THE NATIONAL COALITION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOLARS

Bernard Young was born 1948 in East Orange, New Jersey, the oldest of three children. At the age of ten, the family moved to segregated Virginia, where he attended a one-room elementary school and graduated from high school in 1967 while attending “the last” segregated class at Luther Porter Jackson High School. On graduation from high school, he left Virginia to attend Xavier University (Cincinnati, Oh) where he received bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1972 and a master’s degree in criminal justice in 1975, He later attended the Athenaeum of Ohio in Cincinnati, receiving a master’s degree in Religion in 1994. He is currently a candidate for Doctor of Education through the Urban Educational Leadership Program at the University of Cincinnati.
Born to a family with a Baptist mother and an Episcopalian father, he was an introduced to the Catholic Church, while a student at Xavier University, Ohio. As a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, he has been an active member for more than Thirty Years
Bernard’s employment experiences includes working in several positions at the Cincinnati Health Department, over a period of 30 years (Regional AIDS services Coordinator, Director of HIV, and STI Prevention Services, Director of the Social Service Unit, Psychiatric Caseworker, R.E.A.C.H. Project, Medical Social Worker (HIV Antibody Test Counselor), and Medical Social Worker). He was also an employee of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, where he served as the substance abuse Counseling Supervisor. In the early 1970s, He was also employed by the Opportunities Industrialization Center as a referral service counselor.
His employment in his field of study has always involved working in and educating urban communities with a focus on areas of Adult Corrections, substance abuse, mental health support serves, primary health care support services, and HIV/STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) Prevention services. His current doctoral work is exploring the involvement of consumer and citizens in health care policy development. Bernard is the board chairperson of the Central Community Health Board (CCHB), and an Nonprofit African Culture educational program, Bi-Okoto. He participates as chairperson of the Church of the Resurrection (Catholic) Justice and Social Action Committee, and member of Parish Council. He previously served as a member and vice-chairperson of the Cincinnati Catholic Archdiocesan Social Justice Commission and the Board of Citizens for Civic Renewal (CCR) and the Action Research Center of the University of Cincinnati