The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

There were 18 homicides in Springfield in 2005, a 12-year high. Most of the victims and suspected perpetrators are black and Hispanic males. The slayings fit a national pattern in which homicide is a leading cause of death for young black men.

The persistent negative statistics are rooted in everything from institutional racism to barriers to success and a culture of low expectations, all fueled by poverty, many agree.

"It comes down to a question of humanity. How much value today do you place on black life and black youth?" asked Henry M. Thomas III, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Springfield Inc.

Thomas said the question is both aimed at the black community and the rest of society.

"There has to be a tipping point where the community and institutions realize the gravity of the problem and correct it on a priority basis with the institutions that have the most impact," said Thomas.

His organization has devised a parent empowerment program to help strengthen familial bonds, a move he believes will aid the community's overall health and help turn the problems around.

A community coalition also is planning a May 6 summit at the High School of Commerce to connect Springfield parents with the resources needed to help ensure a successful future for their sons and daughters. Denise Jordan, co-chairwoman of the city's Youth Commission, is chairwoman of the City of Hope Summit Committee, which soon will be making pre-registration material available.

The summit, called "City of Hope: Empowering Parents," is co-sponsored by The Republican. It is expected to include an appearance by entertainer Bill Cosby as well as eight workshops featuring panelists ranging from college to vocational counselors to experts on communicating with teens.

Such efforts couldn't come at a more critical time.

Among some of the disturbing trends university scholars uncovered:

The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990s. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless - that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white dropouts and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.

Incarceration rates reached historic highs in the last few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30s, six in 10 black men who have dropped out of school have spent time in prison.

In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.

In Springfield and statewide there are more similarities. Blacks have the second highest dropout rate in the city at 7 percent, while black men over 18 are the majority population in the state's correctional system.

Latinos have the highest dropout rate in the city at nearly 11 percent and reflect the largest population in county jail, at 46 percent of inmates in 2005, compared with 31 percent white and 23 percent black. Critics of mandatory drug sentencing laws say they fuel the high rates of incarceration with more severe penalties for crack cocaine and drug sales near schools, both of which are more prevalent in densely populated urban centers.

Cosby said the new studies regarding black men in America should come as nothing new to anyone who is watching society and the political world.

Cosby, who lives in Shelburne but has cemented ties with Springfield after sponsoring the college education of several young city men, said the black man's plight leaves him feeling very angry and very sad.

Young black men in particular get the wrong messages from commercial interests, he said.

"What do they buy, what kind of music do they listen to, and what's the value of the things they're being taught? These things are driven by someone," he said.

In response to the worsening situation for young black men, a growing number of programs are placing as much importance on teaching life skills - like parenting, conflict resolution and character building - as teaching job skills.

But leaders here say that reaching young people, whether it is through education or the importance of preventive health care, requires challenging the status quo.

Darryl Moss, outreach coordinator for U-turn Street Workers at the Mason Square Community Center, said in order to make education, religion and other things valuable to young people, you need to make them relevant to their lives and futures.

"This might be unpopular but I believe in neighborhood-based schooling and residency rules. It is hard for someone coming from suburbia to teach in an impoverished school district. There is a cultural clash and people take that for granted," Moss said. "If you don't speak my language, understand how I talk, walk and dress, how can you teach me?"

Part of the Caring Health Center's success in connecting with black male patients is reaching out to them in the not-so-usual places.

"It is the way you present information that determines whether they are going to listen," said Michael Wallace, director of the men's health outreach and education coordinator at the city clinic.

For Wallace, that sometimes requires him to go to work in a sweat suit and to take his health-care information on the road and into places like bars and basketball tournaments.

"They are not going to talk to this guy in a suit. They are going to think what does this guy want from me, not what can this guy do for me," he said.

Material from The New York Times and staff writer Mary Ellen Lowney was used in this report.