The Quick Pitch of the Final Product

Black boys in our nation’s public schools aren’t learning. A disproportionate number of them are dropping out of high school and going to jail.

Website Title: My Bruthas’ Keepers: The jail house or the school house?

The Pitch: Black boys in our nation’s public schools aren’t learning. A disproportionate number of them are dropping out of high school and going to jail. This site tracks new developments in education relating to this demographic.
Audience: Urban educators, urban school administrators, federal and state legislators, parents, philanthropists and activists. The information and resources presented on this Website will help people hold legislators and even their local educational agencies accountable to one of the nation’s most under-served populations.
Multi-Media Components
Counters: Similar to the National Debt Clock, there will be two counters on the site: one that tracks the amount of money going into the development and operation of federal, state and local prisons, and one that tracks the amount of money going into the development and operation of kindergarten through twelfth grade schools. These counters will track national numbers but, via a drop-down menu, track state levels as well.

Original Content: About one-third of my site’s content will be original, while the rest will be aggregated from sources world-wide. The original content will be things such as; magazine-length features and creative/artistic presentations such as narrated photo journals and blogs.
Interactive Map: I will recreate a map such as The Schott Foundation’s “Inequity Index” which shows graduation rates of black males nation-wide and is available at
Aggregated Content: Aggregated content will include news stories, feature stories, studies and budget analyses (local, state and federal) that independently or collaboratively address education and prison but specifically as these two topics relate to black males.
Searchable Sidebars: A list of grant availabilities, books and related literature
Time Stamps: Content will refresh daily. Larger features will change weekly to bi-weekly, or even monthly, depending on the number of contributors I have and the deadlines I set.
Links: There will be links to the studies that we analyze, sites like the National Education Association as well as local educational resources, prison information, and contact information and Websites of featured programs.
Searchable Databases: Like The Los Angeles Times’ statistical display of school scores available at , I would do a statistical, searchable, school-by-school display of standardized testing scores for black males in the nation’s top 20 school districts with the highest black male enrollment.
I will also include a nationwide map that, as you move the timeline bar, shows you the increasing number of suspensions of African-American boys from 1974 to 2004.
Business Plan: The site will be financed through advertising from charter schools who are looking for students, historically black colleges/universities and urban school districts, mentoring groups such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and Big Brothers Big Sisters, grants, philanthropists and general donors.