Legislators seek ways to aid young minority males
Hearing set for March 2
State legislators, along with local and state school and organization leaders, will be in Los Angeles for a second field hearing investigating ways to improve the lives of young men of color in the state, with a focus on establishing common-sense school discipline and law-enforcement policies.
The hearing will be held on Friday, March 2, at 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Comrie Hall at the Expo Center, 3980 Bill Robertson Lane. An earlier meeting was held in Oakland last month.
The California Assembly’s Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color, was formed by Assembly Speaker John Perez at the request of the committee chairman, Assembly member Sandre Swanson. Swanson’s effort is aimed at harnessing the promise and lessons from the front lines of Los Angeles’s most successful and innovative policies and programs.
The group will listen to testimonies from young men and hear about the barriers they face in the areas of education, safety and employment.
“Los Angeles needs its young men. All of them,” said Kafi D. Blumenfield, president and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation. “But today, boys and young men of color face unique and significant barriers to their well being. Right now in L.A., low-income young men and young men of color have the lowest life expectancy rates, highest unemployment rates, represent the most murder victims and have the fewest high school and college graduates of any demographic group.”
The hearing is open to the public. RSVP online at www.LibertyHill.org/hearing, via email at info@libertyhill.org, or phone by contacting Anthony Foster at (323) 556-7206.
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