has received critical acclaim, it has also generated questions regarding how the show’s portrayal of suicide affects young people who watch it. The series premiered on Netflix on March 31, 2017. To better understand the impact of “13 Reasons Why” on suicide rates, researchers analyzed annual and monthly data on deaths due to suicide sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s web-based Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research(link is external). These data included information about the deaths of individuals between the ages of 10 and 64

that occurred between Jan. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2017, a timespan that encompassed the period before and after the release of the series. The researchers examined whether the rates of suicide for the period after the release of “13 Reasons Why” were greater than would be expected based on suicide counts and trends observed in previous years. The researchers found that the rates of suicide for 10- to 17- year-olds was significantly higher in the months of April, June, and December 2017 than were expected based on past data. This increase translated into an additional estimated 195 suicide deaths between April 1, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2017. The observed suicide rate for March 2017 — the month prior to the release of “13 Reasons Why” — was also higher than forecast. The researchers note that the show was highly promoted during the month of March, exposing audiences to the show’s premise and content through trailers. The researchers did not find any significant trends in suicide rates in people 18- to 64 years of age. As a comparison, the researchers also analyzed deaths due to homicide during the same period, to assess whether other worldly social or environmental events after the release of the show might have influenced suicide rates. Homicide rates can be influenced by some of the same social and environmental factors as suicide rates. The researchers did not find any significant changes in homicide rates following the release of the show. The lack of change in homicide rates during the period of interest lends some strength to the idea that changes in suicide rates were influenced by the show and not some other environmental or social factor that occurred during this period. The findings of this study add to a growing body of information suggesting that youth may be particularly sensitive to the way suicide is portrayed in popular entertainment and in the media. This increasing Continued on page 3

13 Reasons Why continued recognition of entertainment and media influence has led a variety of groups, such as such as National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization, and reporting on suicide to create best practices for talking about and portraying suicide on screen. These guidelines recommend, for example, that the entertainment media should avoid depicting the suicide method used. The entertainment media are also urged to convey the message that help is available and to include accurate information about how people can seek help. While compelling, this research had several limitations. For example, the study used a quasi-experimental design, meaning that the researchers cannot make a causal link between the release of “13 Reasons Why” and the observed changes in suicide rates. The researchers cannot, therefore, rule out the possibility that unmeasured events or factors influenced suicide rates during this period. The second season of “13 Reasons Why” was released in May 2018, and a third season is currently in production and is expected to be released sometime this year. The findings from this study should serve as a reminder to be mindful of the possible unintended impacts of the portrayal of suicide, and as a call to the entertainment industry a Suicidal thoughts or actions (even in very young children) are a sign of extreme distress and should not be ignored. If you or someone you know needs immediate help, contact the National Suicide prevention line(link is external) at 1-800273-TALK (8255) or Crisis Text Line: text “home” to 741741. Learn more(link is external) about ways you can help someone who might be at risk for self-harm. About the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. For more information, visit the NIMH website. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation›s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov. Reference Bridge, J. A., Greenhouse, J. B., Ruch, D., Stevens, J., Ackerman, J., Sheftall, A. H., Horowitz, L. M., Kelleher, K. J., & Campo, J. V. (in press). Association between the release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and suicide rates in the united states: An interrupted times series analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Online Suicide Prevention Resources For Youth and Families #chatsafe: A young person’s guide for communicating safely online about suicide The #chatsafe guidelines have been developed in partnership with young people to provide support to those who might be responding to suicide-related content posted by others or for those who might want to share their own feelings and experiences with suicidal thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. Help a Friend in Need: A Facebook and Instagram Guide Facebook and Instagram are proud to work with The Jed Foundation and The Clinton Foundation, nonprofits that work to promote emotional well-being and to share potential warning signs that a friend might be in emotional distress and need your help. Seize the Awkward Nobody likes an awkward silence. But when it comes to mental health, awkward silences don’t have to be a bad thing. This campaign encourages teens and young adults to embrace the awkwardness and use this moment as an opportunity to reach out to a friend. The campaign focuses on that moment to break through the awkward silence to start a conversation about how they’re feeling. Suicide and Social Media: A Tipsheet for Parents and Providers Experts recognize that youth engagement with social media includes positive and negative aspects and our goal is to help maximize the benefits while reducing any potential harm. Parents need to have tools for these conversations. As such, the American Association of Suicidology has teamed up with physicians and subject matter experts to put together this list for anyone to help youth who come in contact with this digital content. What to Do if You’re Concerned About Your Teen’s Mental Health: A Conversation Guide This guide is meant to help parents and families who are concerned about their teen’s mental health and emotional well-being have important conversations with their child. Although parents often pick up on concerning signs that their teen is struggling, not everyone feels well-equipped to approach their child to have a conversation about how they are feeling. Youth Mental Health First Aid Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12–18) who is experiencing a mental health or addiction challenge or is in crisis. Framework for Successful Messaging This online resource provides guidance and tools that can be used by anyone who develops and disseminates suicide-related content. National Recommendations for Depicting Suicide These recommendations were informed by both representatives from the entertainment industry and the suicide prevention field and aim to help members of the entertainment industry—content creators, scriptwriters, producers—tell more balanced and authentic stories involving suicide and suicide prevention. Source: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation.

