Michael Steele – Forget Hip-Hop—Get Culturally Competent

Michael Steele is not the only one confused about how to relate to our nation’s youth.

Many republicans, as well as Democrats, fail to realize that by using commercial hip-hop, they inadvertently promote many of the behaviors that they rave against. Bottom line: politicians have little information on how to connect with young adults, and Michael Steele incorrectly thinks he has to dress, act and talk like young adults to connect.

Yes it’s true Michael Steele, we have to many 8 track political parties in a MP3 world. Politicians, policy makers and educators all have been slow to catch up to the rising waves of youth interests and ways to use those interests to promote political participation and educational achievement. They might as well stuff a Bee Gees eight-track into the machine and get ready to do the hustle. Just realize, young adults won’t be willing to join in.

But they will join in, not through hip-hop, but through Youth Cultural Competence.

YCC is not about hip-hop. It’s about the conscious and strategic use of the following three elements to produce youth participation in the electoral process.

Youth Involvement – Listen to youth and get them involved. In order to reach youth you need help from the youth.

Positive Peer Influence – The power of peer influence is much stronger that that of the republican party. Use it as a force to promote political participation. Hire youth to send a message out about the importance of the political process. After all, they live in public housing, attend public schools and take public transportation – it just makes sense.

Youth Popular Culture – For the most part, current youth popular culture has had a limiting and destructive impact on the future economic life chances of the youth served in programs across the U.S. Turn this tide around, developed a strategy which uses the current interests of youth to emphasize political involvement and empowering values.

YCC is not multi-culturalism, which focuses on general ethnicity and race. YCC understands that young adults have their own cultural capital, and it uses that capital to reach and engage youth. Hip-hop is just one from of youth cultural capital. Not every young person is into hip-hop or wants to rap.

Also understand that commercial hip-hop has been misdirected and misguided by corporate interests and greed – just like Wall street. . If you use the culture, make sure to take out the commercial. The simple rule: if it does not promote life, freedom and future economic opportunity; it’s not entertainment. It’s attempted homicide.

Finally being YCC means continually adjusting to the cultural interest of the youth. Remember jazz? What was once rebel music quickly became the choice of the older generation.

Young people connect to adults who respect their youth culture. They appreciate adults that validate the cultural capital that they have taken on as part of growing up. When politicians negate the cultural capital of young adults, they devalue the young adults. In an urban culture, where respect is premium, consider the inevitable turn-off to politicians when young people’s culture is “disrespected.”

So relax Republicans – or you will find yourself trying to Krump dance. Get connected to our youth by connecting to them.

Edward DeJesus is the author of Countering the Urban Influence – Reclaiming the Stolen Economic Fortunes of America’s Youth. He can be reached @ www.ydrf.com.

Senate Committee Approves Solis as Labor Secretary

By Mike Hall
In One week after postponing a confirmation vote on Hilda Solis as secretary of labor, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved on a voice vote President’s Obama’s choice to lead the Labor Department and sent the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. That vote could come tomorrow.

The Solis nomination was announced in December, and her confirmation hearing took place Jan. 9. But Big Business groups and a number of Republican senators have loudly, and at times almost hysterically, complained about Solis’ long record of support for working families and unions.

Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has called Solis “a tireless champion for working families.”

After eight years of the Bush administration’s Department of Labor under Elaine Chao—trashing workers’ rights, weakening workplace safety rules, ignoring wage and hour violations and siding with Big Business at about every juncture—the idea of a labor secretary siding with workers must be terrifying to some.

Most of the criticism centers on Solis’ support of the Employee Free Choice Act, which she has co-sponsored in the House. Republican senators have even suggested that if confirmed, Solis should be barred from advocating for the restoration of workers’ rights to form a union and bargain for a better life, as the bill provides.

Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

Senate Republicans can’t just oppose a secretary of labor because she supports working Americans and favors curbing excessive corporate power.

Article printed from AFL-CIO NOW BLOG: http://blog.aflcio.org

What No Youth Workforce Program Wants to Talk About

Recent data suggest that workers’ rights training and education substantially improves the pay and benefits received by young workers. The question is how many job training programs teach participants about worker’s rights?

 

On average, unionization raised young workers’ wages 12.4 percent – or about $1.75 per hour – relative to young workers with similar characteristics who were not in unions.

Read the report:

http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions_and_upward_mobility_for_young_workers.pdf

What Programs Need to Teach: Staying Alive

In an era where workforce development providers are trying to reach hard to serve youth, there is a growing percentage that face a tremendous barrier to obtaining gainful employment – death.

A new report by professors at Northeastern University finds murders of African-American teenagers have risen 39% since 2000 and 2001. What implication does this have for workforce development systems? In a system that is trying to reach a large percentage of African American males whose lives in essence are in jeopardy, programs are hard-pressed to incorporate lessons of survival along with the designated job skills. Is it possible to prepare them for the workforce without first preparing them to stay alive and free? Read study:

http://www.neu.edu/nupr/news/0109/Fox_Swatt_Homicide_R.html

The Community College Debt Trap

During this very harsh economical time in our country, working adults and parents are not the only ones feeling the strain. A growing number of students are finding themselves strapped with the financial burdens of credit card debt before they even leave for college. A recent Congressional hearing highlighted the marketing practices used by credit card companies to unfairly target students, pulling them into the abyss of high interest debt before they have acquired a substantial means of income.

In addition to the weight of credit card debt, upon arriving at an institution of higher learning, several students acquire the added responsibility of student loans. This creates an enormous strain which is exacerbated when those students do not complete their course of study.

Given this growing problematic trend, it is crucial that Youth Workforce Programs educate youth about this situation and warn them of the pitfalls of credit card debt. By preparing them early and teaching them to deal with this issue in a responsible manner, we can bring this trend to a swift end.

Watch Congressional Testimony