The Glaring Hole in Newsom's Plan to Address Male Loneliness

Oct 27

BY PETER WATTS, WATTS OF POWER FOUNDATION, AND ANGELICA SOLIS, ALLIANCE COLLEGE-READY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced a plan to address loneliness and alarming suicide rates among boys and young men. As a former principal and a longtime education advocate who has seen young men struggle with social isolation, we welcome this undertaking. However, there’s a glaring hole in the plan: the lack of focus on addressing the needs of young men of color. This omission risks throwing money down the drain on initiatives that will fail to support the majority of young men in our state.

A few years ago, a former student reached out because he was feeling stuck in his career. Caleb* had graduated from college and was working at a grocery store when he joined Watts of Power, an organization that uses a community-based approach to recruit Black male educators. Two years later, Caleb is teaching at a high school in Los Angeles—and is part of the 1% of Black male teachers in California.

Teachers are who we should look to support if California truly wants to address male loneliness.

Outside of the home, teachers, in partnership with school support staff, are best positioned to identify signs of isolation and other mental health challenges present in the classroom. Black male teachers, like Caleb, who have seen how boys of color are treated in school and who have been subject to similar treatment in their youth, understand that loneliness isn’t just about social isolation. For boys and young men of color, it’s also about not being valued or cared for by the institutions that shape their lives.

Roughly 78% of public school students in California are students of color—that’s more than 4.5 million students. Still, schools have historically and systematically isolated students who are not white. We see this in high suspension and expulsion rates, over-policing of dress codes and hairstyles, the lack of cultural history included in instruction, and the shortage of a diverse teacher workforce.

If California wants to effectively tackle the concerning rise in suicides and disconnection among young men and boys, the state must focus on how systems and institutions contribute to their isolation.

The state must encourage our schools to amend the policies and practices that isolate students of color.

As members of Education Leaders of Color, we work with a Network of multisector leaders to catalyze the academic and economic advancement of young people of color. With this Network, we’ve identified a number of practices that can support young men in school and life. Since teacher recruitment is included in the Governor’s directive, we encourage state agencies to address the underlying challenges in recruiting and retaining male teachers of color. “Review of outreach, marketing, and promotional materials and partnerships with colleges and universities”, as the Executive Order outlines, will bear insufficient results. Housing, cost of living, and lack of compensation during student teaching are key reasons for the shortage of male teachers of color. To truly shift this shortage, California must ensure teachers can actually afford to teach.

The policies to recruit teachers should be paired with increased resources for programs that ensure families can address loneliness and mental health challenges at home. This includes programs that address poverty, offer greater access to workforce development, protect immigrant families, increase extracurricular programming, and expand mental health services.

All Californians benefit when our young men feel supported and cared for. When schools have educators that mirror our diverse student population, when communities have programming that inspires our youth to explore their talents, when families have the social supports they need to live, and when our schools eliminate practices rooted in white supremacy, all young people can thrive.

While policies that consider race are under scrutiny in our current political climate, we cannot ignore the needs of the majority of young men in our state. This crisis has already claimed far too many lives. A race-neutral approach will only further isolate those who are most isolated. California must ensure every boy and young man is included in the solution.

*Name has been changed for privacy.