LIFTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR BOYS IN WORCESTER
Worcester State University
December 17, 2015
Proceedings
The Latino Education Institute at
Worcester State University
planned and coordinated a
symposium entitled “Lifting
Opportunities for Boys in
Worcester.” Over 65 youth
development practitioners,
educators, researchers, and
community leaders gathered to
promote a coordinated strategy
for leveraging the assets of boys,
improving opportunities for
young men and developing a
plan for a stronger youth support
network.
This document summarizes the
proceedings of the day and
recommendations developed by
attendees.
The morning panel was framed
by five primary questions:
Agenda
•••
11:30 am – 11:45 am
 Welcome and Opening
11:45 am – 12:10 pm
 Perspectives from Boys
and Young Men
12:10 pm – 12:30 pm
1. Researchers: What are the affirming assets in the lives of boys?
What factors help them understand and reach their goals?
2. Researchers: What are impediments to self-actualization? What are
the barriers most commonly encountered by boys at home and in the
community at large?
3. Youth Practitioners: In your experience, what are the 2 or 3 strategies
in your program most effective in improving opportunities for
boys/young men?
4. Youth Practitioners: What 2 or 3 program elements do you wish you
could offer that would greatly improve outcomes?
The first two questions were
initially explored by a panel of
researchers from WSU and Clark
University. The latter two
questions were addressed by
youth development practitioners
with vast experience working
with boys and young adults. The
Symposium continued with a
short round of questions and
answers followed by participants
joining four round table
discussions covering: 1) Public
Policy; 2) Program
Implementation; 3) Raising
Awareness; and 4)
Miscellaneous/Open Topic. The
goal of the roundtables was to
develop action steps and discuss
future organizing efforts.
INTRODUCTION
Alex Zequeira, President of the
Nativity School of Worcester
and Chair of the Latino
Education Institute Advisory
Board, made the following
introductory comments
(Verbatim):
“There is a crisis in boys and
young men education,
particularly boys and young men
of color] Clearly, this is also an
issue of concern both nationally,
with President Obama launching
the “My Brother’s Keeper”
initiative and in our own state as
about a year and a half ago, the
LEI was encouraged to apply for
funding by the Boston
 Community Voices
12:30 pm – 12:45 pm
 Questions and Answers
12:45 pm – 1:15 pm
 Lunch ~ Small Working
Groups: Creating
Collaborative
Approaches
- Program
Implementation
- Public Policy/
Advocacy
- Raising Awareness in
the Community
- Other/Miscellaneous
1:15 pm – 1:30 pm
 Report Back ~ Next
Steps
Symposium Speakers
Alex Zequeira
President Nativity School of Worcester and Chair of the
Latino Education Institute Advisory Board
Nativity School of Worcester
Phone: (508) 799-0100 ext. 102
Email: azequeira@nativityworcester.org
Robert Anderson,
Director Broader Horizons
Wellness Center of Worcester
Phone: (508) 752-4665
Email: wecpro77@gmail.com
Barry Maloney
President, Worcester State University
Phone: (508) 929-8000
Laurie Ross
Associate Director for IDCE, Clark University
Associate Professor of Community Development and
Planning. Department of International Development,
Community, and Environment
Phone: (508) 793-7642
Email: LRoss@clarku.edu
Thomas Conroy,
Assistant Professor and Chair, Urban Studies, Worcester
State University
Phone: (508) 929-8940
Email:tconroy@worcester.edu
Foundation to conduct a study in
five urban areas of our state –
Worcester, Boston, Holyoke,
Springfield, and Lawrence –
because the foundation was
concerned about a trend in
connection to Latino boys and
higher education. 42.4% of
Latino males in MA public
schools live in these cities. The
goal was to study the outcomes
for Latino young men in higher
education – how many went on
to higher education exploring
why or why not. It is remarkable
to think that only 6 percent of
Latino boys who enter the 9th
grade here in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts will graduate
from a 4-year college – 6 percent.
As you will hear today, there is
research and work being done all
throughout our community on
wellness and opportunities for
boys and young men in our
community. The goal for today
is to continue to advance this
conversation. We hope to
promote a more coordinated
Timothy E. Murphy,
Visiting Assistant Professor Urban Studies, Urban Studies,
Worcester State University,
Phone: (508) 929-8940
Email: tmurphy6@worcester.edu
Paul Hernandez,
Youth Practitioner, Community Leader
Email: paul.hernandez.worc@gmail.com
In education…
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Multicultural
Elliot Rivera,
Youth Practitioner, Encouraging Latinos to Achieve
Excellence (ENLACE), Program Coordinator
Latino Education Institute, Worcester State University
Phone: (508) 798-6507 Ext. 5
Email:erivera4@worcester.edu
strategy for leveraging the assets
of boys, improving opportunities
for young men in our community,
and help inform the continued
work for a strong youth support
network.
