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Blog Post

Black Presence in High School Education

April 27, 2022 by Eric Norman Leave a Comment

“The story of our communities can in many ways be told through the lens of the school districts that serve our children.” 

– Recent report by EdBuild

San Francisco is one of the most vibrant communities in the nation. But that vibrancy isn’t mirrored in our schools.

Our city and school district, like many others, face myriad issues. But most school districts don’t have the resources that San Francisco has.

At SFA, we believe we can minimize the opportunity gap.

Over the last few years, San Francisco Unified School District has made strides in closing those gaps. While the pandemic exacerbated some of the issues, the City is springing back. Yet a rising tide may not lift all boats.

Together, we can help.

Schools can’t solve structural inequality by themselves. And the issues can’t be solved without the schools, or without institutions like SF Achievers. And certainly not without people like you.

SF Achievers knows this story well. We’ve seen how support and resources can change student’s lives for the better. Especially the lives of Black young men in the San Francisco Unified School District.

Closing the opportunity gap is why our organization exists. And changing the lives of these boys and young men is our mission.

But why does this gap exist in the first place?

Social Determinants: Education and Housing

The way we finance education varies from state to state and district to district. Generally, states use a combination of taxes and fees to provide roughly half of the budget.

Of that half, 44% comes from local districts. The remaining balance (about 8%) comes from state education budgets.¹

Education funding is then distributed to school districts on a per-student bases. However, school funding is never as straight forward or as simple as that.

Each state employs a different formula and standard to finance a “basic education.”

This means local funding is hugely important to public education. In San Francisco, we finance education largely through property tax values. And taxes, as you know, are often an interesting matter. In recent years, the Federal Government stepped in with big budget infusions like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009) and the Total Recovery Act (2010). By 2011, however, state legislatures started cutting their education budgets. In some cases, those cuts came to $300 million.

Nationwide, the average state spending per pupil varies widely. That makes it difficult to determine what a “sound, basic education actually costs.”

While researchers may argue about how to estimate the cost of education, they all agree on one thing. Education does take up a big part of state and municipal budgets.

But what does a sound, basic education entail? What makes it harder to reduce the achievement gap among high-poverty populations?

Here’s the key: educational outcomes for high-poverty populations are a byproduct of unequal access to key educational resources.

They’re not a function of race.

The Impact of Under-Resourced Schools

High-poverty students lose nearly twice as many instructional days a year (22 days) compared to low-poverty students (12 days). This difference is due to things like:

  • inadequate access to healthcare
  • unstable housing
  • chronic hunger
  • outdated or malfunctioning equipment
  • teacher and student absences

All the above impacts the amount of teaching time in high-poverty populations. And it leaves these children at a considerable disadvantage.

However, this disadvantage isn’t a new phenomenon.

A Brief History of School Segregation

Educational experiences for minority students have a long history of being separate. And unequal.

Sixty years ago, most African American students’ schools were wholly segregated. They were also funded significantly less than schools serving white students. In addition, African American students were entirely excluded from attending many postsecondary institutions.

The nation made tremendous strides in the 1970s toward desegregation. Between 1970-90, the gap between minority and white students’ test scores narrowed significantly. This was due in part to efforts to balance per-student spending.

Re-sorting Students by Resources

Today, in many urban school districts, high-poverty students have effectively been re-sorted.

On average, they receive far fewer instructional resources and supports than others.

Sorting many high-poverty and minority students within schools’ leaves underserved/high-poverty students with fewer resources, including larger class sizes. Teacher-student ratios are nearly 24% higher than optimal. And teacher-student ratios are 33% higher if we exclude Mission High. (Mission has an optimal student-teacher ratio of 18:1).

High-poverty students also deal with lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers. In addition, they get less qualified and experienced teachers. Which means a lower-quality curriculum.

SF Achievers: Working to Bridge the Gaps

We employ a Positive Youth Development approach to help Black young men close the opportunity gap, enabling them to make it to and through their postsecondary education.

The Achievers Program works with high school students to help bridge the gap by addressing issues like:

  • Outdated or Malfunctioning equipment
  • Teacher and student absences
  • Higher suspensions and expulsions rates
  • Inadequate access to healthcare
  • Unstable housing
  • Chronic hunger

Each year, SFA makes progress toward our goal. On average, SFA now receives applications from 90% of SFUSD high schools, and 74% of our scholars currently attend or have graduated from college!

