Growing up wasn’t easy for Anthony Heaven. As an African-American male living in a city where the school-to-prison pipeline seemed to run through every neighborhood, Anthony tackled his share of race-based and socioeconomic obstacles to higher education.
A native of Detroit, Anthony left home at age 15 to live with his grandparents to avoid difficult family circumstances. With the support of a village, including his family members, mentors and educators, Anthony became the first in his family to attend college and was elected student government president at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A former McNair Scholar, Anthony is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in educational administration at The University of Texas at Austin. He hopes to change the odds of opportunities for young men such as himself.
Anthony is just one of many men of color who faces a series of extra hurdles when it comes to pursuing college or a graduate degree. The representation of African-American and Latino men in higher education is the worst it has been in the last 30 years. Nationwide, African-American men comprise 7.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, yet the average Black male enrollment rate at the nation’s 50 public flagship universities is only 2.8 percent of undergraduates. Latino males have the lowest high school graduation rates as well as the lowest college enrollment and completion rates of any subgroup.
The abysmal underrepresentation of men of color on college campuses is symptomatic of admissions processes, which have fallen under strict scrutiny. It is also indicative of the larger lack of research on, support for and access to higher education for young men of color. The reasons why this opportunity gap exists are myriad and important to identify. Even more crucial are effective solutions to this gap made possible through research and evidence-based practices. It is up to us to usher in a more positive trend in higher education, and, at The University of Texas Austin, we aim to lead that trend.
The UT Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE) projects it will spend just under $6 million in staffing, student teaching, programming and outreach funds for men of color initiatives over a 10-year period, through 2020. With the unflagging support of UT President William Powers Jr. and inspired by the model of former director of the Community College Leadership Program, Dr. John E. Roueche, the DDCE currently funds these projects at nearly $750,000 a year.
Similar to President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, our commitment to close the opportunity gap involves both academic initiatives and partnerships with community and philanthropic organizations. In doing so, we are able to engage men of color across the entire educational spectrum, from pre-K through doctoral degrees.
One such initiative is Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success), which conducts research about Latino male educational experiences and mentors males of color across Central Texas. UT Austin is also home to the African American Male Research Initiative (AAMRI), a faculty-led academic initiative designed to increase the four-year graduation rate for African-American males.
