Archive for the ‘mentoring’ Category
Black College Graduate Excels as UNCF Special Programs Leader
By Lydia Lum, Diverse Education
It’s no surprise that Aaron Andrews has been fond of historically Black colleges and universities all his adult life. He credits the mentoring he received at Morgan State University, where he earned a bachelor’s in physical education, for transforming “an insecure, inner-city kid” into a first-generation college graduate now bringing education to another generation of disadvantaged minorities.
100 Black Men of Savannah Launches Pathways to Success Summer Enrichment Institute
By Kim Gusby, WSAV
Starting today, area young people will have a chance to have fun while learning life and leadership skills this summer.
100 Black Men of Savannah, Inc. in partnership with First Tee of Savannah, Inc. has launched its Pathways to Success Summer Enrichment Institute.
Over the next two weeks 25 to 30 young people ages 10 – 15 will have an opportunity to acquire life skills through educational, legal, health, mentoring, leadership, and economic empowerment programs- all key components of the Savannah 100’s “Mentoring the 100 Way Across a Lifetime.”
The goal of the Institute is motivate young people to seek higher levels of achievement; to expose them to activites rich in cultural information and experiences, and to develop their reading, writing, and leadership skills. Read the rest of this entry »
Journey to Success: Mentors Coach Young Black Men On College, Manhood
By Robyn H. Jimenez, Special to the NNPA from The Dallas Examiner –
DALLAS (NNPA) – “In life, it’s not where you start, but where you end,” said Dr. Steve Perry, one of the nation’s leading motivational speakers.
Perry’s journey began in a housing project in Middletown, Conn., when he was born to a teenage mother. He knew first hand the struggles that young men in economically disadvantaged areas experience daily.
His mother was committed to doing what she could to create a better future for herself and Perry, but also for the community in which they lived. She taught Perry that it took discipline and dedication to accomplish his goals. Perry used these tools and his commitment to football to stay out of trouble, graduate and go on to college.
He went on to receive a bachelor’s in Political Science, a master’s in social work and a doctorate in education. He then went on to put his degrees to work for his community at a part-time college preparatory summer program, where he worked with students that were mainly from failing schools. Read the rest of this entry »
North Miami teen’s debate program empowering kids
As Pablo Storch took to the front of his eighth-grade speech and debate class, his voice and his legs shook.
He was a recent migrant from Buenos Aires. His English skills were minimal — along with his confidence.
“I was extremely nervous. I didn’t get such a great grade,” said Storch, now a junior.
But instead of shrinking to the back of the classroom, Storch practiced. He gave more speeches. He got better. He became more sure of himself — sure enough to run for student government.
“Debate has given me so much,” he said.
Now Storch, 17, is giving back, creating a speech and debate program called Speak Up at Beacon Hill School near Miami Gardens. He wants to give the dozen elementary and middle school students in the program the same self-assuredness he gained from his eighth-grade speech and debate class.
“One of these kids could be the next Albert Einstein,” said Storch, who lives in North Miami. “But if they don’t learn how to talk and communicate, their ideas will never get out into the world.”
Most Fridays, Storch rushes home from school at Dr. Michael M. Krop High School, as his father rushes home from work at his architecture firm. With four Advanced Placement classes on his plate, and obligations as class vice president and a board member of his school’s debate team, the younger Storch may be too tired to drive, his father worries. So together, they head to class.
African-American teens build leadership skills at Kujenga
by Jennifer Brinker, St. Louis Review
For many teens, leadership skills come easily. For others, it takes extra work.
But for all who attended the Kujenga VIII Catholic Youth Leadership Conference last month, everyone had a chance to put those skills to the test.
Sponsored by the St. Charles Lwanga Center, Kujenga is a three-day event primarily for African-American high-schoolers and recent graduates. The Lwanga Center is an archdiocesan agency that provides spiritual and leadership development for the local Catholic African-American community and beyond.
Michelle Obama Becomes National Honorary President of Girl Scouts of the USA
SOURCE: Girl Scouts of America
New York, N.Y. – Girl Scouts of the USA is pleased to announce that First Lady Michelle Obama has agreed to serve as its Honorary National President.
