President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Summit: 5 Cool Things You Should Know

President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Summit: 5 Cool Things You Should Know

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For the past eight years, the Obama administration has created and led the charge on a variety of social initiatives developed to push our communities forward and empower youth throughout the United States. President Obama held the final My Brother’s Keeper Summit (MBK) on this past Wednesday at the White House. This final summit was a way for the President to say goodbye and to thank everyone who played a part in improving the lives of young men of color across America; but it was also a gesture in the President’s commitment to make certain that this program would continue to grow, even beyond his term as President.

Here are Five cool things you should know about My Brother’s Keeper:

My Brother’s Keeper

MBK was formed in 2014 as a way for young to find mentors from within their communities and to build these young men up in order for them to reach their full potentials.

The MBK Challenge

250 different communities throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and 19 Tribal nations have accepted the MBK Challenge. The challenge is a call to action for cities, tribal nations, towns and counties to build and execute plans to ensure young people- no matter who they are – can achieve their full potential.

MBK Responsibility

There are not only community activists and businessmen involved in the program, but even celebrities have joined forces with the President to ensure its goal is carried out, even beyond his presidency.

President Obama explained that it will be a dual responsibility of both the government and the communities that this program be continued.

“There’s an infrastructure that has to be built by the government to ensure that our young people can succeed and prosper in this 21st-century economy. We can’t wait for government to do it for us.We gotta make sure that we’re out there showing what works.We gotta put in our own time and energy and effort and money into the effort. We have to be rigorous in measuring what works.We can’t hang on to programs just because they’ve been around a long time. We can’t be protective of programs that have not produced results for young people even if they produced jobs for some folks running them.”

-President Barack Obama

Rethink Discipline Campaign

As he confirms his commitment to MBK, the President announced the started of the Rethink Discipline Campaign, another initiative created by the White House and the Department of Education that will identify the disciplinary components carried out across the countries based on race, gender, and disability. A report on Wednesday found:

220,000 students were referred to law enforcement

70,000 students and school-related arrests from 2013-2014

When comparing race and ethnicity, school referrals and school-related arrests showed huge disparities

Black students received more suspensions and had higher number of arrests

MBK Success

The story of Malachi Hernandez is a prime example of how one great mentor can impact the life of one young person. Hernandez, who was at the White House on Wednesday, gave the opening remarks and introduced President Obama to the crowd during Wednesday’s summit. Hernandez, grew up poor, and his father left him when he was seven years old. Hernandez is now the first to go to college and had a few more things in common with the President. Hernandez stated during his introduction how his meeting with POTUS has impacted his life:

“He told me how he also grew up without his father…” he later continued talking about the advice he have the President when asked about improvements that needed to be made with the MBK program, “I emphasized to him that all young people need is love.”

In an effort to keep these programs going in your local communities, visit:

Mentor.gov

MBKchallenge.org

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