THE PROBLEM BEHIND THE PROBLEM: CREATINGECONOMIC WELL BEING FOR YOUNG MEN OF COLOR

Melvinia Turner King

Morehouse College, Kettering Foundation Public Scholar

ABSTRACT

This study presents a six staged reciprocity model using ethical leadership training experience at an undergraduate liberal arts college for African American men as a case study. The stages are: 1) bifurcation, where separate entities treat each other as distinguished clients in order to transfer knowledge based on ethical and social responsibility; 2) collaboration, which strengthens coalition-building to provide increased resources; 3) transformation, where individuals experience human flourishing; 4) implementation, which promotes ethics grounded in the African American Moral tradition, with a focus on outstanding habits and practices; 5) sustainability, which provides job creation for economic well being; and 6) transference, the final stage, which builds a bridge between generations capable of continuance in this work. Results from this study illustrate the “problem-behind-the-problem” in creating economic well being for young men of color within local communities in the United States. These concerns are addressed by a pilot undergraduate leadership program adapting ethical and socially responsible solutions designed to better fit the current cultural and economic realities of our global environment. The results also reveal the importance of public administrators and educational institutions serving in collaborative leadership enterprises.