https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/My-Brother-s-Keeper-program-grows-and-helps-young-12869888.php
My Brother's Keeper program grows, helps young men of color thrive
Group meets in Albany for statewide symposium
Published 3:29 pm, Friday, April 27, 2018
ALBANY — He’s been out of office for a year and four months, but President Barack Obama still has a strong presence in New York, especially through a program he started in 2014 to help young men of color overcome the obstacles they face when it comes to academic and other forms of success.
In fact, New York remains the sole state nationwide to fund the My Brother’s Keeper program on the statewide level.
Other states have MBK programs in their local communities, but the Empire State allocates about $18 million annually to help with grants and other expenses in operating the program.
While MBK's national leadership shifted in 2017 from the White House to the Obama Foundation, it has grown in New York with 21 communities, including Albany, participating.
“More and more schools are talking about the opportunities and the work they are doing with My Brother’s Keeper,” state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said Friday during a statewide gathering of participants, which included teachers, mentors and high school-aged young black and Hispanic men.
One sign that MBK is growing: several Native American communities in western New York are now participating as well.
And starting this year, MBK includes a Fellows Program where high school students are selected and groomed to be future leaders — a job that requires MBK participants mentoring kids who may just be a few years younger than themselves.
Watching out for one another, as well as taking responsibility for oneself, is one of the movement’s underpinnings. That was clear during Friday’s meeting, hosted by the state Education Department at the Empire State Plaza convention center.
“They can relate to you. They can identify with you,” said the day's keynote speaker, Baruti Kafele, referring to younger students who may look up to MBK participants.
While MBK may be just four years old, parts of the movement have roots in the early 20th century.
A teacher and principal-turned education speaker and writer, Kafele, said he got off to a rough start in his hometown of East Orange, N.J., taking five years to barely get through high school and drifting for a few years after that.
“I had no dream. I had no ambition,” Kafele said.
Finally, while in college he read a book that changed his outlook.
“The Mis-Education of the Negro,” written in 1933 by Carter G. Woodson, argued that African Americans, rather than getting educated in the schools, were being culturally indoctrinated to be dependent and to see themselves as inferior.
“The book was a game changer,” he said.
After a career in education, Kafele said he gained enough confidence to strike out on his own as a speaker and writer. “I had a profound belief in myself,” he said. “You’ve got to believe in yourself and you’ve got to protect your belief.”
For Albany High School participants, such belief helps them visualize themselves in college. MBK has gotten them more involved in the affairs of their school.
Albany MBK participants Darryl White, Nasir Curry and Jalen Rainey are on a Superintendent’s Roundtable where they talk regularly with Superintendent Kaweedah Adams.
The program has also helped pay for college tours for these high school students who are looking at schools ranging from historically black colleges to SUNY campuses such as Buffalo.
Another plus: the ability to explore career options by meeting adults in a variety of fields.
“I think this will help me find what I want to do,” White said.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