MORE ON MENTAL HEALTH Congressional Black Caucus to probe suicide increase among black youths

Rep. Karen Bass Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) recently launched a new, emergency taskforce focused on the growing problem of suicide and access to mental health care among black youth. Chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), The CBC Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health convened experts in Washington, DC and throughout the country to raise awareness among Members of Congress and staff, and identify legislative recommendations to address this mental health crisis. “We can no longer stand aside and watch as the youth in our community continue to struggle with depression, traumatic stress, or anxiety. Far too often the pain that African Americans experience is either overlooked or dismissed,” Rep. Karen Bass, CBC Chair, said during the panel. “That has to end today.”

Members of the Taskforce include:

In 2018, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics published a report that found that for the first time in the history of such research, the rate of suicides for black children between the ages of five and 12 has exceeded that of White children, and more than a third of elementary school-aged suicides involved Black children. The task force will seek to identify causes and solutions, and will empower a working group of academic and practicing experts led by Dr. Michael Lindsey and the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, with the goal of developing and producing a report from the Task force by the end of 2019.

Jahana Hayes (CT-05)

Alma Adams (NC-12) Emanuel Cleaver II (MO-05) Danny Davis (IL-07) Alcee Hastings (FL-20) Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) Barbara Lee (CA-13) John Lewis (GA-05) Ilhan Omar (MN-05) Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) Frederica Wilson (FL-24)

Source: The Congressional Black Caucus website

Taraji P. Henson uses foundation to decrease stigmas about mental health Hollywood actress Taraji P. Henson’s Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation hosted a conference June 7-9 to exchange ideas around normalizing the conversation of mental illness in the African-American community. Henson founded and named the BLHF in honor of her father, who suffered from mental illness as a result of his military service in Vietnam. The foundation’s vision is to eradicate the stigma around mental health issues in the AfricanAmerican community. The conference brought together professionals and leaders with similar goals to the latest research and strategies toward addressing mental health issues in the black community,

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and explore topics of the African-American experience on a broad spectrum. Therapists, social workers and counselors, medical doctors, thought leaders, researchers, influencers and policy makers on the front line of cutting edge work in the field gathered to collectively identify national trends that have been barriers to mental health treatment in the black community. Discussions included strategies to end mental health stigma, and seek pathways to combine research and resources in order to support those who seek help. Source: The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation

A reading list of books that tackle mental and emotional health Excerpted from Alexander Hardy’s April 15, 2019 Blog hosted on theextraordinarynegroes.com

