My Brother's Keeper Alliance

In 2018, the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance announced the winners of its inaugural national competition to identify and invest in communities that are making steady progress to substantially improve the lives of boys and young men of color. Grants ranging from $25,000 to $500,000 were offered in two categories: Impact and Seed communities.

The winning communities, as well as MBK Communities to Watch included 19 organizations across 10 states and Puerto Rico as national models to expand evidence-based initiatives to reduce youth violence and grow effective mentorship programs.

We’re dedicated to helping these dynamic communities and organizations accelerate impact, reduce barriers and build cross-sector coalitions focused on long-term success.

The following nine communities received between $100,000 to $500,000 over two years to replicate or scale interventions in mentoring or youth violence prevention. They also received $50,000-$75,000 per year, for two years, in matching funds to backbone organizations (Opens in a new tab) for the purpose of hiring MBK Community Coordinators.

The following communities received extensive consideration for Impact Awards and represented some of the strongest proposals in the entire country. They each received $50,000 in funding to aid in the piloting and preliminary implementation of their work. Additionally, they received support from the MBK Alliance team and technical assistance partners to advise on the further development of their plans and long-term infrastructure. Each of these organizations has a strong track record of working on behalf of boys and young men of color, and we’re excited to have them as part of our cohort.

Each of these impressive Chicago-based community organizations received $50,000 in funding to aid in the piloting and preliminary implementation of their work. Similar to our National Seed Grant recipients, they received support from the MBK Alliance team and technical assistance partners to advise on the further development of their plans and long-term infrastructure.