The San Francisco Unified School District has recognized the San Francisco Achievers’ program as a significant partner in its efforts to close the opportunity gap. According to a former superintendent, this gap is the single greatest social justice issue facing our nation today.

Keep in touch by visiting us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter.

¹National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

Filed Under: Blog Post Tagged With: Black Lives Matter, Opportunity Gap, SF Achievers, sfusd

San Francisco Achievers’ Giving Tuesday Campaign

November 18, 2021 by Gregg Zaire Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means so is one of the biggest spending days of the year – Black Friday. And while you’ve probably heard about Black Friday deals and maybe even Cyber Monday, right on the heels of those spending frenzy’s is another very important day – Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea – a day that encourages people to do good and to give back after a weekend of “getting” deals and sales. Many non-profit and for-profit organizations participate in Giving Tuesday, donating their time, resources and financial support. And one of the biggest organizations in the world is also giving back on this day: Facebook (aka Meta).

They’re matching up to $100,000 for any US non-profit organization that registers their Facebook fundraiser on Giving Tuesday.

And we could use your help taking advantage of that opportunity.

Would you help us spread the word about our Giving Tuesday fundraiser on Facebook?

Here’s how:

Our newest partner to the San Francisco Achievers network, The Myers-Briggs Company, has chosen us as their charity partner for this next year, and with their marketing help we’ve created this infographic to help spread the word about our mission, who we help and our Giving Tuesday fundraiser.

Click here to download the infographic and share it to your social networks (especially on Facebook) to help spread the word about our fundraiser, and help us reach our goal of maxing out the Facebook match!

Filed Under: Blog Post

Achievers and the Pandemic

June 9, 2020 by Gregg Zaire Leave a Comment

At San Francisco Achievers, we have been doing our part to keep staff, volunteers and our students safe. All staff are working from home and all in-person programs have been suspended until further notice. Utilizing virtual tools, we are continuing to empower our high school and college students by providing information regarding food distribution, access to masks, access to technology resources, academic support and most importantly encouragement. During these times we are extremely dependent and grateful for the support of our donors and volunteers.

Our staff have been in regular communication with students, their families and our strategic partners like DCYF and SFUSD. We are sharing information on useful resources, including the list of school sites that are providing free to go meals for youth 18 years and under. We are doing our best to stay on top of the updates and information that is coming in daily from local and statewide officials.  We are under guidance in the Bay Area along with five other Bay Area counties,  including Alameda and Contra Costa regarding the “shelter in place” order as it progresses through the phases to re-open physical spaces. For local updates please check your local news outlets and for Covid-19 updates from the CA Department of Public Health, please click here

With gratitude,
San Francisco Achievers Staff and Board

Filed Under: Blog Post Tagged With: coronarvirus, covid-19, san francisco achievers, school meals, sfusd

Black Lives Matter!

June 9, 2020 by Gregg Zaire 1 Comment

Dear San Francisco Achievers supporters,

In this time of immense tragedy, San Francisco Achievers has long been a place for empowering African American young men in San Francisco and for supporting them through a wide variety of challenges including racism. This is ingrained in our very DNA as part of our mission to inspire and assist African American young men in San Francisco to lead and thrive in higher education and beyond. We accomplish this through mentoring, leadership training and college scholarships.

As individuals, as a team and as an organization, we will not stand for bullying, bigotry, or hate of any kind. In this time of extreme sadness, anger and grief we stand with and support the young men we champion not just for a brighter future, but one that truly lives up to the ideals of unity expressed throughout the country today. We are grateful to our vast community of partners and friends who are standing with our students of color with compassion and empathy. We hold one another up and celebrate the differences that make us the rich tapestry that is America. We watch out for one another and stand up against the injustices that threaten not just dreams, but also lives. We all listen to really understand the struggles and deep hurt that some of us may never face. We all stand and rise together.

Black Lives Matter!

Filed Under: Blog Post

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  • Black Presence in High School Education
  • San Francisco Achievers’ Giving Tuesday Campaign
  • Achievers and the Pandemic
  • Black Lives Matter!
  • On The Road To Freedom

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