The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis Though not explicitly about mental illness, actress Jenifer Lewis tells all her own business, including her struggles with bipolar disorder and sex addiction. I’m Telling The Truth, but I’m Lying: Essays by Bassey Ikpi In “I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying,” Bassey Ikpi breaks open our understanding of mental health by giving us intimate access to her own. Exploring shame, confusion, medication, and family in the process, Bassey looks at how mental health impacts every aspect of our lives—how we appear to others, and more importantly to ourselves—and challenges our preconception about what it means to be “normal.” Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith In “Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching,” Mychal Denzel Smith chronicles his own personal and political education, describing his efforts to come into his own in a world that denied his humanity. Smith unapologetically upends reigning assumptions about black masculinity, rewriting the script for black manhood so that depression and anxiety aren’t considered taboo, and feminism and LGBTQ rights become part of the fight. The Color of Hope: People of Color Mental Health Narratives by Iresha Picot “The Color of Hope: People of Color Mental Health Narratives” is a project that sheds light on mental health in communities of color by sharing stories by those affected by mental illness. By sharing our stories, we open up discussion around the topic and break through stigma and shame. The contributors represent those living with or affected by loved ones with depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and other conditions. Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting by Terrie Williams “Black Pain” identifies emotional pain -- which uniquely and profoundly affects the Black experience -- as the root of lashing out through desperate acts of crime, violence, drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, workaholism, and addiction to shopping, gambling, and sex. Few realize these destructive acts are symptoms of our inner sorrow. Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fear by Dr. Angela NealBarnett In “Soothe Your Nerves,” Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett explains which factors can contribute to anxiety, panic, and fear in Black women and offers a range of healing methods that will help you or a loved one reclaim your life. Preventing Bipolar Relapse: A Lifestyle Program to Help You Maintain a Balanced Mood and Live Well by Ruth C. White PhD, MPH, MSW In this powerful, breakthrough book, bipolar expert Ruth C. White shares her own personal approach to relapse prevention using the innovative program SNAP (Sleep, Nutrition, Activity,

and People). White also offers practical tips and tracking tools you can use anytime, anywhere. By making necessary lifestyle adjustments, you can maintain balanced moods, recognize the warning signs of an oncoming episode, and make the necessary changes to reduce or prevent it. Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah This moving memoir of an African-American woman’s lifelong fight to identify and overcome depression offers an inspirational story of healing and emergence. The first book to focus on black women and depression, “Willow Weep for Me” recounts the author’s personal descent into despair. More than simply a memoir about depression, this pioneering work presents a powerful meditation on courage and a litany for survival. The Stress Management Workbook: De-Stress in 10 Minutes or Less by Dr. Ruth C. White PhD, MPH, MSW In “The Stress Management Workbook,” leading stress management and mental wellness expert Dr. Ruth White teaches you how to keep your brain sharp, improve your mind’s response to stress, and develop strategies for minimizing stress. This fresh set of stress management skills will empower you to perform better at work, increase your energy, foster better relationships, and be healthier in both mind and body. Heavy by Kiese Laymon “Heavy” is a “gorgeous, gutting…generous” (The New York Times) memoir that combines personal stories with piercing intellect to reflect both on the strife of American society and on Laymon’s experiences with abuse. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, he asks us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free. Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith by Monica A. Coleman “Bipolar Faith” is both a spiritual autobiography and a memoir of mental illness. In this powerful book, Monica Coleman shares her life-long dance with trauma, depression, and the threat of death. Citing serendipitous encounters with black intellectuals like Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Angela Davis, and Renita Weems, Coleman offers a rare account of how the modulated highs of bipolar II can lead to professional success, while hiding a depression that even her doctors rarely believed. Only as she was able to face her illness was she able to live faithfully with bipolar. And in the process, she discovered a new and liberating vision of God. My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, SEP “My Grandmother’s Hands” is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. Paves the way for a new, body-centered understanding of white supremacy—how it is literally in our blood and our nervous system. Offers a step-by-step solution—a healing process—in addition to incisive social commentary.

