Reports

The policies and practices that perpetuate the continual, unjust murder of Black males by the nation’s law-enforcement professionals have gone unchanged for far too long. This Brief Report from HomeGrown StL provides local, state, and federal policymakers with concrete, evidence-based policy recommendations for building an equitable, transparent, and accountable public-safety approach that will serve and protect all.

The prevalence of community-based violence (CBV) exposure among black American male emerging adults ages 18 to 25 with a history of involvement with the criminal justice system is a major public health concern. Although exposure (whether as victim or witness) to CBV is linked with negative outcomes, empirical research examining black men’s negative emotional responses to seeing videos of real-life incidents of CBV on social media is scant. To address these identified concerns and make recommendations for future research, the present study examines the relationship between seeing videos of CBV on social media and three types of negative emotional responses (that is, feeling sad, angry, and fearful) prior to incarceration among a sample of 101 black men detained in a midwestern jail. Social media use and seeing videos of CBV on social media were moderately high for study participants. Seeing a video involving police violence was significantly associated with an increase in the odds of feeling sad, angry, and fearful. Social media research is an emerging area that has the potential to advance our understanding of the impact of seeing social media videos of police violence on the well-being of black men and factors that mediate or moderate this relationship.

What policy reforms are needed to remove the structural barriers that make it difficult for Black boys and young men to thrive in St. Louis?

Presenting findings from research with social service providers, this Brief Report from the Race and Opportunity Lab’s HomeGrown STL project seeks to inform policy decisions, advocacy efforts, and collective impact strategies in order to improve outcomes for Black boys and young men in the St. Louis region.

HomeGrown STL is an initiative to take on long-standing community disparities by improving the social mobility of the region’s 60,000 black boys and young men in one generation. More than 120 regional leaders and providers working to improve the lives of black boys and young men in St. Louis participated in the second annual HomeGrown STL Summit on February 8, 2018, at the Brown School of Social Work.

Convened annually, HomeGrown StL’s annual regional summit brings together service providers, government officials, private-sector partners, and residents to strengthen, align, and accelerate local collective-impact strategies that support the health, development, and economic mobility of Black boys and young men in St. Louis City and in St. Louis County.

This report summarizes developments from the 4th Regional Summit on the State of Opportunities for Black Boys and Young Men: Closing the Healing, Growth, & Opportunity Gaps, which convened June 3, 2021. Priority Objectives and Key Results developed during the summit are described. In addition, the report details the progress of HomeGrown StL and the project’s vision for the year 2022.

Over the last several years, data has emerged indicating an alarming increase in the suicide rates for Black children and teenagers over the past generation. While research has also shown climbing rates for youth from other racial and ethnic groups, this trend in Black youth runs counter to historical data showing lower rates of suicide among Black Americans. It challenges the public perception that Black youth simply do not commit suicide. Additional research about suicidal behaviors has raised questions about whether the path from suicidal thoughts to attempts is well understood in Black youth, and whether we have the knowledge and tools to intervene before the worst happens.

The tragic killing of Michael Brown at the hand of Darren Wilson, a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, further highlighted the long-standing disparities in health, education, employment, and overall well-being disproportionately burdening Black boys and young men in the St. Louis region. Since that event and the associated developments, actions have centered on attending to structural determinants, racism, and equity. However, less attention has been devoted to the overall well-being of Black boys and young men ages 18–29 in the St. Louis region and to the paucity of available economic opportunities. This Brief Report from the Race and Opportunity Lab’s HomeGrown STL project seeks to shift the focus by documenting regional trends in three economic social mobility indicators and crime rates. The analysis substantiates an urgent need for regional interventions to remedy the stagnant social mobility levels of Black males.