Family Matters

The report examines three issues that have a substantial impact on Black families and Black communities -- foster care, fatherhood and identity development. "Family Matters is a must read for not only grantmakers but for policymakers and family and child advocates alike," said Susan Taylor Batten, ABFE's President and CEO. "The investment strategies and recommendations outlined in this report offer important lessons and advice for those of us concerned with the well-being of Black families.

Stepping Up and Stepping Out: Profiles of Philanthropy Responding to an American Crisis

Stepping Up and Stepping Out profiles three philanthropic organizations that are making investments with a specific intent to create opportunities for black males: A Legacy of Tradition, Chicago Community Trust, and Schott Foundation for Public Education

Why We Can't Wait -- A Case for Philanthropic Action: Opportunities for Improving Life Outcomes for African American Males

This report examines programs and initiatives that impact the life outcomes of African-American males, gathers reflections from the field, and assesses needs and opportunities according to scholars, policy makers, advocates, and organizational leaders. The report documents its findings and recommendations in three categories: academia/research, practitioners/civil society, and public policy/advocacy

Momentum: Sustaining Efforts to Improve Life Outcomes Among African-American Males

A follow-up to the report, "Why We Can't Wait", this report defines effective philanthropic work in the area of black males, surveys the landscape of efforts underway, discusses challenges and opportunities to advance effective approaches, and outlines a plan of action for individuals and institutions

"You Got to Have a Heart of Stone to Work Here": Coaching, Teaching, and "Building Men" at Eastside High

<p>This dissertation is the first study of this length to examine the ways adult African American men build community. It is also a new attempt to describe the pedagogical approaches these men use as educators, and to theorize how their life experiences and personal style impact their work in the classroom. The study centers on a group of African American football coaches, and expands from that critical site to the personal and professional lives of the educators on that staff. </p><p>Though Black men are often assumed to be emotionally inexpressive, I find that the coaches I work with expressed their most intimate emotion to select groups of trusted partners. These individuals actively built communities of love and support through processes of racial vetting and personal character evaluation, and took extended periods of time to develop close friendships. After reviewing the ways in which the social sciences have generally regarded Black males with varying degrees of contempt, fear and pity, I examine the ways the game of football and the "consensual violence" the football community fostered help build, rather than deconstruct, personal bonds. I use examples of roughhousing and interpersonal confrontation as ways to talk about how, contrary to much of the scholarship on violence in sports, aggression can lead to intimacy.</p><p>In similar fashion, the coach-educators of Eastside High approached teaching as an exercise underpinned by a need to be brutally honest, or "real," with their "kids." I found that these coaches were critical of their colleagues that insisted upon anything but honesty with students, and championed realistic expectations for students as a key to effective pedagogy. These educators also articulated the importance of engaging students from a communal perspective, particularly in an educational environment that at times can be openly hostile to "at risk" students. While these teachers and staff were often critical of youth culture in very specific ways, they also tried to create spaces for their students to express themselves, even in counter-cultural ways. Lastly, the coaches of Eastside High postulated teacher burnout as a pressing issue that should be at the center of considerations for educational reform. They argued that the testing regime had reduced their work as teachers to a numbers game, and insisted that the support of teachers should be central to systemic reform.</p>Dissertatio

Selective inhibitory effects of 50-nm gold nanoparticles on mouse macrophage and spleen cells

<p>Nanoparticles (NP) are significant to multiple industrial processes, consumer products and medical applications today. The health effects of many different types of NP, however, are largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to test the effects of 50-nm gold NP coated with poly-<i>N</i>-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on mouse macrophage and spleen cells with and without lipopolysaccharide (LPS), testing the hypothesis that the NP would modulate immune responses without being overtly toxic. Gold NP had no effect on macrophage viability and, in the absence of LPS, they had no effect on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-<i>α</i> production as measured by ELISA. The presence of LPS significantly increased the release of TNF<i>α</i> from the macrophages above no-treatment controls, but increasing gold NP concentration led to decreasing release of TNF<i>α</i>. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by exposed macrophages were also reduced compared to untreated controls, both with and without LPS, suggesting some kind of oxygen radical scavenging. In splenocyte cultures, gold NP had no effect alone, but significantly reduced the release of interleukin (IL)-17 and TNF<i>α</i> triggered by LPS. These results suggest that the gold NP used here are not cytotoxic to immune cells at these concentrations, but may affect cellular responses to infection or inflammation by altering the balance of cytokines.</p