Local Effort Aims to Better Serve Black Boys in Detroit

The Children’s Center kicked off its new initiative with a town hall meeting, a discussion center on mental health. The Crisis to Connection: An Imperative for Our Black Boys. The forum set to address how Black boys are disproportionately affected by implicit bias, systemic racism, and the experience of trauma at a higher rate than their white counterparts.

“Mental health is often a subject people don’t want to talk about,” says George Winn, Chief Operating Officer of The Children’s Center. “We were able to provide an opportunity to listen and hear the voice of the community. Resources and collaboration was discussed and the importance of young boys talking to their parents. Their voices are so powerful.”

Winn says the input from youth and community stakeholders will assist the organization redesign their system that meets their needs.

The forum’s stakeholders included parents, faith-based leaders, mental health experts, and community organizations who gathered for organic conversations to address systemic issues.

“What we realized decades ago is that many providers would start a program and receive program doing the best they could do, but what we realized is that it takes all of us to come together to put our expertise knowledge, and skills and talk about issues from law enforcement, to legislation, education, juvenile justice, and mental health.”

Winn states the organization is examining all of the institutional systems as he understand they impact the trajectory of Black boys in the community.

The barriers to addressing issues like mental health is often found in a community which shines away from the very topic this particular forum hoped to address.

When the event’s moderator asked, why is isn’t mental health talked about in the Black community, it was followed by a very frank response. “ Because we don’t talk about it in the Black community,” said Kevin Fishcer, Executive Director of NAMI Michigan –  NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“Mental illness don’t not discriminate, neither does the stigma, …we don’t want people to think we’re crazy. The lack of mental health resources in our community, how we’re treated, how we’re viewed. But, we have to work on stigma from the inside out. We have to stop denying ourselves a higher quality life by saying, ain’t nothing wrong with Uncle Pete.”

As for what could adults do to understand Black boys who are dealing with their mental health, Tristan Stallworth, 17, says you have to express your feelings and that parents must know how to be patient with their child. “It’s not something you can get over quickly.”

One of the panelists at the town hall meeting has two sons dealing with extraordinary challenges and expressed one of the first areas of focus to addressing mental health and how the issues of Black boys is first in the education system.

“I have a teenager in high school who has HDHD and ODD which has caused a lot of nightmares in the education system in the way people treat him, people are not kind, says Arlyssa Heard, Deputy Director at 482Forward, and a parent on the panel. “What I’m finding is the more we are connecting in spaces like this, to be able to share some of these challenges, you begin to get the help you need.”

Heard believes the mental health system need to partner more with the educational system.

“Everything that is happening with our children is in the classroom, but it comes in the form of suspensions, expulsions, behavioral issues in the classroom, it impacts the students learning, the teachers having a hard time dealing with students due to lack of training and resources.”

Negative images of Black boys and men in the media was also addressed as another barrier to overcome is rooting out implicit biases faced against them, as Winn and The Children’s Center seek to make Detroit the best place to raise a young Black boy.

“All Black boys are not doing something wrong. All Black men are not being irresponsible, but if we can change that message and change that script, I think that it helps the position of our Black boys. We have a responsibility, and we are stepping out to the plate.”