In March, Racial Justice NOW! and the West Dayton Youth Task Force hosted veteran educator and administrator Chris Chatmon from the Oakland unified Schools District on its webinar series. Baba Chris serves as Deputy Chief of Equity for the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and was named a “Leader to Learn From” by Education Week magazine. Chatmon is Founding Executive Director of OUSD’s Office of African American Male Achievement (AAMA), was principal of an alternative high school in San Francisco, and served as Executive Director of Urban Services at the YMCA in Oakland for over 10 years.
Advocated for by RJN!, Dayton Public Schools implemented an Office of Male of Color which is largely based on the Oakland, California model. Oakland’s Office of African American Male Achievement was launched in 2010 and creates the systems, structures, and spaces that guarantee success for all African American male students in OUSD. African American Male Achievement is an ambitious project designed to dramatically improve academic and ultimately life outcomes for African American male students in Oakland. AAMA is leading the school district by analyzing the patterns and processes that are producing systemic inequities. OUSD’s theory of action, Targeted Universalism, asserts that by transforming the system to support successful outcomes for OUSD’s lowest performing subgroup, OUSD will create a district that improves academic and social-emotional outcomes for all of its students.
