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Alternative Schools, Career and Technical Education, and Emerging Adult Black Men in Reentry: A Case Study

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Abstract

Employment is identified as a key factor that supports emerging adult Black men in reentry with making a successful the transition to adulthood. Although anti-Black racism creates barriers to them securing and maintaining legitimate employment, strength-based, education-focused alternative schools that are structured to meet their intersectional needs and experiences can help to promote their transition to employment. Yet, little is known about how these schools promote resilience and career readiness among this population and the ways in which they perceive these strategies to support their transition to employment. As such, this single, exploratory qualitative case study, which included observations, interviews, and focus groups sought to better understand how, if at all, an alternative school promotes resilience and career readiness among emerging adult Black men in reentry. Work readiness training, internships, and job search and placement assistance emerged as meaningful career and technical services and support that the young men with making the transition into employment. While working and attending school simultaneously posed challenges to school engagement and completion, the findings highlight the important promotive and protective role strength-based alternative schools can play in promoting positive educational and employment-related experiences and outcomes among emerging adult Black men in reentry.

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Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University School of Social Work, New York, USA

    Charles H. Lea III

  2. University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, Houston, USA

    Marcus Brown & Riya Bhatt

Authors
  1. Charles H. Lea III
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  2. Marcus Brown
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  3. Riya Bhatt
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Contributions

CHL III performed study conception, design, material preparation, data collection, and analysis. CHL III, MB, and RB wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Charles H. Lea III.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the institution and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Internal Review Board committee approved this study of the University of California, Los Angles.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lea, C.H., Brown, M. & Bhatt, R. Alternative Schools, Career and Technical Education, and Emerging Adult Black Men in Reentry: A Case Study. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 40, 455–472 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-022-00907-8

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