Today, young black men in many low income communities are finding themselves virtually locked out of employment opportunity. The confluence of poor schooling, low education attainment, lack of early work experience or career exposure, over-zealous arrests and incarceration, and employer reluctance to hire have rendered a substantial segment of black men unemployable very early in their adult life, with few options available to get back on track. There are 3 million black men age 16 to 24. Many of them are enrolled in school and doing well. But far too many are struggling. In 2011, there were 663,211 who were either a high school dropout, in school but overage, or incarcerated. Add to that number the thousands who graduated high school with insufficient academic skills for postsecondary labor market success and there is a substantial segment of this young black male population in need of additional education and labor market assistance. The facts and recommendations (along with the charts and graphs) in this document are taken from a soon-to-be-released CLASP publication, "Feel the Heat! The Unrelenting Challenge of Young Black Male Unemployment: Policies and Practices that Can Make a Difference."