The Power of Data to Address Inequities: The Case of Oakland’s African American Male Achievement Initiative

1. GRANTMAKERS FOR EDUCATION
URBAN EDUCATION STUDY TOUR: Exploring
Grantmaking Strategies for Improving Urban
Education in El Paso, Newark and Oakland
The Power of Data to Address
Inequities: The Case of Oakland’s
African American Male Achievement
Initiative
Presentation by: Junious Williams, CEO
Urban Strategies Council
www.urbanstrategies.org

2. OVERVIEW
• About Urban Strategies Council
• Context and Framework for Boys and Men of
Color (BMoC) and African American Male
Achievement Initiative (AAMAI)
• Approach to Equity Work
• Approach to AAMAI Work
• Suspension Example

3. Urban Strategies Council Mission
Work with partners to eliminate
persistent poverty by building
vibrant, healthy communities.
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4. Urban Strategies Council…
is a social impact organization
using tools of research, policy,
collaboration, innovation and
advocacy to achieve equity and
social justice.
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5. EMERGING FIELD AND MOVEMENT
 Growing recognition of the importance of
improving outcomes for boys and men of color
and, especially, African American boys and men:
economic survival and prosperity depends on
their success
 Increasing public sector, philanthropic and
community interest and commitment to improving
opportunities and outcomes
 Emerging “bright spots” demonstrating that we
can change the odds
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6. National Efforts for Boys and Men of
Color
 Black Male Achievement Leadership & Sustainability
Institute (LSI)- Open Society Foundation, PolicyLink &
Root Cause
http://leadershipandsustainabilityinstitute.com/
Campaign for Black Male Achievement- Open Society
Institute
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/topics/black-
male-achievement
 2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys- The Ford
Foundation, The Twenty First Century Foundation, the
National Urban League & others
http://www.2025bmb.org/
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7. National Efforts for Boys and Men of
Color
 City Leadership to Promote Black Male Achievement-
National League of Cities
http://www.nlc.org/find-city-solutions/institute-for-youth-
education-and-families/at-risk-youth/city-leadership-to-
promote-black-male-achievement
 Schott Foundation Black Male Initiative- The Schott
Foundation for Public Education
http://www.schottfoundation.org/funds/black-male-initiative
 White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for
African Americans- Executive Order from President
Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-
office/2012/07/26/executive-order-white-house-initiative-
educational-excellence-african-am
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8. Boys and Men of Color Initiative
Improved life
outcomes for
Organizing and
Communications boys and men
Leadership
Programs &
Change the narrative Development of color in:
Tools and build public will Health
Build capacity and Ensure that those most
produce results affected demand and lead
change Education
Research
Public Systems Advocacy Employment
Change Implement & Data
Analyze the & Wealth
policies, practices &
investments for positive issues,
change measure need
Resear & assess impact Youth
ch
Developme
nt
Collaboration
Public
Safety &
Justice

9. includes change agents from across the state of California who
are committed to improving the life chances of California’s
boys and young men of color.
http://www.allianceforbmoc.org/
Statewide Partners
Regional Conveners
Oakland Fresno LA
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10. Assembly Select Committee on the Status of
Boys and Men of Color in California
 Alliance members partnered with the Committee
to organize hearings in Sacramento, Oakland,
Fresno, Los Angeles, and Coachella Valley and
to solicit recommendations from a diverse cross
section of stakeholders.
 The Committee's draft action plan, which
includes 65 practical and scalable
recommendations can be found here:
http://www.allianceforbmoc.org/
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11. PARTNERSHIPS: KEY INGREDIENT
 Work was borne out of a partnership between school
district, EBCF and nonprofit organizations
 CBOs & EBCF brought reputation and credibility in
community; OUSD brought commitment
 CBO Role of Critical Friend
 Required trust
 Platform for the other partnerships necessary to
realize the vision for a full service community school
district (commitment to FSCS as vehicles for equity)
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12. OUR APPROACH TO EQUITY
 DATA : Democratizing data-advocating for open
public data and creating tools to support use
(www.InfoAlamedaCounty.org)
 SYSTEMS CHANGE: focus on policy, practice and
programs that work and embed them in the
organizational structure
 EQUITY FRAMEWORK: develop a data-driven
equity framework for operationalizing equity
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/equity/

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13. OUR APPROACH TO AAMAI
 Building a system for equity, beginning with AA
males
 Establish goals and targets for achieving equity-
work on goals, indicators and targets for the seven
areas identified by the superintendent for the AAMAI
 Use data not only to describe the extent of the
problem, but to develop an understanding that yields
insights into policy, practice and programs to
address the disparities
 Use existing research, lessons from other locales
to inform the selection of strategies; e.g., risk and
resiliency factors, predictive analytics
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14. SUSPENSION EXAMPLE
 We began with a detailed analysis of the patterns of
suspensions in the district including the problem over
time, how it impacted students at different grade
levels, the reasons for suspensions and how multiple
suspensions impacted AA male students
 Policy analysis: examination of state laws, board
policies, teacher contracts, administrative regulations
 Literature review: especially around causation and
effective interventions elsewhere
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15. CHALLENGES AHEAD
 Evaluation
 Documentation and Model Development
 Communications and Public Will
 Building Infra-structure to embed equity
 Scaling and Sustainability
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16. FOR MORE INFORMATION
 Urban Strategies Council
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/
 BMoC http://www.urbanstrategies.org/bmoc/
 AAMAI
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/programs/schools/AA
MAI.php
 Equity Framework
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/equity
 Full Service Community Schools
http://www.urbanstrategies.org/fscs
 InfoAlamedaCounty
http://www.infoalamedacounty.org/
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