‘Black Minds Matter’ Report Discussed Today at PCC Forum

California State Assembly members Chris Holden and Shirley Weber will lead a panel of speakers that will discuss the recently published report, “Black Minds Matter: Supporting the Educational Success of Black Children in California,” released by Education Trust-West in October, during a forum Thursday, May 19, at Pasadena City College’s Westerbeck Recital Hall.

The report examines how the nearly 1 million black youth in California are faring from preschool through college, and reveals the “distressing disparities that newly released state and national data show are persisting at all levels of their educational journey,” according to an Ed Trust-West summary.

The report also highlights the groundbreaking efforts underway to reverse these trends in California and close achievement and opportunity gaps for African American students.

In the report, Ryan J. Smith, Executive Director of Ed Trust-West, says black students continue to face an education system that squanders their talents.

“The deaths of unarmed youth by law enforcement across the country tell black youth that their lives matter less than other lives,” Smith writes. “Similarly, the decisions made within our education systems tell Black students that their minds and futures matter less as well.”

Thursday’s panel of experts and guest speakers, including Smith who is Executive Director of Ed Trust-West, will highlight the ?ndings and promising practices legislators and educators can consider in addressing disparities and inequities in access, opportunity and achievement, especially in the California education setting.

Aside from Holden, Weber and Smith, the other speakers and panelists on the forum include:

· Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
· Yvette Gullatt, Vice Provost and Chief Outreach Officer for the University of California Of?ce of the President
· John Pointer, Student Body President, John Muir High School
· Felita Kealing, Pasadena Unified School District African-American Parent Council
· Trudell Skinner, Principal, Blair High School
· Dr. Mack Hines, Pasadena Unified School District African-American Student Success Initiative
· Darvin Jackson, Monrovia Unified School District, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
· Dr. Christopher D. Jimenez y West, Instructor, Social Science Division, Pasadena City College

Before the forum from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., participants will be available for interviews at 5 p.m.

Education Trust–West, with offices in Oakland, advocates for educational justice and the high academic achievement of all California students, particularly those of color and living in poverty.

The organization works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, pre-k through college. It also exposes opportunity and achievement gaps that separate students of color and low-income students from other youth.

Education Trust was founded in 2001 by Russlynn Ali who led the organization until 2009 when she left to join the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Civil Rights in the Education Department.