“It is my great pleasure to serve as Honorary National President of Girl Scouts,” said Mrs. Obama. “With their innovative new programming, ground-breaking research, and emphasis on service and leadership, Girl Scouts is preparing the women of tomorrow to be a positive force for change – in their own lives, their communities, and across the globe.”
Guidance for girls through Sunday Girls International
by Lareeca Rucker, Clarion Ledger
On Sunday afternoons in the late 1960s when church let out in rural Collins, Jacqueline Boykin’s brothers often played baseball at a neighbor’s house while she and her sisters became “Sunday Girls.”
It was a routine established by her mother, who spent Sundays teaching her daughters that they were intelligent, powerful, divine beings with a special purpose in life.
“My mother wanted to instill in her daughters a sense of strong faith and belief in themselves that they had the power to do whatever they wanted in this world,” said Boykin, 51.
Mentoring program aims to help African American male students
by Tim Mandell, Richmond Register
Velmar Miller was one of a group of local residents who saw an alarming trend in the Madison Central School District.
When looking at standardized test scores, Miller saw that African American males were scoring far below other students in every test and category.
While brainstorming on how to solve the problem, the idea was formed to create the African American Mentoring Program.
Still in its early stages, the mentoring program is being designed to pair students with a mentor in the hope that it leads to a positive outcome.
Miller, president of the African American Mentoring Program, gave a presentation to the school board Thursday night.
African-American male teachers try to be role models
by Matt Soergel, Florida Times Union
At a church service Sunday to honor African-American male teachers, the talk turned to the mentors who had made a difference in the lives of some black educators.
For George Maxey, the new principal at Raines High School, it was John Fox, a white teacher who inspired him in third grade, when Maxey lived in a housing project in Brooklyn, N.Y.
For Julius Paden, principal at private Lighthouse Christian School, it was the late Bernard Wilkes, basketball coach at Ribault High School for 30 years.
For Dwayne Thomas, assistant principal at Mandarin Middle School, it was Bud Hicks, who worked as a custodian at his school in Detroit.
Attorney gives Jena 6 teen counsel, chance at new life
by Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
Jesse Ray Beard said he was constantly in trouble, even when he behaved. It took being accused of the racially charged attempted murder of a white classmate in the Deep South to turn his life around.
Beard, 18, now interns at a New York law firm as he prepares for his senior year next month at Canterbury School, a Connecticut prep academy where Beard is highly regarded among peers and teachers.
“I didn’t change the way I act. I didn’t do nothing different. It was just that I was at Canterbury instead of Jena,” he said. “It was like Jena was out to get me — and not just me, but other people, too.”
Bringing their ‘A’ Game Film helps boys overcome struggles by showcasing successful black men
By ROBERT FELTON and TERRY DEAN, Austin Weekly News
After watching a short film featuring famous black men telling their targeted young male viewers to strive for success at work, home and in school, the audience at The Sankofa Cultural Arts & Business Center discussed ways to help boys achieve that goal.
The Sankofa Center, 5820 W. Chicago, last Friday hosted a screening of Bring Your “A” Game. Directed by Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City; Posse), the 22-minute documentary is produced by Twenty First Century Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 1971 to help improve the black community. The foundation is providing a copy of the film and discussion materials to community groups around the country. Malcolm and Stacia Crawford, owners of the Sankofa Center, learned of the film and wanted to host a screening. More than 50 people, mostly men, attended.
Positive summer for youth project
by Cleveland Tinker, Gainesville Guardian
The Heatwave summer youth project has wrapped up another successful year of providing a positive alternative to crime and idleness for area teenagers.
The season ended with the Summer Heatwave 2009 Classic Basketball Tournament championship games last Friday night at the Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Purpose Center. The summer night-time basketball league is the centerpiece of Heatwave, and teaching life skills along with the fundamentals of basketball is a key component of the program.
As a group of 13-16-year-old boys stood around Davin Woody in the Lincoln Middle School gymnasium recently, they listened intently as Woody lectured them about the importance of being accountable for their actions.
