A new report found Black girls across the Keystone State are subjected to "daunting educational barriers" in K-12 public schools and offers recommendations to make the school system more inclusive.

The report detailed barriers with curriculum, dress codes, anti-Black racism, sexism and other issues.

Paige Joki, staff attorney for the Education Law Center-Pennsylvania and leader of the Black Girls Education Justice Initiative, said the purpose of the report was to hear the concerns of Black girls, because their voices were missing from conversations.

She reported students advised them they were exposed to harmful curriculum, and one of the girls' recommendations for public schools is to implement a culturally responsive and affirming curriculum.

"Black girls shared with us that the ways that they were being taught about their history and experiences was traumatic, nonresponsive, and erased experiences of those who are part of their community or have shared identities," Joki reported. "Girls spoke to subjects being handled carelessly, like American slavery."

Another recommendation in the report called for police to be removed from schools. Joki pointed out Black children disproportionately attend schools where police are present, and many of the Black girls they spoke with felt police in their schools created a climate of fear and made them unsafe.

Joki noted a recommendation from Black girls in the report said schools must provide culturally affirming mental health support and increase the number of school-based mental health providers.

"Black girls shared with us that there were not enough counselors at their school or any at all, that the focus was mainly on academics, rather than on supporting their well-being," Joki explained. "They greatly benefited from working with Black mental health support professionals who shared identities and experiences and would allow them to speak freely."

Talia, a high school senior, participated in the focus group discussion and said she is a strong believer in schools needing culturally affirming mental health support. She added being a grown adult and Black femme nonbinary, sometimes life gets stressful, and she would like to see more mental-health support at school.

"However, not just any mental health support," Talia stressed. "I would like there to be people who understand my experience and share an identity with me. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable and heard when we have similar backgrounds. It feels nice to have a Black role model at school, especially since my school is majority Black. And I feel like most of us would agree we need more Black supporters."

Joki emphasized while the report detailed many harmful things, the girls were able to envision more just spaces for their education. She added the girls loved working with people who looked like them and several girls had a beautiful positive story about a teacher who changed their education trajectory and remains in their life.

As the year comes to an end, one event aims to help high schoolers in Arizona learn how to better manage their money. The "Bite of Reality" fairs across the West engage high schoolers by assigning them a persona and students then having to create a budget accordingly.

Sarae Bay, assistant vice president and manager director with the GoWest Foundation, said her organization works with credit unions in Arizona and help sponsor the fairs. She said the exercise is an opportunity for young people to "experiment and make mistakes with finances in a realistic but safe environment."

"They complete a 90 minute budgeting exercise, and it really helps give students a realistic look at money management by updating their budgets in real time to see the true impact of their everyday as well as planned purchases and expenses," she said.

Bay added participants' fictional persona will include an occupation, salary, credit score, possible spouse and child and debt among various other considerations. They then visit "merchants" to purchase items such as housing, groceries, transportation and child care. When they find themselves in a bind, local credit unions are then able to offer guidance.

More than 90 "Bite of Reality" fairs have reached 9,000 students across the West, including Arizona. Bay added that students have left the real-life simulation feeling more prepared to make better financial decisions, and says adds that while all young people's situations are different, no one can go wrong with learning how to better manage their money.

"So the more practice they have in a safe environment, where they aren't going to have a catastrophic mistake that is detrimental to their credit which would impact their ability to find an apartment to live in, or get a small-business loan or a graduate-school loan down the line, it is really, really critical," she continued.

Bay said having been a financial educator and counselor for many years, she knows many people "cringe" at the thought of making a budget and says a simulation exercise like "Bite of Reality" has made doing so less of a burden and more interactive, hopefully leaving participants with important lifelong skills.


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First-generation college students face a host of expectations and challenges - and that's why New Mexico State University will spotlight their accomplishments this month. First-gen students account for about one-third of the NMSU student population.

Rosa De La Torre-Burmeister, advising technology assistant director, says parents, siblings and other family members of first-generation students often are overwhelmed with pride.

"From the siblings, it's nothing but excitement and they want to follow," she explained. "They want to be like their brother or sister. They're celebrated as, I would call them, a 'hero.'"

She added many students new to the university system say they're motivated by watching their own parents achieve dreams after moving to the U.S. without financial resources, a firm grasp on English or the opportunity to pursue higher education.

She said first-generation students face pressures at home and school. They may have trouble relating to peers from families who've attended college for decades, learning the unspoken cultural norms and navigating university life. This is the fifth year NMSU will honor those efforts which Torre-Burmeister feels is important, during a time when good news is often overshadowed.

"There's so many successes that we don't celebrate - there are just so many other negative issues out there that we don't celebrate these moments for these students - these individuals who have worked so hard to earn this certification," she continued.

Torre-Burmeister is a first-generation student, who added she still finds it hard to believe she went from picking onions and tomatoes to graduating from Doña Ana Community College and receiving advanced degrees from Penn University and NMSU.

About 300 young adults leaving foster care in California will now receive a monthly check to help them make ends meet, part of the state's first guaranteed income program.

Some 150 people in Ventura will receive $1,000 a month and another 150 in San Francisco will receive $1,200 dollars a month, with no strings attached.

Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, who wrote the bill to launch the program, said "paternalistic" programs restricting the aid to cover only food or rent have not worked in the past.

"People in poverty need to be empowered, just like the rest of us, to make their own decisions," Cortese contended. "It really should be up to them to decide whether they need food, a warm coat, or rent. These aren't decisions that the state should be making, these are decisions that individuals should be making."

Opponents worry people receiving unrestricted income could waste it on luxuries, but post-analysis of pilot programs in Stockton and Santa Clara County disprove the concern. While the effort is the first statewide universal basic income program, there are also about 200 local programs now operating across California.

Cortese argued such programs reduce homelessness and end up saving the state money in the long run.

"We have significant economic disparity issues in this state," Cortese pointed out. "This gets the kind of outcomes that we're looking for in terms of giving people a leg up and keeping them out of the systems that cost us a lot of money; incarceration, like mental health and so forth."

Cortese hopes to secure funding next year for a similar proposal, called the California Success, Opportunity, and Academic Resilience or "SOAR" program, which would give a five-month stipend to the 15,000 homeless children who exit California high schools each year.


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