All Stars Project co-founder and developmental psychologist Lenora B. Fulani, Ph.D.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 28, 2013

The All Stars Project announces the publication of a special report by co-founder and developmental psychologist Lenora B. Fulani, Ph.D. entitled, The Development Line: Helping the Poor to Grow.

Dr. Fulani presented the paper today at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in San Francisco at a special Presidential Session entitled, Education, Poverty and Development: Breakthroughs in Addressing the Subjectivity of Poverty. The conference theme for this year’s meeting, which attracts 14,000 educators and researchers from across the U.S., is Education and Poverty.

Joining Fulani for the AERA special session were David Grusky, Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and Director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality, A.J. Franklin, Professor of Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology at Boston College, Lois Holzman, Director of the East Side Institute, and three young people from the San Francisco All Stars Project.

Nearly 50 years since the launch of the War on Poverty, the poverty rate in America is 15 percent, with 22.3 percent of children officially living below the poverty line. Nearly a third of all African-Americans—10.7 million—live in poverty.

Fulani argues that new conceptual, methodological and organizational tools, approaches that have been developed since the 1960s outside of traditional social service and educational institutions and funding streams, are essential for the successful development and education of inner-city youth in America. She traces these developments from 1968 and the genesis of Dr. King’s Poor People’s Movement, to present day programs like her own, which have successfully utilized performance-based methodologies to promote developmental learning among young people and their families.

The report challenges the notion that being poor in America is an expression of individual failure. It points to the failed premise that public education could be the primary strategy for connecting the African-American community to the mainstream. Finally, Fulani argues for social policy that addresses the subjectivity of poverty and promotes activities, including after-school programs, that foster development.

Fulani’s report follows her provocative 2011 report, Let’s Pretend, A Special Report on Solving the Education Crisis in America, co-authored with Fred Newman with whom she founded the All Stars Project.

About the All Stars Project (ASP): Founded in 1981, this trailblazing organization reaches 10,000 young people annually in NYC, New Jersey, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. ASP has been a pioneer in the movement to use performance, on stage and off stage, to help young people from poor communities to develop. ASP is 100% privately funded. Over the last 30 years, tens of thousands of individual philanthropists nationwide have donated $80 million and millions of hours of personal time to share their lives, their expertise, their workplace, and even their homes with some of our nation’s most disadvantaged young people.

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