A Cup Of Coffee For The Economic Mobility of Black Families
At NoirePack Inc, we believe that breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Black communities requires a transformation in the Black family unit by fully vesting primarily on the economic outcomes of Black men. Research after research has indicated that educational and economic outcomes for Black men have profound implications for Black families' prosperity that may hinder the prospects of Black children and racial equity more broadly.
NoirePack pledges 5% of coffee sales to key organizations that genuinely foster, support, and advocate for Black Families. Specifically, those that target the areas of employment, criminal justice, and education for Black men.
These organizations include:
EJI - challenges racial and economic injustice and provides legal representation to people who have been illegally convicted, unfairly sentenced, or abused in jails and prisons.
Black Economic Alliance - a coalition of business leaders and aligned advocates committed to economic progress and prosperity in the Black community with a specific focus on work, wages, and wealth.
The Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle - As the second-oldest civil rights organization in the state of Washington, ULMS is one of the region's essential economic first responders, helping families cope with challenges through a variety of programs designed to support and encourage self-sufficiency in all aspects of life. ULMS also serves as a liaison between community members, local businesses, city and county government, and other service-based organizations that share our concern for the welfare of the Black community and other disadvantaged residents in the Greater Puget Sound area.
National Black Child Development Institute- As one of the only national organizations dedicated exclusively to the success and well-being of Black children, the National Black Child Development Institute and our National Affiliate Network have been a powerful and effective voice on issues related to the education, care, and health of Black children and their families.
BMe - The BMe Community is a national network of black men and thousands of other community-builders of all races and genders. With members in Pittsburg, Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia, the network includes 100 leaders and has served over 200 000 kids. The BMe website has an excellent repository of stories about male innovators, social entrepreneurs, political leaders, and more.
Race gaps in the intergenerational persistence of poverty are primarily the result of poor outcomes for Black men. Thus, the only way for Black families to thrive in the U.S is by helping Black men achieve more earnings through the implementation of strategies and policies that will improve education, justice, and employment for Black men.
Improving employment rates and opportunities: On average, Black men experience higher unemployment rates, lower labor force participation rates, and lower earnings than their white male counterparts because of discriminatory practices by employers.....this must change by implementing policies and initiatives by both government and the private sectors to promote better employment opportunities for Black men. For instance, the initiative OneTen – a coalition of 37 CEOs from top companies that pledge to train, hire, and promote one million Black Americans over the next ten years, with a particular emphasis on those who do not have a four-year college degree.
Criminal justice reform: To truly address Black boys and men's social issues problems, there must be significant reform to the criminal justice system. Black men are drastically overrepresented in the prison population, accounting for 32% of the prison population but only 6% of the overall U.S. population.
They are five times more likely to be incarcerated during their lifetime than white men, and they are more likely to serve longer sentences than white men (on average, 19% longer). Women and children in low-income urban communities now must deal with absent husbands and fathers lost to incarceration and adjust to their return after release. Poor single men detached from family life are also affected, bearing the stigma of a prison record in the job market, housing, marriage, voting, social services, federal student aid, and the list goes on. All of this taken together reduces the economic opportunities available to Black men and hinders their role in social and family life. To address these obstacles, criminal justice reform must be made a policy priority. The objective should be first, to reduce the number of Black men behind bars and second, to improve re-entry conditions.
A better education system: As compared to Black women, white men, and white women, Black men have lower levels of educational attainment. Only about 28% of Black men (aged 25-29) have a bachelor's degree or higher.
Black men have fewer opportunities to receive higher education because those with a felony record face limited access to federal student loans. Moreover, many of the service providers within the educational system do not cultivate the full potential of Black male students. This includes grading biases, higher suspension and expulsion rates, higher rates of in-school arrests, lack of Black male role models within the school, and other overt and covert racism forms. To improve the economic outcomes for Black men, we need to be policies in place to respond to these educational disparities:
Black men have profound implications for Black families' prosperity that may hinder the prospects of Black children and racial equity more broadly.
More funding from the government for communities of color "nonwhite school districts receive $23 billion less than white districts, despite serving the same number of students."
Federal student loans should be readily available to those with a felony conviction because it will provide many Black males with the opportunity to further their education.
The education system's infrastructure should be improved to support Black male students better so that they can achieve their full academic potential.
Black families across America are statistically buried within layers and layers of obstacles and challenges. Half of all Black children are being raised in poverty and in single-family parenting households leading future generations on the path to crime and poverty furthering delay is unthinkable.
Today's Black economic disparity can only be alleviated by breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty in Black families by improving the black men’s economic outcomes. At NoirePack, we understand the profound implications Black families and the prospects of Black children may face if we as a community don't take action which is why we are fully vested in supporting this cause the best way we can one cup of coffee at a time and as the famous writer and orator James Baldwin once said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." James Baldwin.