75 percent of 10 year-old black children are not at grade-level proficiency in math or reading. How is this possible?

In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Robert Cherry, adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the new book The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope. As an economist and journalist, Robert documents how unstable family structures are contributing to the problems plaguing black communities today, including gun violence and underperformance in the classroom.

Robert explains that marriage rates are significantly lower for blacks than whites, which means fewer black children are being born into two-parent families. Multi-partner fertility—having kids with multiple people—is also disproportionately high among black women.

Instead of government-based solutions that try to substitute for the family, such as universal preschool, Robert advocates for policies that focus on helping the family, like home visiting programs to increase caregiver capacity. To address racial gaps in education, Robert argues for establishing stackable certificate programs to compensate vocational workers for experience, along with extending Pell Grant eligibility for apprenticeships.

Resources

• The State of the Black Family: Sixty Years of Tragedies and Failures—and New Initiatives Offering Hope | Robert Cherry

• Distance to 100: An Alternative to Racial Achievement Gaps | Ian Rowe

Show Notes

• 02:20 | Dynamics in the black family

• 04:06 | The state of the black family 60 years ago

• 05:10 | Vulnerabilities in the black community

• 09:03 | Policy recommendations to support the family

• 16:50 | Renewed approach to vocational training