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Missing Loved Ones continued Continued from page 1 “Disparities in Richmond often have to do with the resources and the information base of the families as far as getting the message out beyond what the police can do,” Adams said in a recent phone interview. However, “there are differences in the way police respond to cases involving missing adults and missing children.” This was one of the reasons behind the introduction last year of the new Virginia Critically Missing Adult Alert Program, known as Ashanti Alerts. It falls between Amber Alerts and Senior (Silver) Alerts in enabling police to send alerts about missing persons ages 18-59 who they believe have been abducted and whose “disappearance poses a credible threat” to their health and safety. Ashanti Alerts will also go to the media, which can then help inform the public. Adams says it’s vitally important for a missing person’s loved ones to become and stay active in their cases. Police respond to a number of calls everyday and sometimes it can be true that the “squeaky wheel gets the oil.”

When she was struggling to deal with her losses and to keep Keeshae’s case in the public eye, Jacobs says she began to realize just how many other missing persons are out there. “I wondered why don’t I hear about them. Maybe I would see them flash on the news one day, but then nothing,” Jacobs says. “I started thinking maybe people just don’t have the support and I wanted to help.” She created the Keeshae Jacobs Foundation to provide a support group to those in her same situation, to raise community awareness and education and to help provide funding for publicity material. “Walking in these shoes, I have the experience unfortunately,” Jacobs says. When asked what advice she offers to families who have a missing loved one, Jacobs replies without hesitation. “Push them. I was in people’s faces and I didn’t accept ‘no’ for an answer,” Jacobs says, explaining that when police told her what was happening with her daughter’s case she would ask why they were taking certain steps, or why they weren’t taking others.

Adams applauds Toni Jacobs for being diligent and vigilant in trying to locate her daughter.

“You’ve got to be the advocate. You need to do what you need to do for your family.”

Two years ago Jacobs asked Adams to help her organize a rally in Richmond to mark Missing Persons Day in Virginia. The third such event took place in April in Chimborazo Park, near the 3100 block of East Broad in Church Hill where Keeshae was last seen. For her part, Jacobs is quick to say that the Richmond police have been excellent. She speaks highly of her relationship with former Police Chief Alfred Durham, especially following the murder of her son Deavon Jacobs in January 2017.

Meanwhile, Jacobs continues to pray that someone will come forward with information about Keeshae. “She’s always going to be my baby, and I’m never going to give up hope,” Jacobs says. “If anyone does know, I pray they’ll find it in their hearts to share that so I can bring Keeshae home.” Anyone with information regarding the Keeshae Jacobs case may contact the Richmond Police Department at 804-646-5125 or Crime Stoppers at 1-804-780-1000.

Mr. Smith goes to Morehouse to pay it forward Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College’s May 19 graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school. Photo: Steve Schaefer But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the technology investor and philanthropist surprised nearly everyone by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019. “This is my class,” he said, “and I know my class will pay this forward.” The announcement came as a surprise to Smith’s staff and to the staff at Morehouse, and elicited the biggest cheers of the morning. Various estimates of graduating students’ total loans were between $10 million to $40 million.

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In the days following Smith’s announcement, news media aired or published stories about how Morehouse’s graduates, many of whom underwent financial hardships to attend the private school in Atlanta, will have the ability to be more creative in career choices. Smith’s gift was predicted to have a positive impact on the lives of the graduates for generations to come. Many of the graduates of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s alma mater also promised to “pay it forward” as their benefactor Robert Smith encouraged them to do. Source: The Atlanta Journal- Constitution and The Advocate Staff

NYC children out of school for summer struggle to access free meals By Zipporah Osei, CHALKBEAT NEW YORK Summers can be tough for Bonita Bell, a mother from the Bronx with three children under the age of 10 trying to ensure her family has enough to eat. During the school year, she can count on free school meals to help keep her family fed. But over the summer, the meals can be much harder to access, owing to limited outreach and miscommunication by the city that is causing food — and federal dollars — to go to waste.

