ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Landmark 1800s Roxbury home undergoes renovation............pg. 2
Gugu Mbatha-Raw pg. 12
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Thursday • May 15, 2014 • www.baystatebanner.com
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Advocates fighting cut to youth jobs funding Martin Desmarais Last month, youth job advocates were put on high alert when the Massachusetts House proposed budget contained cuts in funding for youth job programs, despite a battle to keep the funding. Now the fight turns to the state Senate. The House’s $36.2 billion state budget proposal is slightly higher than the current fiscal year budget and $191 million less than Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed 2015 fiscal year budget. The House proposal increases funding for local aid to cities and towns by $25 million over the governor’s proposal, with a $61 million boost to education through the community college and state university systems. H o w e v e r, the House budget savings come at the expense of six youth jobs and violence prevention programs, cutting $13.5 million in funding from them. The cuts make the youth jobs situation even more dire considering most of these programs have traditionally received supplemental funding throughout the year just to keep running. Youth job advocates say the cuts could cost as many as 1,000 summer jobs. In the House, state reps fought to stave off the cuts with several amendments filed to restore much of the funding, but the House leadership refused to consider them.
State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz said that losing funding for youth jobs and violence prevention programs is a big concern for her and she hopes to keep the funding in the budget to back them. “Certainly these line items are hugely important to me and hugely important to the district I represent,” Chang-Diaz said. “I will certainly be fighting really hard for these.” Chang-Diaz points out that last year the Senate proposed more funding for youth job and violence prevention programs, so there is hope that something similar will happen this year. A big challenge, according to ChangDiaz, is that while many people think the state has recovered from the recession there are still many areas covered by the budget that have not recovered and these areas are forcing budget cuts in programs, including those for youth jobs, that have proven their worth. “It is extremely frustrating. It is frustrating for me, as a legislator, that we have to fight for this every year,” she said. The Boston-based Youth Jobs Coalition has been at the heart of the fight for funding. It is composed of 40 youth and community groups from across Massachusetts that work together to create more employment opportunities
“It is frustrating for me, as a legislator, that we have to fight for this every year.”
— Sonia Chang-Diaz
jobs, continued to page 11
Protesters assembled in front of the State House to demand that the Nigerian government step up efforts to find more than 200 school girls, who were kidnapped by the militant Islamic group Boko Haram (see page 7 story). (Laura Onyeneho photo)
UMass prog. steers blacks, Latinos into STEM majors By Kenneth J. Cooper Under a new, Harvard-trained dean of science and mathematics, UMass Boston set out to increase the number and diversity of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known together as STEM. Seven years later, UMass Boston has achieved both goals. Enrollment in its College of Mathematics and Science has nearly doubled and become majority-minority. About 56 percent are students of color, with 35 percent from minorities who are underrepresented in STEM fields — blacks, Latinos and Native Americans.
“We have the most diverse college at UMass Boston, which is not that typical for STEM,” said Andrew Grosovsky, dean of the College of Mathematics and Science. In 2010, Forbes magazine rated the best colleges for underrepresented minorities in STEM, based on whether student diversity in those fields matched the school’s overall enrollment. Twenty schools made the list, including UMass Lowell. With its increased diversity, UMass Boston would break into the top 20, because its enrollment of underrepresented minorities in STEM slightly exceeds their 32 percent in the entire student body.
But Grosovsky knows that bringing in students of color is not enough — seeing them graduate is what matters. On that measure, UMass Boston also appears to be making progress. About 40 percent of those STEM freshmen who entered in 2009 and also benefitted from new academic supports graduated after four years, nearly all in STEM fields — a degree completion rate comparable to the national level. Grosovsky estimates a similar proportion of underrepresented minorities in that group completed their degrees. From tracking credit hours and grades, Grosovsky expects STEM, continued to page 18
Casinos reaching out to Roxbury residents Yawu Miller
Mohegan Sun Hotel Manager Derrick Williams speaks about job opportunities during a job fair at Roxbury Community College. Should the Connecticut-based chain obtain a license to open a casino in Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun will hire staff for a 2017 opening, resort officials say. (Banner photo)
There are no safe bets in the push for a casino in the Boston area. In November of last year, East Boston residents soundly rejected plans for a casino on the grounds of the Suffolk Downs race track in a neighborhood-wide ballot. Revere voters approved the plan and the city pushed forward with plans to build a casino on the 40 acres of Suffolk Downs located on their side of the municipal boundary. That casino plan, advanced by Mohegan Sun is vying with a plan for
a casino in Everett, being advanced by gambling magnate Steve Wynn. Plans for casinos across Massachusetts may come to a halt if the state’s Supreme Judicial Court rules in favor of allowing a question on the November ballot that would repeal gaming in Massachusetts. With a potential vote looming, the potential of thousands of casino jobs and an ongoing public discourse on the negative effects of casinos on low-income communities — crime, addiction, foreclosures — black casino, continued to page 11
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