I was recently recognized by the Indiana University Groups Program as a scholar and former student in the program.

“Student and Alumni Updates”

“Groups Alumnus Michael K. Blanchard Gains Attention for Book
Release”

Michael K. Blanchard (Groups ’84) was recently featured in the South Bend Tribune:

https://lnkd.in/dg8b7FR

to showcase the release of his book, The Black Book of Lamentations. The book is a collection of quotations from Black scholars and grassroots activists that Blanchard has read over the years. He notes, “Quotations are often the seeds of ah-ha moments that literally change the course of a person’s life…I hope that you will be inspired and informed by the multitudinous quotations that occupy this book’s pages. See yourself as an instrument of change and not a victim of oppression. Act as if these great thinkers’ words were spoken with you in mind; because they were.”

The Black Book of Lamentations is available for purchase on Amazon.

https://lnkd.in/eThYCwx
Blanchard, who earned his bachelor’s in Sociology from IU and an EdD from University of New England, has also published another book: A Community Research Guide to Student Persistence: Research-based Strategies to Improve Student Persistence.

The book is available for purchase on the Amazon link below.

https://lnkd.in/eUhuKyX

“I wrote and published this book to provide a blueprint for student persistence, student success and personal development that was based on research data that extrapolated the community support and resources students needed to show educational growth and persist to graduation,” says Blanchard. He continues, “wraparound services are any resources or activity an organization or individual provides to assist a student to persist to graduation, professionally develop, or grow academically. Some examples of these resources are tutoring, food assistance, professional development, mentoring/coaching, life skills, financial assistance, and socialization skills. I know investing in wraparound services works because I’ve experienced them working in programs like the Police Athletic League, Job Corps, community college wraparound services, and by K-12 educators in our classrooms.”

Blanchard, who has spent time on the police force, in classrooms, and as a scholar, attributes both his professional interest in wraparound services and his own success to participating in the Groups program in 1984. “Without the groups program I could not have become Dr. Michael K. Blanchard!”

Looking toward the future, Michael hopes his books will be integrated into DEI and Black Studies curricula, as well as first-year experience programs including Groups. He says, “I would love to be the poster guy for promoting the value of IU Groups’ wraparound services.”

Blanchard’s email mkblanch35@aol.com