Chancellor Richard Carranza holds up a “summer meals” branded envelope at a launch event for the free summer meals program. PHOTO: Alex Zimmerman/Chalkbeat

“I don’t think they’ve done a good enough job of letting people know what’s going on,” Bell said recently at a meal site at I.S. 177, where her children were picking up their free lunches for the day. “I knew because I asked around, but for most people it’s a word-of-mouth thing.” The city advertises that it provides free breakfast and lunch from June 27 to August 30 at schools, parks, pools, libraries, and food trucks across the five boroughs to anyone under age 18. No identification or application is required to get a meal. An average of 7 million meals are served each summer, according to the city’s education department. But the limited information the city puts out can be confusing and contradictory, and the system designed to help those looking for food can direct them to Westchester or even New Jersey, potentially leaving thousands of hungry children as meals go unclaimed — although once Chalkbeat raised the issue of the misdirections, the city’s education department appeared to correct it. Last week, for example, less than 20 children showed up at a meal site in lower Manhattan, even as the borough’s president has launched a new effort to improve communication about the program. Despite the no-shows, the need remains great. An estimated 348,500 children in the city live in households that are food insecure, according to Feeding America, a hunger relief organization. And the food insecurity rate for children in the city is nearly 11 percent higher than that for children nationwide, making the summer meals program vital to staving off childhood hunger. In May, schools Chancellor Richard Carranza touted the meals program in the Bronx, the city’s hungriest borough, according to Hunger Free America, where more than one in four residents — including more than one in three children — live with food insecurity. “This is about taking care of our young people across the city and ensuring that they have access to free and nutritious meal options year-round,” Carranza said, brandishing a blue “summer meals” envelope containing information about the program in ten different languages — end-

of-year material distributed to families before the summer break. To find a neighborhood meal site, according to the envelope, parents can visit the education department’s online portal, text “NYCMEALS” to 877-877, or call 311. The department says there are 1,200 sites open throughout the summer, but acknowledges the website lists only 423 community-based centers. Of those, just 67 percent are open throughout the summer months. And many schools serving meals aren’t on the list at all. “Obviously during the summer people are hungry, particularly children,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer who has created a task force to improve the program. “It makes no sense for the city of New York to curtail the opportunity for people to eat and not more effectively get the message out to people that they can eat.” And before Chalkbeat inquired, texting for more information about meal sites yielded seemingly random results. A request for locations in the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx produced as top listings a high school in Yonkers and a Boys and Girls Club in Mount Vernon, both of which are in Westchester County. Searches in other boroughs led to advisories about food banks in New Jersey. “We’re addressing some technical difficulties with our website and mobile tools so New York City students and families can more easily search for a site near them,” said education department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot. She noted in the first week of the program that the department had “served 100,000 more meals than last year.” There’s also an app, which Bell, the mother from the Bronx, used to find her meal site, though she says it can be glitchy and difficult to navigate. Through the app, she learned that sites exist beyond schools. Once she did so, Bell told her friends and family, who were otherwise in the dark. She said she wishes the city was doing more to help families like hers. “They’re home the whole summer, so it’s hard,” Bell said about feeding her three children. “To be able to give them a meal

that I don’t have to make at home means I can save for another meal later in the day and on the weekends.” Ida Ifill, who’s been bringing her and other children in the neighborhood to get free meals every summer for seven years, said she passes along information to strangers she sees on the street. Last year she and her youngsters walked several blocks every day before she found out through a friend that there was another food location right up the street. She calls the program “a great service,” but added, “We have to let people know about it so people come, and they don’t shut it down.” It’s that lack of communication about the program that Brewer is aiming to address. Her task force has gathered representatives from the department of education’s food and nutrition services and other city agencies to work towards better coordination and outreach. “When you’re a parent, you’re not going to go check the department of education site, then the parks department, then New York City Housing Authority,” she said. When Brewer first got involved, she said there was even less communication between the education department and families. To help fill that gap, her office has been producing its own flyers with information about the program and distributing them to schools, neighborhoods, and libraries two weeks before the end of the school year for five years. Although the department of education is the face of the summer meals program and handles much of the organizing, meals are also served at pools, libraries, and housing complexes. However, before the formation of the task force, Brewer says, the education, health, parks, and housing departments weren’t working closely together. “We’re still working on getting the agencies to work together, and there have been improvements,” she said. The task force plans to meet again in July to assess the first weeks of the program. Continued from page 7 8 Continued on page