As we start the morning, it is
important for us to understand
the current state and local context
of our boys and young men.”
(Zequeira, 2015)
-
Program,
“Nationally, Boys account
for 71 percent of all school
suspensions. Fifty-nine
percent of Black boys and 42
percent of Hispanic boys
report being suspended. In
our state, boys are more
likely to receive an out of
school suspension than girls
Nationally, boys comprise 67
percent of all special
education students. Almost
80 percent of these are Black
and Hispanic males
The four-year graduation rate
for boys is 74.9 percent in
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contrast to 83.9% for girls, a
9 percent difference.
Boys are twice as likely to
drop out of school as girls.
In fall 2013, female students
made up 56 percent of total
undergraduate enrollment at
9.8 million and male students
made up 44 percent at 7.7
million. Enrollment for both
groups increased between
1990 and 2013, but most of
the increases occurred
between 2000 and 2010,
when female enrollment
increased by 39 percent and
male enrollment increased by
36 percent. However, both
female and male enrollments
were lower (4 percent and 2
percent, respectively) in 2013
than in 2010. Between 2013
and 2024, female enrollment
is projected to increase by 15
percent (from 9.8 million to
11.3 million students), and
male enrollment is projected
to increase by 9 percent
(from 7.7 million to 8.3
million students).” (Zequeira,
2015)
In Health…
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“In Worcester, boys and men
are less healthy than girls and
women, and are less healthy
than other boys and men in
the state.
And lastly, when we consider
involvement in juvenile
justice…
Nationally, Boys are the
perpetrators of four out of
five crimes that end up in
juvenile court.
In Massachusetts, young
adults ages 18 to 24 compose
just 10 percent of the
Massachusetts population,
yet they account for 20
percent of commitments to
state prisons and 23 percent
of all commitments to county
Houses of Correction.
And… While racial
disparities narrowed slightly
over the past decade, relative
to their white peers, Black
and Hispanic young adult
incarceration rates are still
3.2 and 1.7 times higher,
respectively.
Between 2010-2013 there
were 1659 juvenile arrests in
the City of Worcester. 1158
(70%) of the arrests were
boys and young men”
(Zequeira, 2015)
Researchers:
ABSTRACT:
Professor Laurie Ross from Clark
University presented findings
from a Preliminary Needs and
Resources Assessments from a
project entitled: Understanding
Boys Wellbeing in Worcester,
MA. The project explores:
“Do boys in Worcester have hope?
Which boys? What kinds of hope?
Have boys transferred their hope
to nonconventional goals? Does
the community have hope for
boys in Worcester? How do we
foster critical hope?”
ABSTRACT:
Thomas Conroy and Timothy E.
Murphy from the Department of
Urban Studies at WSU addressed
the opening questions using
findings from a recent report
written with Mary Jo Marion and
Elizabeth Setren. The report
brings to light multiple narratives
taken up by Latino young men in
the Massachusetts cities of
Boston, Worcester, Springfield,
Lawrence, and Holyoke in
discussions about their futures.
Tracing young men’s imagined
futures from the time they were
young through the present, the
report explores the impact of
three intersecting and often
contradictory areas of their lives:
Family, Peers, and Formal Social
Institutions. The report seeks to
illustrate why some young men
make the decisions they do in the
context of these influences and to
bring to the surface the most
salient issues that weigh on the
minds of young men as they
consider their futures in terms of
education and occupation.
(Conroy, Marion, Murphy and
Setren, 2015)
Panel of Youth Development
Practitioners
Robert Anderson: During his
presentation Mr. Anderson
explored deep and intangible
systematic factors impeding the
success of youth services in
Worcester. Specifically, he
identified: 1) a Eurocentric
educational system that ignores
diverse youth services and needs
and promotes the development of
equivocal and conflictive
identities; 2) Lack of a strongly
rooted sense of identity among
youth of color and a related sense
of pride; 3) A need for broader
horizons for youth, role models,
and partnerships. (Anderson,
2015)
Paul Hernandez: Mr. Hernandez
underscored the strong
disconnect between the
educational system and the
concrete needs and expressed
desires of the youth in Worcester.
He advocated for more caring
adults in schools that are
connected to the communities
represented in Worcester Public
Schools. In his experience,
individual positive relationships
are a buffer to the education
system which too often dismisses
boys of colors as inadequate or
pays attention to them only for
disciplinary purposes.
