The Boston Globe: Dean Emeritus Hubie Jones Says Boston Needs Connected Coalition to Help Children of Color
Hubie Jones, dean emeritus of Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), explores the growing inequalities among Boston school children in an op-ed published in The Boston Globe.
Examining the underlying forces at play in health and educational outcomes for Boston’s children of color, Jones and co-author James Jennings explain how previous efforts to address chronic issues in Boston public schools and the social service sector have failed, and why we need effective solutions now, more than ever.
Excerpted from “Breaking down silos to help Boston’s children of color” (The Boston Globe) by Hubie Jones and James Jennings:
Equity in our city is long overdue. Challenges facing our children have only worsened for many due to the COVID-19 crisis, which the Massachusetts Department of Education has documented with two major reviews. Chronic issues deeply rooted in our history and a fragmented social service sector have stalled the city’s growth and potential. With the best of intentions, a cacophony of nonprofits can operate in ways that focus only on the behavioral manifestations of racial inequities, not the root causes.
The most effective way to address those root causes? Break down the silos between government, nonprofits, and residents to build a connected coalition that helps children of color, giving communities a true voice in the process. It’s an approach known as ‘collective impact,’ and we’ve seen it work on a series of city blocks starting at the Roxbury end of the Blue Hill Corridor. With the right sense of urgency, investment, and encouragement from forward-looking funders and an appetite for bold experimentation, it can work across Boston.” [Read the full story.]
Hubie Jones was dean of BUSSW from 1977 to 1993, and has been an integral part of Boston’s civic landscape for more than fifty years. In addition to his numerous academic roles, he has led dozens of community organizations based within Boston’s Black population, with a particular focus on childhood inequities. His Task Force on Children Out of School (now the Massachusetts Advocacy Center) published the 1970 report The Way We Go to School: The Exclusion of Children in Boston, an exposé of systematic exclusion in Boston Public Schools that led to two landmark laws mandating special education and bilingual education.