Center for the Study of the

Center for the Study of the Urban Child Leadership Team

NYC’s Food Fight cont.

Lisa T. Moon, Director Associate Professor Department of Psychology ltmoon@vuu.edu

A practical reason for getting the program right, Brewer noted, is that it is funded through federal reimbursements. And if enough children don’t show up, the unserved meals get thrown in the trash.

Dr. Joy Lawson Davis, Associate Professor & Chairperson Department of Education jdavis@vuu.edu

“If we don’t utilize the program, we’ll essentially be leaving money on the table,” she said. The city is also leaving food on the table. One of the meal sites Chalkbeat visited was forced to throw out meals after only 16 people showed up for food. They are expecting to serve nearly 300 meals a day as the summer goes on, according to one worker who didn’t have permission to speak to the press and wished to remain anonymous. The worker said they’re required to toss out meals that don’t get served.

Dr. Sandra K. Flynn Associate Professor Department of Social Work skflynn@vuu.edu Newsletter Editor - Bonnie Newman Davis, Bonnie Newman Davis Media Consulting

At another site Chalkbeat visited, workers tried to give away meals to families in a nearby park rather than consign them to the garbage. That any food is going to waste in a city with such a big child hunger problem is “indicative of the fact that there’s a lack of communication and outreach,” said Margarette Purvis the president of Food Bank for New York City. Before the school year ends, Food Bank for New York City also works to raise awareness of the city’s summer meals program and encourages its soup kitchens around the city to serve as meal sites. They also run their own summer meal service at their location in Harlem. “It’s so easy to just say the people who need it didn’t take advantage of it,” Purvis said. “You may have food, but did you have a plan for engagement?” Every year, the city gets data on students who rely on free and reduced lunch, including their addresses and phone numbers. Purvis suggests the education department use that information to directly target families who are most likely to need summer meals. Her own organization uses data on the neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of food-insecure children for its Green Sidewalks program, which brings free, fresh produce where it’s most needed. “We all know the address of poverty,” Purvis said. “That’s probably the easiest way to really ensure that we’re caring for all these babies who would be missing this great nutrition otherwise.” This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2019/07/03/nyc-children-out-of-school-for-summer-struggle-to-access-free-meals-as-food-federal-dollars-go-to-waste/ a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here: chalkbeat.org/newsletter

Black Beauty Queens

For the first time, three black women are the reigning Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss America. Cheslie Kryst is the new Miss USA, Nia Franklin is Miss America and Kaliegh Garris is the new Miss Teen USA. “These three standard-bearers prove that black beauty is at thae heart of a 21st century American ideal,”

Cheslie Kryst

Nia Franklin

Kaliegh Garris

Thomas DeFrantz, a professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University

“The three young women who have focused their energy on demonstrating how standards of black beauty speak for American standards of beauty are to be commended,” Thomas DeFrantz, a professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University, told the Associated Press following the May 2019 wins of Kryst and Garris and the September 2018 win of Franklin.

“These three standard-bearers prove that black beauty is at the heart of a 21st century American ideal,” he added. Franklin, a classically trained opera singer and arts advocate from New York, won her title in September in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first woman also to win the Miss America crown without having to don a swimsuit. Garris, from New Haven, Connecticut, won her crown in April, and hopes to become a trauma nurse. Kryst, an attorney at Poyner Spruill LLP in Charlotte, North Carolina, won her crown in Reno, Nevada. She holds an MBA from Wake Forest University.