My Brother’s Keeper

As I listened to today's announcement of My Brother’s Keeper, I was reminded of that cute Union is Strength video on the power of organizing.  Its taken incredibly thoughtful organizing, in front of and behind the scenes, to direct the Obama administration's attention to boys and young men of color. Over the past several years, advocates, foundation staff, national and community leaders have been organizing themselves into a variety of networks, all with the mission to improve the lives of young men of color. It's the kind of organizing that is required to face up to the vicious institutional racism that eats away at our country.

My Brother's Keeper is the newest initiative coming from the White House following the  White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans and the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The aim of the initiative is to "help every boy and young man of color who is willing to do the hard work to get ahead."(I'm struck by the "willing to do the hard work" -- I don't think I've ever seen that type of conditional used in other children's and youth initiatives before. I'd love to know the story behind that choice of phrasing.)

As part of the initiative, there will be a new interagency Presidential Task Force. This one looks like there might be real power behind it, as it is going to be chaired by Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson. The My Brother's Keeper Task Force is going to:

• Assess the impact of federal policies, regulations, and programs of general applicability on boys and young men of color, to develop proposals that will enhance positive outcomes and eliminate or reduce negative ones.
• Recommend, where appropriate, incentives for the broad adoption by national, state, and local public and private decision-makers of effective and innovative strategies and practices for providing opportunities to and improving outcomes for boys and young men of color.
• Create an Administration-wide “What Works” online portal to disseminate successful programs and practices that improve outcomes for boys and young men of color.
• Develop a comprehensive public website, to be maintained by the Department of Education, that will assess, on an ongoing basis, critical indicators of life outcomes for boys and young men of color in absolute and relative terms.
• Work with external stakeholders to highlight the opportunities, challenges, and efforts affecting boys and young men of color.
• Recommend to the President the means of ensuring sustained efforts within the federal government and continued partnership with the private sector and philanthropic community as set forth in the presidential memorandum.

In addition, foundations are stepping up to make an additional $200 million in investments. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The California Endowment, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Open Society Foundations, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and The Kapor Center for Social Impact (many of them members of the Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color) are all stepping up.

National leaders and the business community are stepping up too. The announcement said that Joe Echevarria of Deloitte, Magic Johnson of Magic Johnson Enterprises, Glenn Hutchins of Silver Lake Partners, Adam Silver of the National Basketball Association, Thomas Tull of Legendary Entertainment, General Colin Powell, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Rosalind Brewer of Sam’s Club, Ken Chenault of American Express, and Don Thompson of McDonald’s are all expressing support for this effort as well. 

Congratulations to everyone doing the hard work to make this happen!