By Dan Murphy
In 2014, President Barack Obama launched My Brother’s Keeper and issued a powerful call to action to close opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color. The initiative sparked candid dialogue and action around the country to help more young people reach their dreams, regardless of their race, gender or socioeconomic status.
“I have always believed that the single most important task we have as a nation is to make sure our young people can go as far as their dreams and hard work will take them,” said Obama, who helped expand MBK to My Brother’s Keeper Alliance in 2015 as an independent nonprofit organization. “It is the single most important thing we can do for our country’s future. And we’ve got to do it together.”
Since launching, a national movement has grown: Nearly 250 cities, counties and tribal nations have accepted the MBK Community Challenge –Obama’s call to action to adopt innovative approaches, strengthen support, and build ladders of opportunity for boys and young men of color – scores of new initiatives have been implemented, and there has been an exponential increase in aligned private sector commitments, all helping to reduce barriers and expand opportunity.
Last month, the first MBK Rising! was held in Oakland, Calif., and was a gathering, celebration and convening that brought together the different MBK communities, elected officials, cross-sector leaders, and young men of color and the organizations working hard to help them achieve their dreams.
One of the Westchester MBK communities in the house was MBK Yonkers, which was recognized as the only large city school district in New York to exceed an 80 percent graduation rate in 2018, surpassing its “big five” peers and the state average. New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has consistently credited Yonkers MBK with helping to close achievement gaps among students of color in the district.
Yonkers MBK Co-Chairman the Rev. Dr. Jim Bostic, executive director of the Nepperhan Community Center, spoke at MBK Rising! in a discussion session titled “A Field Leader’s Monologue.” In November, Nepperhan Community Center, in partnership with the City of Yonkers, Yonkers Public Schools, the Yonkers YMCA, the Westchester County Department of Correction and Yonkers MBK, was selected as one of only 10 nationwide winners of the Obama Foundation’s National Impact Community grants.
“I am deeply honored and humbled, first of all, to be one of 10 National MBK National Impact Community Competition awardees,” said Bostic. “But, even further, to be asked to be a speaker on the main stage of the national MBK conference in Oakland – I hope and pray my experience may help to inspire, motivate and encourage our next generation of leaders to dare to be ‘change agents.’”
Obama took to the stage and gave an inspirational speech to the large group of MBK attendees. Joining Obama was NBA star Stephen Curry and singer John Legend.
One of the young black men that we have been following and admiring in our papers over the years has been Dennis Richmond Jr., a Yonkers resident who is founder and director of the NYNJ HBCU Initiative (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).
Richmond was in attendance at MBK Rising! and was able to meet Obama. Here are his words on what that moment meant:
“On Feb 9, 2019 at 2:22 p.m. PST, I met President Barack Obama. The path to me meeting him was not as easy as some might think. It all started in August of 2018. Thanks to my phenomenal mentor, Rev. Dr. James ‘Jim’ Bostic, the executive director of the Nepperhan Community Center, I was nominated for and selected to become a Cities United Roadmap Academy Fellow. Dr. Bostic selected me to represent Yonkers, ‘in the inaugural cohort of young leaders from across the country.’ Those were the words of the Planning and Programs Associate of Cities United, Ms. Cassandra R. Webb.
“Last November, 2018, I was one of the young men sponsored by the Obama Foundation to attend the 2018 Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, Ill. Again, this was Dr. Bostic’s doing. He really takes care of me. It was in Chicago that my brothers and I saw President Barack Obama. Nothing was in the wind for me to be able to get a picture with him and I was upset for the next few days.
“Last month, February 2019, I was given the opportunity to attend MBK Rising! in Oakland, Calif., and Cities United sponsored me to attend. I left Feb. 17, 2019. It was on Feb. 19 that I was in a room with young black and Latino men from across the country. There were young women in attendance, too. After standing together to take a group picture and chanting phrases like, ‘I am, my brother’s keeper,’ which were led by Mr. Senegal Mabry, the assistant to the chancellor of the NYSED and an Obama Foundation Advisory Council member, President Barack Obama walked in. We all screamed. I was in Oakland, Alameda County, Calif., in a room with young black and Latino men from across the country, and we all saw President Barack Obama.
“All of the young men in the room got to meet President Barack Obama, including two MBK high school students from Yonkers, Mr. David Armah and Yonkers MBK Youth Advisory Board President Mr. DeAndre Brown. I introduced myself to President Obama, and Mr. Michael Smith, executive director of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance was there. I told the president a little bit about myself, and Mr. Smith and President Obama had good things to say about Yonkers. Later that day, when President Obama spoke with NBA player Stephen Curry, he said, ‘Yonkers in the house.’ I was in the audience saying, ‘Yurrr’ which is slang for the term, ‘What’s up?’ As Barack Obama spoke on stage with Stephen Curry, I went into the bathroom, closed the door, and I cried. God is the greatest.” (End of Richmond comments.)
Congratulations to all of the MBK members from Yonkers and Westchester who attended the summit, and more important, congratulations to all of the educators and leaders who are making their communities a better place, and who are following President Obama’s call to help more young people of color achieve the American dream.
