HJ0129 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HJ0129 LRB095 20853 NHT 49661 r

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, There is compelling evidence that persons with low education face diminished opportunities and inferior economic and personal well being; compared to high school graduates, dropouts earn less, pay less in taxes, and rely more on public health, criminal justice, and welfare services; and

WHEREAS, Less educated workers are more likely to suffer from heart conditions, strokes, hypertension, high cholesterol, depression, and diabetes, as well as from a range of behaviors that contribute to ill health, such as smoking; and

WHEREAS, The probability of incarceration for black male dropouts is at least 60%; and

WHEREAS, High school graduation reduces crimes by 20% for murder, rape, and other violent crimes; by 11% for property crime; and by 12% for drug related offenses; and

WHEREAS, Black adolescent males in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups; and

WHEREAS, Several recent studies by experts at Columbia University, Princeton University, Harvard University, and other institutions focusing more closely than ever on the life patterns of young black men show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming ever more disconnected from mainstream society and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men; and

WHEREAS, In the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever, and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined; and

WHEREAS, In the year 2000, 65% of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless, that is unable to find work, not seeking it, or incarcerated; by 2004, the share had grown to 72%, compared with 34% of white and 19% of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46% in 2000; and

WHEREAS, Alvin Poussaint, a professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and author of several books on African-American issues, links the problems of joblessness and violence to education; further, he associated that with an increase in the number of black men who are in prison; with unemployment, many look for alternative ways for making money, and unfortunately that leads to a lot of anti-social and even criminal behavior; and

WHEREAS, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. established the "Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College" program in 1922, which concentrates on the importance of completing secondary and collegiate education as a road to advancement; and

WHEREAS, Statistics prove the value of this extra impetus in making the difference in the success of young African-American men, given that school completion is the single best predictor of future economic success; and

WHEREAS, It is through the Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College educational initiative that young men receive information and learn strategies that facilitate success; Alpha men provide youth participants with excellent role models to emulate; and

WHEREAS, The Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College educational initiative is a program counseling youth on the importance of post-secondary education while introducing them to promising professions; through the program, students and their families are provided information about college entrance and financial aid; the counseling thrust is augmented by a vigorous scholarship program for college-bound youth; and

WHEREAS, The members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., both current college students and college graduates, many of whom are professional educators, are uniquely positioned to give the proper insight and perspective to the problem of high school dropouts and can play a leading role in developing solutions to reduce the skyrocketing high school dropout rate; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Go-to-High-School, Go-to-College Task Force is created to study the causes and effects of the high rate of high school dropouts and the low college retention rates among African-American males; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force shall consist of 5 members appointed by the Speaker of the House and 5 members appointed by the President of the Senate, all of whom shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for their reasonable and necessary expenses from funds appropriated for that purpose; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the task force shall meet initially at the call of the Speaker and the President, shall select one member as chairperson at its initial meeting, shall thereafter meet at the call of the chairperson, shall receive the assistance of State Board of Education staff, and shall file a report of its findings and recommendations for legislative action with the General Assembly on or before January 1, 2009; and that upon filing its report the task force is dissolved; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the State Board of Education.