change the game

I happened to come across the web site for the 2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys and immediately was drawn in to its purpose and content.

What could we do as a society to improve the life of a Black boy born in 2007 so that by the time he was eighteen his odds for success were significantly greater?

I'll admit that I was mostly captured because of their use of the phrase, "real change takes action." But that whole concept if measurable change takes me back to the days of learning about OGSMs and strategic planning. Many a meeting, group, organization, or entity has sat stagnant and frozen in time from talking more than doing. It is a pervasive and all-too-common ailment that afflicts many people. So naturally, I am highly intrigued by the clear direction and action steps that it offers. Nonetheless, the data is in-your-face and disheartening, but not futile. Given Half a Chance is the the Schott Foundation's 50 state report on public education and Black males. I did find some of the results surprising: New Jersey is the benchmark for graduation rates of Black male students for states enrolling more than 10,000 Black male students (74%), Maryland is the benchmark for the percentage of Black male students in Gifted/Talented programs (5.7%), and Massachusetts is the benchmark for Black male students scoring at or above Basic for Grade 8 Reading in 2007 (62%).