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An Important Report on Black Education in the Wake of COVID-19

Unlike any other time in recent history, the opportunity now exists to educate all students in ways that increase and enhance their personal self-knowledge, their history, their requisite skills, and the knowledge and understanding essential for academic and life success. These imperatives are especially critical for Black students.

The history of education for Black students, particularly prior to Brown v. Board of Education, is neither often discussed nor well known, despite how uniquely valuable it was for those students. Even during the Jim Crow era when...

A Conspiracy of Care: A Call to Healing

Throughout our 15-year history, COSEBOC has embraced the belief that affirmative social, emotional, cultural, and academic development and wellness is essential to the success of boys and young men of color. We wrap this mission in a concept that we call the Conspiracy of Care.

The Conspiracy of Care is our national call to mobilize and align the cumulative resources and assets of individuals, associations, and partnerships dedicated to school and life success for these young men.

Fittingly, since this is ...

Sankofa Rising! A successful celebration of 15 years of service

Dear COSEBOC friends and supporters,

On May 26 and 27, 2021, COSEBOC hosted an amazing and very successful celebration of 15 years of service on behalf of boys and young men of color. The theme, Sankofa Rising! The Journey from a Moment to Movement, infused the entire event from start to finish. There were so many cameo moments, so many memories, and so many opportunities within them to imagine a bright future for boys and young men of color. It was a time to recollect and reconnect; it was a time to both shed tears and to laugh out loud.

...

A True COSEBOC Champion

“I am so humbled to be blessed in this manner. I still feel like I’m just lil’ ole KJ – being recognized for a good deed. It’s times like this when my life really does seem to have value, a purpose. Thank you and your organization for recognizing lil’ ole KJ.”

This is an excerpt from a recent letter written by Kevin Johnson, who many now know was a driving force behind the founding of COSEBOC in 2006. Executive Director Ron Walker has shared the poignant story several times this year of how his former, gifted student – now incarcerated in a Pennsylvania prison – invited...

There is Genius in the Hood

by Ron Walker

There is Genius in the ‘Hood

Have you ever given thought to the genius in the ‘hood?

So many young sisters and brothers ready to do good,

So many ready to create, invent, and innovate,

Ready to inspire, design, and liberate!

The ‘hood has lots of diamonds and fields of precious gems

Waiting to be polished, to be doctors, entrepreneurs, to be leading lights in STEM.

A vast and amazing legion of youth who...

Trauma Can Endure! What Must We Do to Heal?

by Ron Walker:

I can still remember in vivid detail the terror I felt when I saw a picture of the grotesque face of Emmett Till after he had been killed. I recoiled from his face, beaten beyond recognition, as if I were in the presence of a monster. I was just 9 years-old. I asked my mother who that was and what had happened? An immigrant from the south during the Jim Crow era, she explained that he was accused of doing something very wrong. She then went on to give me her rendition of ”The Talk” that is commonplace today in Black families with sons...

Racial Equity and Student-Centered Learning

COSEBOC announces the publication of a new report, “Racial Equity and Student-Centered Learning”. This report was jointly developed with the Education Development Center (EDC) and funded by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation (NMEF).

The report presents the results of a series of focus groups and interviews with high school students, parents, educators, local advocates, and community-based organizations from across New England conducted by the COSEBOC/EDC team with assistance from local partners.

The report describes examples of systemic racism, oppression, and racial...

Knowing, Understanding and Celebrating the History of Black Americans

February, 2021

During this Black History Month, I challenge all of us to better know, understand, and appreciate the contributions made by Black Americans. Here is my question: Will we commit to dive deeper into the ocean of new ideas and inventions, and into the impact made by Black people? I encourage us all to reach beyond the shallow pool of Black history that only acknowledges the usual histories of the usual names that we memorize each year.

And while those contributions are important and noteworthy, in learning these stories we are only dabbling our toes at the...

The ExceptionAL Project Announces Ron Walker as Exceptional Man of the Week!

COSEBOC is pleased and honored that our Executive Director, Ron Walker, has been named Exceptional Man of the Week by the ExceptionAL Project.

"Meet our Exceptional Man of the Week! Ron Walker is a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Read on to see how he LEADS, LIVES, and LOVES!

LEADING: Ron has been an education and equity warrior for the past 52 years. He has served as a teacher in the great city of Philadelphia and a principal in...

This Is Why We Vote

By Shawn Dove, Anthony Smith and Ron Walker

If ever there was a time for us to be the curators of the change we want to see, it is now. 2020 has brought us a horrible global pandemic and has underscored the 400 year-long pandemic of racial oppression and anti-Blackness in this nation, increasing the agency for BMA leaders like us to be the curators of the change we want to see with increasing clarity. An inherent part of being a curator of change is believing that we already have access to everything we need.

We have witnessed this in countless ways over the past...

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