2009 Black Women’s Expo
SOURCE: ABC 7 News
The 16th Annual Black Women’s Expo (TBWE), a national destination event designed by women for women, takes place from Thursday, July 30 to Saturday, August 1 at McCormick Place West. TBWE offers a family-friendly environment in which to enjoy seminars, entertainment, shopping, product sampling, and more. This year’s Expo has partnered with the National Urban League’s 99th Annual Conference and anticipates an estimated 25,000 women from across the nation – wives, mothers, students, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders – along with men and youth to participate in the three-day event that offers African American-focused topics and themes.
The Expo also will present the Phenomenal Woman Awards on Friday, July 31 during the Annual Gala at the Chicago Hilton Hotel beginning at 6:30 p.m. This aspect of the Expo pays tribute to 10 outstanding Chicago area women whose excellence in a variety of fields commands recognition. Susan L. Taylor, former editorial director at Essence magazine and founder of National CARES Mentoring Movement, will deliver the keynote address. The popular motivational speaker will inspire and encourage women to greater heights. Multi-platinum selling R&B artist Brian McKnight will provide musical entertainment.
Symposium encourages mentors for black youths craving direction
by Dudley Brown, GoUpstate.com
A nonprofit focused on providing mentoring for black youths is hosting a conference on how parents, educators and others in the community can help young people.
Black Boys of Distinction is beginning its second year, and its “Project I Can 2” 2009 Symposium will be held Saturday in Wofford College’s Leonard Building. The symposium’s theme is “Creating Positive Futures for Black Boys.”
The conference will begin at 8 a.m. with registration and a continental breakfast before a 9 a.m. opening ceremony. It’s expected to end about 5 p.m.
The nonprofit is looking for men willing to volunteer to be mentors, and parents can enroll their sons in the program. Black Boys of Distinction is a subsidiary of Promised Land Community Development Corp.
New group aims to help black youth
by Jim Gaines, Bowling Green Daily News
Nick Brown, 10, and Denzel White, 11, sat side by side Friday evening watching the Bowling Green Hot Rods play the Asheville (N.C.) Tourists. They were glad to be at the game, amid a crowd of their friends from the Housing Authority of Bowling Green’s Learning Center, but neither was quite sure why they were all out for a free evening of fun.
The answers sat behind and among them in section 117: more than 30 African American men, mostly in red shirts – a new group called Black Men United.
“I guess they just wanted to do something nice for us,” Brown said. Read the rest of this entry »
Men commit to teaching boys how to become good people
by Erin Andersen, Journal Star
When Derrick Anderson decided to become a doctor, few believed he could do it. Not because of his grades. But because he is black. Nationally, only 50 percent of African Americans graduate from high school. Of those, half will go to college, but only 40 percent of those will graduate with a degree after six years.
So for Anderson, 40, to become a medical doctor … his professors and LaVista high school guidance counselors were skeptical.
But not his parents.
They raised Derrick and his siblings to chase their dreams and believe that with work, commitment and determination, they could accomplish anything they set their minds to. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Brothers Big Sisters joining with fraternities
SOURCE: Associated Press
Three of the country’s largest black fraternities are joining forces with Big Brothers Big Sisters to help woo black men into the mentoring program. Big Brothers Big Sisters President and CEO Judy Vredenburgh says the nonprofit has struggled to attract minorities to pair with a growing list of black youths from mostly single-parent homes who are signing up in droves. The fraternities will urge their 250,000 active members to become mentors, as well as hold recruitment drives for Big Brothers Big Sisters at everything from to college campuses to barbershops. Spokeswoman Kelly Williams says Big Brothers Big Sisters has a list of about 8,500 black boys who are waiting for mentors, which represents 40 percent of the boys waiting to be matched.
On the Net: * Big Brothers Big Sisters: http://www.bbbs.org/
Program at Benton Elementary helps girls respect themselves and others
Nine girls fidgeted as they waited for the Friday R.I.S.E. meeting to begin on a biting day in late November.
The group of girls at Benton Elementary School gets together weekly to talk about ways to define respect for themselves and others.
Their goal for the day: build their own behavior plans. They sat three to a table and opened their sack lunches – peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, milk and Goldfish crackers.
While they ate, Cathy Cox explained that the floor was hers; the girls could not speak unless they were called on.
Cox reviewed the themes the girls had studied in the past week, then asked them to list some goals for themselves.
“I want ‘I can’ and ‘This means’ statements,” Cox said.
