Teens Giving Birth Significantly Reduced Despite Hollywood's Best Efforts

A National Center for Health Statistics report documents reduced teen pregnancies across all ethnic groups. However, experts can not cite the specific reasons fewer teens are having children of their own.

The National Center for Health Statistics report released this Tuesday says that the teen birth-rate fell to 39.1 births per 1,000 teenagers ages 15 to 19 in 2009. This is a 6% drop from 2008 and the lowest rate since 1940. Rates in 1990 were 61.8 per 1,000. Hispanics were the group that saw the greatest fall – by 10% but still stands at 70.1 births per 1,000.

There was more good news in the report about the birth weight of newborns and less of them being born premature. Does this mean pregnant women are getting better access to prenatal healthcare or just doing a better job of taking care of themselves?



While no one has yet made the argument that the Bush Administration's abstinence only education initiative contributed to less teens getting pregnant, it is only a matter of time if Fox News hasn't already. Sarah Palin, an abstinence only proponent, surprisingly has not been pushing this argument on Facebook or Twitter yet. Perhaps no one has thought of it for her or perhaps she is too preoccupied with attacking First Lady Michelle Obama over her imitative to push healthier food consumption on America's youth.

In related news, the Parents Television Council has released a new report accusing Hollywood producers of attempting to corrupt youth through television programs. In it's report "Sexualized Teen Girls Are Tinseltown's New Target", the PTC says......



When underage female characters appear on screen: more sexual content is depicted; the teen girls show next to no negative response to being sexualized; more sexual incidents occur outside of any form of a committed relationship; and there is less accuracy in the TV content rating.



The results from this report show Tinseltown’s eagerness to not only objectify and fetishize young girls, but to sexualize them in such a way that real teens are led to believe their sole value comes from their sexuality.

Join hosts R Lee Gordon and Scotty Reid as they discuss and analyze these two reports and what they means for today's teens. Parents and Teens are encouraged to call in and share their thoughts on these issues.

Finding Ways To Engage Our Youth

Parents and community leaders must do a better job to engage the youth and provide them with guidance and pathways to brighter futures.



Join us as R Lee and Scotty discuss some of the organizations and programs they are involved with that seek to engage youth and provide them with positive activities in which they can participate.

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365 Girl's Rock w/ Tracey Hawkins-Sydnor and Teen Actor Ms. Brielle Cunningham

Ms. Sydnor is on a mission to empower our youth through her book and website 365 Girls Rock! Her down to earth approach and contagious energy make her extremely effective in working with and empowering young ladies.

"This is a place where girls grow into amazing women who truly rock. I am working on bringing back the "good girl" look! 365 Girl is an immediate call to action on raising the self esteem of our young ladies between the ages of 10-17, so they make positive life decisions! The book is broken up into seven sections the physical, educational, social-motivational, relationships, spiritual, sexual, and pain-forgiveness. I believe that every young lady has the power to speak over her own life and demand excellence and greatness! It is time to take the limits off and this is the place to do it! The target age stops at 17, but there is something in book for women at every age. I am so excited about the project and can't wait to start seeing results!" Visit the website now!



We will also be joined on the program by teen actor Ms. Brielle Cunningham who will discuss her debut role in the CENTERSTAGE play "Re-Entry" showing through Dec. 16th in Baltimore, MD! This surprising and acclaimed new play, based on interviews with veterans and their families, puts aside politics and Hollywood alike to probe the unvarnished, and powerfully personal, truths of those who serve and sacrifice. Read more..

Kamal Imani: You Got Next! Real Talk For the Hip Hop Generation

Author Kamal Imani joins Black Teen Empowerment Radio to discuss the subject matter of his book "You Got Next" which tackles the tough issues today's teens have to deal with from a hip hop perspective.

The Education Superhighway and Jail Time for Parents of Failing Students?

The Education Superhighway is a newly created weekly television show that focuses on education and which is hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton with Jane Nolar. The debut of the program was Oct 10, 2010 in more than 160 U.S. markets.

Today we will discuss the first broadcast and discuss education as a civil right as suggested by Rev. Sharpton and others.



We will also discuss the proposal by a Wayne County, Michigan prosecutor to jail the parents of failing students. If parents of students performing poorly in school do not attend at least one Parent/Teachers conference, should they face three days jail time as proposed by Wayne County (Detroit) Prosecutor Kym Worthy unless the parent/parents have health issues?

The True Costs of Educating Our Children

There is a education debate going on across the country and none is more contentious than in a couple of counties in North Carolina where the NAACP has gotten involved.

With the economic downturn and so many people out of work, there has been a decrease in the amount of tax revenue municipalities take in and there many school systems have had a hard time meeting their budgets and have had to make cuts.



The much publicized education documentary "Waiting for Superman" cites that some of the most successful charter schools like SEED charter school spend about $35,000 per student to get its great academic results.

Yet some successful schools like Harding University High school in Charlotte, NC do not spend nearly that much per student and yet has comparable success.

What is the true cost of education our children and is spending more money always the answer? What time in the time that parents spend in participating in their child's development.

Money should never be a hindrance to learning so lets look at this problem and discuss some solutions.

Black Disposable Income Up, Black Male Student Scores Down

Studies show a dramatic increase in spending power. "African-Americans Revealed" study, based on a BET survey of 80,000 black consumers over 18 months, showed a 10 percent increase in America’s black population between 2000 and 2008 and 55 percent increase in black buying power over the same period. Black buying power is estimated now at about $913 billion and is projected to increase to $1.2 trillion by 2013.

A similar study released in November by the Selig Center at the University of Georgia estimated that black buying power would be about $1.1 trillion by 2014, with current spending power for blacks at about $910 billion.” Poor academic performance among Black children has traditionally been linked to poverty, but a new study showing that poor white males do better than poor Black males. An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another. But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys. Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches. Black America needs to have an honest discussion about how is it that we can spend so much money on good and services but yet it seems we are not investing in our own children’s future.