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leaders with an in-depth conversation about opportunities and challenges in the african-american community. >> eric: thanks, cheryl. in the studio is karen clopton chief administrative law judge with the california public utilities commission. eric mcdonnel, chief operating officer of the united way with of the bay area and regina jackson president and director of the east oakland youth development center. we'll be talking to them in a second. before we begin, one of the issues at the top is access to higher education. the cost of a college education has been soaring and they are putting brakes on rising fees. wayne freedman filed this report on january 27th with reaction from u.c. berkeley where fees have gone up 2,000% since the '70s. >> as parents saw their kids,

this is the best years, time without worries except for paying. >> how much in debt are you? >> i would not like to say. >> which is why when president obama found a receptive audience >> we are put colleges on notice you can't keep, you can't assume that you will jack up tuition every single year. if you can't stop it from going up. the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down. we should push colleges to do better. we should hold them accountable if they don't. >> reporter: san francisco political science professor knows about tuition inflation, the ph.d. he earned cost $7,000 40 years ago. >> the president spoke to his constituents, students and made an plealt to them on the basis of trying to gather support for

the fall el >> fees rising fees has been an issue in berkeley where price increases and program cuts have followed in line with the state's budget woes. >> ten times when i went to school. it sounds ridiculous but it is ridiculous. >> in california. issue is issue that our budget in california. >> specifics remain vague. he wants billion dollars and reform educational systems. for president college students which may begin their working lives in debt, those reforms would come too late. for frank luna, way too late. >> i hope to get into the honors program which would extend me one more semester. it will probably help me get in grad school.

i'm going to have to take out another loan. >> we're going to begin because education is very spor. chief administrative law judge with the cpuc. it starts with the premise that getting a higher education and tougher for everybody than it must be really difficult for minorities? >> yes, it is. i think that is one of the reasons we have to concentrate on k-12 and get our children prepared to to go to college. if they don't go to college they won't go to law school. my particular interest as lawyer and a judge is that our children become lawyers and judges and prosecutors and public defenders. because we are disproportionate represented in the criminal justice system. if we don't educate our children then we have a tremendous

disparity that is only going to get worse. fewer than 2% of the lawyers in california are african-american. >> eric: we're talking about numbers, the numbers of african-american males in the criminal justice system, why don't you share that information? >> over 50% of the prison population in california consists of minorities. so when we're looking at hispanic as well as the african-american population it's completely disproportionate to our population in the general population. the census data in 2010 reveals that about 6%, 7 much of californians are african-americans while over 50% of the prison population and the

criminal justice system are african-americans. >> eric: i want to get you in on this, too. >> the debilitating impact of poverty shows itself in health access, impact and financial mobility. the reality in our history when the point, to get a good job and care nor your family. today what is required a minimum is undergraduate degree if not a post graduate degree. the need we have to focus on k-12 education and make sure there is adequate higher education to in particular to low income families because that is gate way out of poverty. >> eric: regina, how prepared are the young people you see for higher education? >> we are preparing them. that is our responsibility. exposure and opportunity go hand

in hand. we are showing 8-year-olds that college should be a part of their future. we have youth led college mentoring programs so that the college student is sharing with the high schools how they need to be prepared but for different communities. a lot of our kids go to school in california but a lot go out of state. what is the culture there? what are the ways you have to line up? they have to make a foot printed for themselves so the expectation is that they are not alone, that they have support. >> eric: we started where the money is going to come from. very briefly, we're going to explore this later, how do we do that? >> well, i have to admit what i tell young people, don't worry about the money for college. we will find a way, especially with private colleges, private colleges have stood up where the

public institutions have really fallen down on the job. in california with proposition 209 we have that obstacle. >> eric: we'll come back to discuss this but we needto take a break. @@@@

>> eric: welcome back. i'm eric thomas. we've been talking about community leaders about topics affecting our african-american community.

religious leaders in richmond last year started a program designed to help kids in school and establishing relationships with mentors. vic lee filed this story last january. >> almost a quarter of students in the west contra costa unified school district drop out. >> 98% matched with mentors do not drop out. >> this was ambiguities at baptist church to recruit mentors. it's part of a larger program to stem the cycle of violence in the city. tonight's kickoff by church leaders, adults and youth groups were meant to coincide with events around martin luther king day. jason hill memorized the speech. >> i have a dream that my four children will live in a nation will not be judged by the color of their skin but their character. >> there were testimonials from

mentors and those who benefited. >> biggest part we can have and we can share with the youth is to genuinely, genuinely give them our heart. >> they are in school and having someone to come and talk to. >> we honor the dream of dr. martin luther king. we connect young people with dreams field adults. >> plenty of dreamed filled mentors stood under a they filled out mentor cards. >> one way do get kids to focus on college and show them what the results can be. we have had experience mentoring but why is it important, why do you do it? >> i think that leadership, we're responsible for our

community. if we don't plant the seeds to help them grow, who is going to help take care of us? it's right thing to do. it's the timely thing to do. they can't get there by themselves. they have to have someone that supports them, nurtures them and challenges them. i still have mentors to this day. i tell them about that because i didn't get where i got by myself. >> part of it. while we celebrate our successes and share those. sometimes we need to share those challenges we face. in my experience and others, once people understand you can relate, you understand, you know what it's like to have that fork in the road, go to the right thing and perhaps do the wrong thing how that challenge and internal discussion and dialogue happens is not an easy one but

it can be overcome. when kids understand that you understand and can relate. they are willing to be engaged. >> eric: when you mentor, is that part of my job is very important and when you couldn't have this job? >> i'm the first african-american to hold my position. i wish i was saying i was the 101st. but i think they are surprised to find out, oh, you are the first one. yeah, and there is only this many judges who are african-american. basically when they go in to the court system or in to the criminal justice system, they see 75 white judges. we really are working to change that. it has to start again with the pipeline to get them into law

school, to get them into college to graduate them from high school, to really have a love of learning and wanting to give back. because that is all part of it. >> eric: we ended the last segment which was, we'll worry about the money later, get to college first? >> i truly believe the discussion about money and how much college costs and -- oh, it's not cost-effective. i've seen a lot of analysiss about this but think i it's a smoke screen. we need to focus on education and recommit public education, education for all. so it's not about the money. it really isn't. >> eric: we need to take another break right now. we'll