She had their full attention, wielding an encouraging smile one minute and, the next, a look that would make you want to duck under the table.
That combination of support and command is the key to R.I.S.E., a special group for third- through fifth-grade girls at Benton Elementary in Columbia. R.I.S.E. stands for Respecting Individual Style and Expression. Read the rest of this entry »
Architect and former gang member to mentor young black men
by Roz Laws, Birmingham Post
The turning point in Phillip Thompson’s life came when two of his close friends died from drug overdoses and another was stabbed to death in a fight.
He made the decision to leave behind his Wolverhampton gang and apply to university. Now he is an architect in a Birmingham firm – and one of 20 black men chosen as role models in a new national initiative.
Phillip is one of four Midlanders in the programme devised by the REACH group, a body commissioned to provide the government with recommendations on how to inspire and support young black men. Read the rest of this entry »
Couple gives kids gift of music and asks for nothing in return
by Jennifer Torres, Recordnet
.com
When, after more than a few tries, Ariel Jackson couldn’t get through her saxophone solo without a squeak, 88-year-old Harry Owens walked up to the girl where she stood behind her music stand and whispered instructions.
Ariel nodded and walked away to wet her instrument’s reed under a faucet before trying again later.
“Part of it might have been her reed,” said Harry a few days after the recital, held in mid-November in a downtown church community room. “I could tell her reed was too stiff.”
“And, too,” his wife, 82-year-old Clemmie Owens, said, “they get nervous sometimes.” Read the rest of this entry »
Mentors Take a Swing with Young Golfers
by Carly Flynn Morgan, 13WMAZ
A local men’s group took a swing at mentoring young golfers Saturday.
100 Black Men of Macon Middle Georgia played golf with young men from the Rights of Passage Youth Development Program. They’re all middle school boys from single mother families who might not have a father-figure to teach them to hit the ball around. They gathered at Bowden Golf Course in Macon.
“It’s going to take all of us working together to help insure that the youth of our community will be positive contributors to the Central Georgia area and the greater community,” said Tom Sands, President of 100 Black Men in Macon.
The program isn’t all fun and games, though. The kids also learn important life lessons.
“We get to do things that we haven’t done lately and it’s really educational and it teaches us how to get our life on the right track,” said Anthony Vinson who participates in the program.
100 Black Men of Macon Middle Georgia meet with boys from Rights of Passage once a month, for fun and educational activities.
Ministry for at-risk youth celebrates anniversary
by Brennan Leathers, The Post-Searchlight
A local ministry that serves at-risk young black men celebrated its first anniversary Sunday.
Wallace Sholar, field representative for U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Albany), presented a plaque recognizing the efforts of the Rev. Adren Bivins, who founded the ministry with his wife, Sylvia. Bivins’ Laymen Brotherhood Second Chance Outreach Center has provided mentoring, Bible study, positive recreation and advocacy for several dozen young men since it began in September 2007. Read the rest of this entry »
Leader motivates youth
by Wanjira Banfield, South Florida Times
The young Albert E. Dotson Jr. had a ready answer for his teacher’s question: “And what do you want to be when you grow up?”
Without hesitation, Dotson declared, “I want to be a lawyer.”
He might have been parroting the dreams of others or, more likely, was a prescient young man with his future in sight.
From Boys to Men: Helping African American Boys Succeed
PRESS RELEASE
The Cinque Rites of Passage Program: A Program Development Guide to Assist Individuals or Groups of African American Boys Transition into Manhood has arrived just in time for fall programming. The Cinque Rites of Passage is a 13 level program developed by Dr. John Hamilton. This guide is dedicated to motivating African American males to enhance their leadership, decision-making, and critical thinking skills. Moreover, this program is committed to teaching African American males about their African/African American culture and the sensitivity of other cultures to empower them individually and collectively.
Barksdale empowers black teens to succeed
by Andrew Dys, Herald Online
Sandra Richardson is a single mother and a Winthrop University police officer. She is a tough mom. But Richardson said she needed a male figure to help her son, Sirron, grow into the man she not only expects he should be, but demands he will be.She found help two years ago in a guy she has known from when he was a skinny undergraduate at Winthrop, now all grown up and successful, named Derrick Barksdale.
Tradition of Excellence 