Every week, the Black Youth Project collects the top news stories about black youth from across the country. Click here to check out our archive of weekly news round-ups, and check back every Monday for a new roundup of headlines about young black America

Mental Health Disparities Endanger Chicago’s Youth
Rod McCullom, Ebony, 4/3/13

In the first 12 weeks of 2013, there have been 57 gun-related homicides in Chicago; Twelve of those victims were 18 years old or under, according to an analysis of preliminary crime data by Red Eye, a publication of the Chicago Tribune newspaper. Though the city has landed at the epicenter of the national debate over gun violence, the escalating numbers of Black and Latino youth killed have not received the same amount of attention as the victims of mass shootings in Colorado or Connecticut. Worse, while there has been a national outcry for increased access to mental health treatment in the wake of the Aurora and Newtown shootings, Chicago (whose gun-violence murder rate last year was the equivalent of “a ‘Newtown,’ [massacre] every four months”), has seen a steady decrease in funding to mental health programs.

Read more at Ebony.com

OTHER NEWS:

U.S. Supreme Court sits in position to turn around civil-rights policies
The Durango Herald, Hope Yen, 4/1/13

 

More Than Half of Black and Hispanic Students Will No Longer Qualify For Bright Futures Scholarships
John O’Connor, State Impact News, 4/2/13

 

Race and the NYPD: It’s Complicated
Len Levitt, Huffington post, 4/3/13

 

More on Saving Black Boys
James Causey, Journal Sentinel, 4/4/13

 

Keeping low-income students from being throwaway kids
Nat Hentoff, Beatrice Daily News, 4/4/13

 

NYPS app brings role models to Black LGBT youth
Jason Carson Wilson, Windy City Times, 4/5/13

 

How the Drug War Destroyed My Community and Why It Must End
Jakada Imani, Huffington Post, 4/5/13

 

‘American Promise’ and the black student struggle in the nation’s private schools
Eisa Nefertari Ulen, Washington Post, 4/5/13

 

Students challenge Georgia high school’s racially segregated prom
Brett Wilkins, Digital Journal, 4/6/13