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teachers getting a crash course on what is it's going to take a job in the oakland unified school teacher. most are minorities who grew up in oakland. >> i was once one of those kids, misunderstood. i have a clear understanding what is going on out there. >> the nonprofit federally funded group thinks so, too. which is why they recruited this diverse pool. they are hoping that minority teachers can turn around the dropout rate which is now 40%, most are boys. >> we young african-american men who are teaching, who are leading schools in front of them who are right there engaging them using the strategies that they need to keep in class. >> according to information collected from the state, 92% of the students at oakland unified are minorities but teaching staff less than half are teachers of color.

>> sailor moore says she was so tired of hearing t numbers she came out of retirement. she will be able to talk to black students that others may not. >> i may look like a mama figure to them. whereas a white teacher may not say it that way. >> it going to take a year and a half to get their credentials. teachers will be helping them all the way. they want to change the look of oakland schools. >> eric: so the bottom line of that story is giving back, people that want to stay in their community and teach which is something we could use a lot more in professional ranks of our community? >> i think one of the challenges is, we need professional teachers, judges.

also particularly in the public service, sub service space, community policing. it's challenging. so you are asking folks to make a personal sacrifice and commitment which many do and our communities are well served as result but we need more. >> i think it's exceptionally important. it's critical that you put people that are committed to community and committed to saving our humanity in front of them everyday. so they understand it's also part of their responsibility. i prefer to look at it as an investment. when you give back to community, the rewards are so much greater for yourself. we teach young people to follow their passion, find something they like and go after that. they will never, ever be bored in life. >> it's very important.

you have a specialist in the law? >> i do have young people ask me what should i major in if i want to a lawyer. i say, do you like to read? the more you read, the better you will write. being a lawyer is about reading and writing. i think that we're losing books unfortunately. i'm really encouraging young people to read and use their imagination so they can become our future scientists and engineers and teachers and police officers as well as judges and lawyers and get involved in helping our country. did zemz not a spectator sport. >> there are other places to get texts? >> it's doesn't have an off/on

switch. >> eric: i would like to follow-up on a point. we can get night just briefly, you have issues with the way we structure schools, the best teachers teach the highest rated kids as opposed that kids that really need it? >> the unfortunate thing is, we have in particular african-americans but students of colors, highest dropouts, lowest achievement rates, part of that is driven by the resources that are put in front of them. we. >> we need to take another break right now. we'll be right back to continue our conv -thatis there a prize in there? is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ]

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we have been talking about education is the sled that runs through all this. we have not talked about the responsibility to make sure that kids get that education. can you talk about that for a second? >> i had a young man say to me, a young father who has four children, we were talking about putting money away for college. talking about 529 plan and he looked at me and n said what if you are not college material? i said you know what, all children are college material. whether or not they go to harvard, all children need to go to college. you have to start talking to them when they are little about the future and going to college. you need to be prepared for that and whether you are putting $10

a month for each child or as much as you can, it adds up. it's all good. it shows that you are serious and committed. because education is the one thing that no one can take away from you. >> eric: that sounds like expectations to me. now, we have an african-american president, those expectations are a little higher. >> they have to be raised higher. that said, i think we cannot ignore the debilitating impact of poverty. families living in poverty have been in that space for generations. for the expectation that the parents who mean well for the kids, that they are going to pass on the stead study habits that they didn't have. financial planning that they themselves didn't have is probably not as realistic as we think it ought to be. i agree with you. parents are key player in the lives of their children but we

have to remember living in those difficult circumstances of poverty need to support themselves. >> we try to empower the parents while we are empowering the kids and having young people, whether it's about cooking, finances or wanting to go to college. we have parents drop into ged programs with their children and we embrace them and 75% of them go to college. we cry pipelines for fire and plumbing. not everybody wants to go to college, more education is important but there are a lot of careers that you can do a little bit more, still have a wonderful career. i'm going to need a plumber, i just can't do it. >> there are schools. >> go directly toward more education means more success for

you. >> eric: public spending is way down. so we got about is a seconds to address what that means to us and where we go from there. >> i think our resources should go to those in need but that includes education, healthcare as well as public safety. it has to be to infrastructure, as far as i'm concerned, education is basic infrastructure. >> yes, we need to focus resources on supporting families and building financial plans for themselves so they can climb out of their circumstances of poverty. >> character development, exposure, education and support systems. everybody needs someone they can go to help. >> eric: i think thank all of you for buying here. we're out of time. thanks to our panel as being part of the our african-american

round table discussion. >> cheryl: there was special edition of "beyond the headlines." information everything we discussed the s our website at abc7news.com/community. follow me on twitter also. i'm cheryl jennings. thanks so much for joining us. have a great week. bye-bye.

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