Nathaniel Peat Bags Two Awards

Good to see a good friend and damn smart business man picking up the Social Enterprise and People’s Choice awards held by the Daily Mail.<p>Nathaniel Peat runs The Safety Box a personal safety organisation which he set up after the death of Kiyan Prince. The one hour workshops he runs mainly at schools focuses on helping children and young adults how to manage conflict, raise levels of confidence and self esteem.<p> In the current negative limelight it is positive to see young black males leading the way forward for change.

UK Black

UK Black is a podcast that can be picked up on iTunes.
The podcast is  has highlights from African and Caribbean programmes on BBC Local Radio stations in England.

Around England there are numerous local stations which feature African  and Caribbean content including

* BBC Radio WM,  BBC Radio Leicester,  BBC Radio Berkshire,  BBC Radio Derby,  BBC Radio Gloucestershire,  BBC Radio Nottingham,  BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Radio Merseyside,  BBC London,  BBC Three Counties Radio,  BBC Radio Sheffield,  BBC Radio Northampton,  BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Manchester.

UK black consolidates these stations with extracts from some of the programmes and options to listen again on the various programme content available. This is a great tool of empowerment for youth in the UK to be aware of what is going on in the African and Caribbean community.

African Students Excel in Science

The first BTWSC Professor Allotey Science Prize ceremony recently recognised seven finalists in the Council Chamber at Harrow Civic Centre in north London.Nominations for the Prize were based on the Year 9 SAT exam results and teacher assessments, and were open to Harrow secondary school students of African descent. The nominees were required to deliver a three minute presentation on global warming. The standard of the presentations were so high that instead of offering one laptop computer to the overall winner as originally planned, the organisers decided to offer two laptops.

And so….

And so as Black History Month approaches,
my mind goes out once again to our youth.
With a media hell bent on reporting only knife and gun crime,
the constant digestion and regurgitation of subversive entertainment on channels which are nothing but BASE,
I salute the men and women who dedicate their energies and attentions to capturing the receptive minds of our future empoweing them to a higher plane.
Reminding us of where we came from, so we can know where we are going
Celebrating our successes, the glue that binds together a somewhat fractured community
Elevating the positive, reminding those battered by miseducation and misguidance, that their is a path less trodden which
When followed can produce fathers and mothers with a sense of identity,
that is passed wholly on to a generation,
breaking the legacy of negativity that is so pervasive and for some gives a false sense of pride
It’s more than a month, we should be making Black History every day
and so, it’s over to you now champions
over to you

Black Boys Can

The National Black Boys Can Association In conjunction with the National Union of Teachers Presents:

Raising the Academic Attainment of Black Boys

A National Conference for School Leadership, Teachers and other education Practitioners in Primary and Secondary Schools

Tuesday, 13th November 2007, 9.00 am – 5.00 pm

A unique opportunity for those involved in education to learn new strategies for raising the achievement of Black Boys.

Profile: Paul Gilroy

Paul Gilroy is a professor in Social Theory at the London School of Economics (LSE). He is in fact the first holder of Anthony Giddens Professorship in Social Theory.He is one of the few professors of colour in the UK and through his work has clearly shaped the dialogue and discussion, at least from an Afro Caribbean point of view, about race and culture in the United Kingdom.

Eagles Who Soar

Eagles who Soar is a book about success amongst Caribbean school students.

It is written by Dr Jasmine Rhamie, who also happens to be my sister in law, a lecturer in primary education at the University of Southampton.

In a school system in which most African Caribbeans have negative experiences of schooling, there are some who attain highly in school or achieve academic success later in life. This book is about the differences in the experiences of those who did well and those who did not.

Educating Black Boys

Just got this article in from the Independent.

Professor Gus John, co-author of the report, entitled Born To Be Great, and a black academic from Strathclyde University, said under-achievement had led to a “cycle of hopelessness” in black communities. He added that this was “giving rise to the serious mayhem in our communities which we’ve experienced in the last few weeks - of gun crimes and murders”.

Figures show that whereas 52.6 per cent of all boys got five A* to C grade passes at GCSE, only 41 per cent of black Caribbean boys achieved that. Professor John said it was “nothing short of a national scandal” that Afro-Caribbean boys were not achieving more.

Boyz to Men

Watching Channel 4 now about this programme encouraging young black men to get into science programmes. Will edit once the show is over.

Eastside Young Leaders Academy

Last week I had the privilege of attending the EastSide Young Leaders Academy (EYLA) in Newham. Run by ex prison governer Ray Lewis, the leadership academy was formed by a desire of Ray to stem the tide of young, undisciplined men being detained by Her Majesty’s service.

I had the privilege of meeting Ray at a conference last year at Queen Mary’S University London, anad was struck by his humour and straight forward approach in dealing with the issue of black male underachievement.