(Hernandez, 2015)
Elliot Rivera: During his
presentation Mr. Rivera
expressed the importance of truly
loving and caring for the boys
and children that are involve in
programs and projects. For Mr.
Rivera there are three key
strategies to consider to become
an effective practitioner/ youth
worker 1) Relational over
punitive approaches, 2) gaining
youth trust with patience and
time and, 3) honesty when
working with them 4) helping
young people to find their real
identity despite existing
damaging hyper masculine social
impositions.(Rivera, 2015)
Similarly during his presentation
Mr. Rivera pinpoint some
necessary approaches to improve
the outcomes of youth services in
Worcester. Those are 1) More
youth mentors, 2) Further
collaborative approaches
between organizations 3) The
community need to develop an
“ownership” sense of the male
youth in Worcester 3)
understanding that supporting a
young man to become a man
does not stop when they reach
their 18th birthday. (Rivera, 2015)
Roundtables
Below please find the
recommendations suggested by
conference participants through
roundtable discussions.
Program Implementation:
- School Committee and City
Council should require the
educational community to
take classes on youth
development.
- Develop dual enrollment
programs in Worcester.
- Promote more students
taking the Accuplacer during
high school.
- Develop post-secondary
vocational programs.
- Increase communication and
collaboration between
programs. Find a common
language, share statistics,
stories, and ideas.
- Create an inventory of
existing programs. (i.e. # of
kids served, how served, by
whom). Professor Laurie
Ross from Clark is already
working on an inventory
- Can we do a collective
assessment for boy services
in Worcester?
- Build on the college access
network group as a model.
- Create a program where
adults can serve as positive
role models for boys.
- Boys need more personal
development programs
Public Policy/ Advocacy:
- New social and cultural
paradigms are challenging a
traditional educational
system. Educational system
must be reformed to be able
to reach those boys and
young males that are being
excluded for not fitting the
traditional model. (ethnic and
racial minorities,
incarcerated and homeless
youth)
- Consider in policy
making/implementation
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processes how gender, race,
income are interconnected.
Open spaces for youth during
the policy making process.
Build youth critical thinking
skills.
Analyze policy making
processes from a power
perspective.
Increase youth activism.
Boys/young males must be
present and part of the
process discussing how to
raise opportunities for them.
Hear youth voices and claims
in schools, forums,
organizations and
acknowledge their stories.
Raising Awareness in the
Community:
- WPS should teach ethnic
studies as part of the core
curriculum. Youth and boys
in particular need a greater
sense of identity to foster
self-development and
positive youth development.
This is especially important
in WPS because of the dearth
of diverse teachers.
- Concerted effort is needed to
accurately portray the assets
and accomplishment of boys
in the greater community to
combat negative stereotypes.
- Lessons from the success of
the Worcester Woman's
Initiative should be
processed as we seek to lift
opportunities for boys.
- Media is a reflection of our
community
- Rethink negative labels and
categorizations educational
system assigns to boys,
young males and adults.
Language has a profound
impact on educational
policies, programs and
projects.
- There is a need for increasing
family engagement, caretaker
engagement and community
awareness.
- Business community needs
to open opportunities for
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boys/young men. Between
those, they could develop a
youth summer employment
programs.
Create more positive media
around boys
An informal network of
interested groups and
organizations seeking to
work together to increase
opportunities for boys should
be developed to create action
around these issues.
Video future events and
broadcast them in a public
channel. Community
members should have access
to information.
Other/Miscellaneous:
- Importance of considering
role of hypermasculinty.
How the concept presents
itself permeates young boy’s
psyches and development.
Masculinity concepts have
and endurable and deep
effect on every member of
the community perceptions,
attitudes and behaviors
around policies, programs
and projects working with
male youth.
- Own traditional cultural and
systemic perceptions of what
is to be a boy/young man and
how this deeply affects and
define youth services and
programs in Worcester. The
current system as a whole
emasculate and doesn’t give
young boys and men the
spaces and opportunities to
develop their identity and
appropriate their own idea of
what is to be a boy and a
man.
- These ideas about
masculinity begin within the
family but continue and are
reinforced throughout life
creating distorted perceptions
of the self, creating
individual and collective
negative consequences.
- Paramount importance of the
community creating new
definitions of masculinity,
and helping boys, young men
and adults to live and respect
their own masculinity
interpretations.
PARTICIPANTS
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Robert Anderson, Youth Practitioner,
Broader Horizons
Reverend Raymond D. Austin Junior
Pat Barnosky, Program Director Central
MA Area, Health Education Center.
