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Page 14 The New White Negro By Isabel Sawhill What it means that family breakdown is now biracial. [continued from page 3} while White men hoid siightiy more high schooi dipiomas and baccalaureate de grees than White women, Black women are much better educated than Black men. That means it's more difficult for well-edu cated Black women to find Black partners with comparable earning ability and social status. In 2010, Black women made 87 per cent of what Black men did, whereas White women made only 70 percent of what white men earned. For less educated Black women, there is, in addition, a shortage of Black men because of high rates of incar ceration. One estimate puts the proportion of Black men who will spend some time in prison at almost one third. In a forthcoming book. Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City, Timothy Nelson and Edin, the Flarvard sociologist, describe in great detail the kind of role reversal that has occurred among low-in- come families, both Back and White. What they saw were mothers who were finan cially responsible for children, and fathers who were trying to maintain ties to their children in other ways, limited by the fact that these fathers have very little money, are often involved in drugs, crime, or other relationships, and rarely live with the moth er and child. In other words, low-income fathers are not only withdrawing from the traditional breadwinner role, they're stag ing a wholesale retreat-even as they make attempts to remain involved in their chil dren's lives. Normative changes figure as well. As the retreat from marriage has become more common, it's also become more acceptable. That acceptance came earlier among Blacks than among Whites because of their own distinct experiences. Now that unwed child bearing is becoming the norm among the White working class as well, there is no lon ger much of a stigma associated with single parenting, and there is a greater willing ness on the part of the broader community to accept the legitimacy of single-parent households. Despite this change in norms, however, most Americans, whatever their race or social class, still aspire to marriage. It's just that their aspirations are typically unrealis tically high and their ability to achieve that ideal is out of step with their opportunities and lifestyle. As scholars such as Cherlin and Edin have emphasized, marriage is no longer a precursor to adult success. Instead, when it still takes place, marriage is more a badge of success already achieved. In par ticular, large numbers of young adults are having unplanned pregnancies long before they can cope with the responsibilities of parenthood. Paradoxically, although they view marriage as something they cannot afford, they rarely worry about the cost of raising a child. September 2013 The AC Phoenix Along with many others, I remain con cerned about the effects on society of this wholesale retreat from stable two-parent families. The consequences for children, especially, are not good. Their educational achievements, and later chances of becom ing involved in crime or a teen pregnancy are, on average, all adversely affected by growing up in a single-parent family. But I am also struck by the lessons that emerge from looking at how trends in family forma tion have differed by class as well as by race. If we were once two countries, one Black and one White, we are now increasingly becoming two countries, one advantaged and one disadvantaged. Race still affects an individual's chances in life, but class is grow ing in importance. This argument was the theme of William Julius Wilson's 1980 book. The Declining Significanceof Race. More re cent evidence suggests that, despite all the controversy his book engendered, he was right. To say that class is becoming more impor tant than race isn't to dismiss race as a very important factor. Blacks have faced, and will continue to face, unique challenges. But when we look for the reasons why less skilled Blacks are failing to marry and join the middle class, it is largely for the same reasons that marriage and a middle-class lifestyle is eluding a growing number of Whites as well. The jobs that unskilled men once did are gone, women are increasingly financially independent, and a broad cul tural shift across America has created a new normal. Isabell Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brook ings Institution, has written extensively on the family and the economy. Her most re cent book is "Creating an Opportunity So ciety." This article, the eighth of an 11-part series on race, is sponsored by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and was originally pub lished by the Washington Monthly Maga zine. The Winston-Salem Air Show By Dwight Jones [continued from page 9] local residents. The Air Show should be fea tured at a location where its lethality can be fully displayed to those who come out every year to adore their majesty. Otherwise it will continue to be like watching the Son of Sam take target practice or watching Jeffery Dahmer sharpening his knives. God and Nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be. Follow always that great law. Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement. ~ Marcus Garvey ~ Novant Health Bright Ideas Challenge Produces Six Ideas to Tackle Obesity in Community Challenge Partners to Begin Pilot Program Testing Novant Health Bright Ideas in Women's Wellness announced today the results of its first community challenge to address obesity. More than 420 individuals sub mitted 208 ideas on the Bright Ideas in Women's Wellness website, from which six have been selected for pilot testing by challenge partners across the commu nity. The challenge partners include Winston- Salem State University School of Health Sciences, Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, City of Winston-Salem, Forsyth Futures, North Carolina Cooperative Ex tension and the Forsyth County Health Department. The first six ideas for community pilot testing are: ■ Bringing nutrition and fitness experts to kids in the classroom to promote healthy lifestyles in fun and engaging ways. ■ Developing a seminar on exercise- friendly hair care and hair styles specifi cally for black women. ■ Developing sustainable programs and networks to make high quality food more readily available for women in low-in- come communities. • Enlisting the help of faith communities for community garden space, gardeners and meeting space for classes on nutri tion and preparation of healthy meals. • Developing a centralized web applica tion to provide personalized nutritional and fitness information in addition to monitoring nutritional and fitness-relat ed habits. • Establishing a network of community wellness navigators that are available via phone, text or email to help mothers and daughters manage their health. Novant Health Bright Ideas in Women's Wellness is a new approach to solving community health concerns using social networking. Through its online commu nity, Bright Ideas in Women's Wellness uses crowd-sourcing technology to en gage a broad array of stakeholders allow ing them to share ideas and collaborate on solutions. The web-based platform makes it possible for hundreds, even thousands of partici pants to convene and collaborate at any time, from any place. Periodically a chal lenge question will be posted on the web site encouraging individuals in the com munity to respond. Participants can post an original idea or engage in a discussion of ideas already posted. Through this process, the best ideas emerge for adoption and pilot testing by community partners including area or ganizations, aligned businesses, policy makers, educators and other stakeholders from across the community. "It's not enough anymore for healthcare professionals to warn people about the life-threatening and debilitating conse quences of obesity," says Matthew Gymer, Novant Health corporate director of inno vation. "It's going to take all of us, working together, to find ways to reduce obesity and the effect it is having on our health and the health of our children. Solving dif ficult community health problems will re quire new ideas and new approaches, not only by our medical community, but by everyone in our community. Gymer says Bright Ideas in Women's Well ness is more than a community forum or traditional website. "It brings policy makers and members of the community together with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to share ideas, collaborate and find pos sible solutions for complex problems," says Gymer "There is no single solution that will address obesity because of its per vasiveness today. So through the Bright Ideas website and other activities, Novant Health is going to tackle this one bite at a time, so to speak." Bright Ideas website: NovantHealth.org/ ideas About Novant Health Novant Health is a four-state integrated network of physician practices, outpatient centers and hospitals that deliver a seam less and convenient healthcare experience to our communities. The Novant Health network consists of more than 1,100 phy sicians and 24,000 employees who make healthcare remarkable at more than 450 locations including 14 medical centers, three hospitals, and hundreds of outpa tient facilities and physician clinics. Head quartered in Winston-Salem, NC, Novant Health is committed to making health care remarkable for our patients and our communities serving over four million patients annually. In 2012, Novant Health provided more than $545 million in com munity benefit including charity care and services. Novant Health is one of the top 25 integrated health systems in the United States and was named a top 50 Best Places for Diverse & Women Managers to Work by Diversity MBA Magazine. For more information, please visit our website at NovantHealth.org. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Great is Thy Faithfulness
The AC Phoenix News (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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