Breaking the Silence on the Challenges Facing Black Youth in America: A Call to Action for the Bereavement Support Field

Alesia K. Alexander Layne, MSW, LCSW, is the founder and Executive Director of Project KARMA, Inc. Project KARMA Inc. is a 501 ©3 non-profit organization created to support at-risk young people aged 5-18, facing loss and possible gang involvement. The work of Project KARMA Inc. seeks to empower and celebrate the potential of young people in a positive and affirming way that promotes self-esteem, validates the impact of loss on social development, and offers an alternative to gang involvement and activity. Moved by the dedicated and unswerving care provided to her family by the local hospice in her hometown during the illness and subsequent death of her father when she was 24, Ms. Alexander Layne's work over the last decade has focused on at-risk children and teens in the school setting, specifically with children and teens that have lost a loved one to death. Her educational background includes a B.A. degree in Political Science from Hampton University in Hampton Virginia, and a Master's degree in Social Work from Florida State University. Mrs. Alexander Layne is the author of four resources for grieving children and advocates. Her first book Sunflowers & Rainbows for Tia: Saying Goodbye to Daddy (1999) reflects the African American grief experience as seen through the eyes of a little girl. Her second book, Un Mural Para Mamita/A Mural for Mamita (2001), is the bi-lingual story of a little girl that wants to find a way to honor the memory of her grandmother with her community. The third is Dream Clouds (2011), the engaging story of Adam, a young boy living with the loss of his mother, and their connection through poetry. The fourth book is Tapestries: A Creative & Inclusive Approach to Grief Support for Youth & Communities (2013). A licensed clinical social worker in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, she is the former Coordinator of The Caring Tree Program of Big Bend Hospice, Inc. in Tallahassee, FL., and has served as consultant to grief and loss centers across the nation. She is a former member of the board of directors for The National Alliance for Grieving Children.

Tashel C. Bordere, PhD, CT, is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and State Extension Specialist in Youth Development at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has developed and taught courses in Death, Dying, and Bereavement, Black Families, Adolescent Development, and Parent-Child Interaction. She is the past editor of the The Forum: quarterly publication of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). She has served on the ADEC Board of Directors, as past Chair of the People of Color/Multicultural Committee, and is a member of the National Alliance for Grieving Children, Society for Research in Child Development, and the National Council on Family Relations. Dr. Bordere is a speaker, youth and family social justice advocate, researcher, and author of works relating to diversity and resilience through loss and grief, including Adolescents and Homicide and "The remedy is NOT working": Seeking socially just and culturally conscientious practices in bereavement, a co-authored work, in Grief and Bereavement in Contemporary Society. She is a Certified Thanatologist (Death, Dying, and Grief Education). Dr. Bordere has done numerous consultations, trainings, presentations, and workshops across the country relating to cultural conscientious practice and effective programming with African American youth and families. She provided grief support and community education through Hospice Compassus and also developed the SHED Grief Tools Education Program in Missouri Extension to support grieving children and teens. Dr. Bordere was recently featured on NPR-KCFUR - Teens and Grief, in a Hospice Foundation of America's Live National Webcast - Living with Grief: Helping Adolescents Cope with Loss, Open to Hope Cable Show, Fox 34 Radio News. Her research focuses on adolescent adjustment to death and loss, with emphasis on assaultive violence, homicidal death, loss and grief among African American youth, coping strategies, New Orleans death rituals, and culturally appropriate practices in research and work with marginalized youth and families.