Eric Batista, Office of the City Manager
Sarah Bertrand
Marie Boone
Francisco Borges Rivera, Research
Assistant, L.E.I., Student Clark University
Ramon Borges, Associate Professor of
Community Development and Planning,
Clark University
Patrick Brothers, Education Coordinator,
Upward Bound, YOU Inc.
Adrianna Buduski, Program Coordinator,
Girls Incorporated
Cesar Burgos
Raquel Castro Corazzini, Director
Leadership Program, City of Worcester
Anne Catalano, CMA
Angela Coletta-Acevedo
Donna Connolly, Director, Mass
Education and Career Opportunities, Inc.
Thomas Conroy, Chair, Urban Studies,
Worcester State University
Joseph M. Corazzini, Director of
Community Resource Development,
Framingham Public Schools
Sarah Daly, Youth Practitioner, YWCA
Jennifer Davis Carey, Executive Director,
Worcester Education Collaborative
Stacey DeBoise Luster, Assistant Vice
President for Human Resources, Payroll,
and Affirmative Action and Equal
Opportunity, WSU
Kirshner Donis, Associate Director of
Admissions, Worcester State University
Lisa Dyer, Principal, North High School
Paola Echeverry, Research Assistant
L.E.I.
Katherine Esparza, Youth Practitioner
L.E.I., Graduate Student Clark University
Marilyn Flores, Education Advisor,
GEAR UP · Worcester East Middle
School
Jeff Giarrusso, (CNVS)
Gaelyn Hastings, Project Director, Y.O.U.
Paul Hernandez, Community Leader,
Youth Practitioner
Marianna Islam, Youth Practitioner, YUR
Diogenito Jorge, Kennedy Youth Center
Walter Jovel, Faculty, Clark University
Kevin Kane, Worcester State University
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Jacob Kelley,
30. Kelsey Lamoureux, Special Projects
Coordinator, Youth Works
Michelle Klotz, Assistant Director,
Central MA Academy (CMA).
Diane Langford James, Faculty, WSU
Andrew LaPointe
Keefe Laporte, MOSAIC
Robert Layne, Director Outreach
Programs, University of Massachusetts
Olivia Lemmon, Reporter/Anchor for
Channel 3, Worcester News Tonight.
Margaret LeRoux, Assistant Director,
Worcester Education Collaborative
Miguel Lopez (Sergeant), Youth Program
Director for the Worcester Police
Howard Lucas
Mary Jo Marion, Assistant Vice President
for Urban Affairs, Executive Director,
Latino Education Institute
Barry Maloney, President, Worcester
State University
Lila Milukas, MEE Program Coordinator,
African Community Education (ACE)
Anne Muirhead, Education Advisor,
Doherty Memorial High School
Timothy E. Murphy, Visiting Assistant
Professor Urban Studies, Worcester State
University
Roberto Ochoa, Interim Pastor,
Congregational Church
Christopher M. O’Keeffe, Vice President
for Program, Greater Worcester
Community Foundation
Christine Olsen, ESL Teacher, Seven
Hills Charter School
Heidi Paluk,, VP External Affairs, United
Way
Marlon Perez Calvetti, Faculty, WSU
Michael Quigley, Manager, Training
Resources for America, Inc.
Hilda Ramirez, Assistant Director, Latino
Education Institute at WSU
Kelsey Renner, Ambassador of
Mentoring, African Community
Education (ACE)
Elliot Rivera, Youth Practitioner, Latino
Education Institute
Elsa Rivera, Wraparound Outreach
Coordinator, The Goddard School of
Science and Technology
Marco Rodrigues, Chief Academic
Officer, Worcester Public Schools
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Bertha Helena Rojas, Manager of ELL
and Supplement Support Services,
Worcester Public Schools
Laurie Ross, Associate Professor of
Community Development and Planning,
Clark
Sarah Rosario, ELL Tutor Seven Hills
Charter Public School
Gabriel Santner, Project Coordinator,
Worcester Public Schools
Clyde Talley, Reverend, Baptist Church
Linda Taylor, Counselor, Worcester
Community Action Council, Inc.
Marc Wagner, Professor English
Department, Worcester State University
Dominic Warren, City Advisory Council,
City of Worcester
Angelique Webster
Marcus Williams, Student Development
Specialist, Upward Bound, YOU Inc.
Leonard A. Zalauskas, President
Educational Association of Worcester,
EUA
Alex Zequeira, President Nativity School
of Worcester, Chair of the Latino
Education Institute Advisory Board.