Building a Bridge to Literacy for African American Male Youth: Casey Rawson Sandra Hughes-Hassell UNC Chapel Hill SILS How the Library Community Has Answered the Call

Statistics Why African American Males? 13% of African American male 4 th graders and 11% of African American male 8 th graders at or above proficient in reading Barely half graduate from high school 14% of the national population, but 5% of the college population and nearly 40% of the prison population Double the unemployment rate of White males Among adolescents and young adults, 8 times more likely to die from homicide than White males of the same age

About the summit

Researchers Publishers Authors School & Public Librarians School & Library Administrator s Policymakers Educators Students About the summit

“Literacy is not just about decoding text. It is about becoming a superior human being that can act powerfully upon the world.” - Ernest Morrell, Ph.D.

Webinar

Professional Development Toolkit

A Call to Action

Library Walk

Levels of Librarian Involvement Transformative

Identifying Enabling Texts Tool

Teacher PD

Blue Ribbon Council

Diversifying the Curriculum

Statewide Librarian Workshop

Our Challenge to You What can YOUR library do to address the literacy needs of African American male youth?

Join the Conversation! Sandra Hughes-Hassell Casey Rawson