Page 8 - Florida Sentinel 4-29-16 Bookstore Edition

Local
A.D.A.P.T. Project Hopes To Promote Positive Father Involvement
HABSE To Host 24th Annual African American Achievers Awards Ceremony
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
Erica Coates is a Clinical Psychology Doctoral student at the University of South Florida. She is collaborating with Dr. Richard Brisco on a project examining the strengths of African American families and protective factors of African American Youth.
“This is my dissertation project that is examining the contributions of both mothers and fathers to adolescent out- comes in African American single-mother families.
“The literature has found that certain aspects of mother- hood and mother-child rela- tionship serve as protective factors for youth from single- mother homes that put teenagers at less risk for nega- tive outcomes, such as emo- tional and behavioral problems, substance abuse, engagement in criminal activ- ity, dropping out of high school, becoming sexually ac- tive at a younger age, and teenage pregnancy.”
The project is called A.D.A.P.T. (Adolescent Devel- opment And Parenting Tech- niques).
Mrs. Coates involved
ERICA COATES
both biological parents by get- ting them to complete a 30- minute telephone survey at separate times that are con- venient for each parent. Each parent was asked questions about their health, parenting style, relationship with their child and co-parent, and dif- ferent behaviors of their child.
“I started recruiting par- ents for the project in October 2014. By May 2015, I had four completed families. Recruit- ment for the study started off slowly, and initially involved sending home fliers to area schools for the students to take home to their parents.
“In May I began posting Craigslist advertisements to
major cities across the United States. Although most of the families that have completed the surveys are callers re- sponding to the ad on Craigslist.”
Mrs. Coates said al- though her father was instru- mental in her life, he wasn’t around a lot.
“I drew on that experience to help with this dissertation. I discovered that most children who grow up in single parent homes are more at risk.
“More children (73%) are being born into Black single family homes.”
Mrs. Coates said she ex- pects to complete her disserta- tion in a month, and she said it’s important that people know this is a national study, not just local.
“Once I get my doctorate, I hope to join the faculty at USF, or just stay in this line of re- search.
“I am looking forward to doing outreach services and my specific research will be on the African American popula- tion.”
Mrs. Coates used a lot of personal contacts in her re- search, and all were geared to- ward how fathers are behaving in the lives of their children.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Several years ago, mem- bers of the Hillsborough Al- liance of Black School Educators (HABSE) realized finance was a barrier that prevented some high school students from continuing their education. The organi- zation decided to provide scholarships and book stipends to help students.
On Friday, May 13th, HABSE will host its 24th An- nual African American Achievers Awards Ceremony. The event will take place at the Entertainment Hall, Florida State Fairgrounds, beginning at 7 p.m.
Ms. Mary Dance, Pres- ident of HABSE said, “Each year, we recognize students of African descent for their academic achievements. This year, we have invited stu- dents in Hillsborough County that have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher to celebrate their achieve- ments. We also award twenty-five book stipends to deserving students. We will also recognize an outstand- ing principal and teacher.”
In addition to the tradi- tional awards program, this year, the organization is in- troducing its “Students Men- toring Students” initiative. “Our student mentoring pro- gram is designed to foster community service in our youth.” African American seniors with a grade point av- erage of 3.0 or higher were invited to participate. The
students were
through the Guidance De- partment and Student Suc- cess Coaches.
“Students with the most volunteer mentoring hours will be recognized and re- ceive a special monetary prize at the awards program. Students also earn volunteer service hours for Bright Fu- tures if they mentor a stu- dent after school,” she said.
HABSE members are an- ticipating more than 500 stu- dents, along with parents, school officials, sponsors, and other members of the community to attend the event.
Ms. Dance further in- vited anyone who wishes to make donations to the schol- arship program to do so. Do- nations can be mailed to: Hillsborough Alliance of Black School Educators, P. O. Box 11087, Tampa, FL 33680-1087; or donate to the www.gofund- me.com/HABSE.
recruited
MS. MARY DANCE President HABSE
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