Education

Education, Minnesota Veterans, News July 29, 2016

MACV to Hold 2016 Metro StandDown August 2 – 3

Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that has been assisting veterans for over 26 years. Each year MACV receives more than 25,000 contacts, inquiries, and requests from veterans across the state. In 2015, MACV comprehensively served over 1,950 veterans and their families throughout Minnesota who were homeless or experiencing a crisis that could lead to homelessness – and the need for services continues to rise.The mission of MACV is to provide assistance throughout Minnesota to positively motivated veterans and their families who are homeless or experiencing other life crisis. I

Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education, News, Our Black News June 8, 2016

Part I: Northside Achievement Zone: Return on Investment doesn’t add up to success

Again in 2014 – using the formula below, NAZ cites, “The social return on investment in NAZ is $6.12 for every dollar invested, with a net benefit to society of $167,467 per participant. The return on taxpayer investment is $2.74 for every dollar invested. Society gains $200,178 in benefits for the average NAZ participant, but spends only $32,711 to implement NAZ solutions with that participant. These benefits result from: Increased net earnings as a result of increased educational attainment, career counseling, and increased productivity ($147,794) Improved health outcomes ($28,281); Increased tax revenues ($15,943); Other public savings due to lower crime rates, reduced need for special education, and fewer public assistance and child welfare cases ($8,160); The total social gains from NAZ total more than $16.7 million in net.

African American (Blackness), Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education, Our Black News, Philosophy, Social Constructs (Social Sciences) June 4, 2016

Minneapolis Initiatives and Community Love is Fake

I cannot attack or be upset at EMERGE, or its leader Mr. Mike Wynne for being responsible for $4.2 million dollars and having every vulture in the community at his door step to present a plan for a payday. Mind you, this payday is not for the community – but a continuation of a multiyear, politically-skewed funding stream that accommodates the needs of the few while the needs of the many are left at homeless shelters, welfare lines and the Twin Cities middle-class that live from paycheck-to-paycheck worrying if the drive home will be safe, or if they will become another statistic by a stray bullet from another black man or woman that has lost the luster for life, love and liberty and chosen the streets.

African American (Blackness), Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education, News, Politics, Problem Solving April 24, 2016

Minnesota DEED: Fraudulent Community Outreach leads to Outcry

If DEED’s mission with the Pathways to Prosperity program is to “help educationally under-prepared adults succeed in well-paying careers by integrating basic skills education and career-specific training in fields where new skills are in high demand,” then why did DEED ignore grassroots, community agencies in north Minneapolis after contacting them and requesting they apply for the grant?

African American (Blackness), Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education March 17, 2016

MCTC’s Student Life: Being Colorblind won’t help the majority

I wrote this many years ago. It was originally posted on February 2, 2012 by City College News in Letters to the Editor. With the hiring of Sharon Pierce, President of Minneapolis Community and Technical, there is a need for an immediate change in the politics which reject the success of the black body. President Pierce must reconfigure the Student Life department and bring the basketball program back to the community college; it saved lives.

Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education, Politics, Problem Solving February 27, 2016

Super Tuesday: Black, Hispanic, Asian and Somali Minnesotans must send a message to the Democratic Party of America; we Like Donald Trump!

On Tuesday, March 1, I encourage you to find the closest GOP caucusing location and come out and vote for Donald Trump. Yes, right now you might think this is crazy and Trump is not your candidate and you certainly are not a Republican – but listen, if you want the other party to continue to lead you down the path of “sheepleness,” unconcerned about what you want and continuing to make promises that cannot be turned into reality, it’s time for you to make a change.

African American (Blackness), Critical Thinking, Editorial Opinion, Education, Philosophy February 20, 2016

The Segregation of Cultural Competence in the Training of Teaching Education

If you were to ask me what is the main challenge in educating black males in the K-12 public school system, I would have to answer, “the teacher’s training the teachers.” Although I cannot use this as a generalization because I am product of the Minneapolis Public School system, my experience was a lot different.