My Brother's Keeper Alliance

The Call for Communities Making Steady Progress in Improving the Lives of Boys and Young Men of Color

The MBK Community Challenge Competition sought to identify and invest in select communities that are making steady progress in improving the lives of boys and young men of color and could serve as national models of what it takes to reduce youth violence and grow effective mentorship programs.

These anchor institutions—serving communities that are overcoming the accumulation of generations of discrimination, racism, and trauma that shows up at the community, family, and individual levels—have advanced and enhanced efforts nationally. The Competition’s financial and in-kind support catalyzed the grantees’ work and accelerated their impact, attracting and inspiring others to get involved and sustain a movement that supports boys and young men of color for the long term.

MBK Alliance helped these dynamic communities and organizations accelerate impact, reduce barriers, and build cross-sector coalitions focused on long-term success.

In addition to funding, all Impact and Seed sites received access to the following beyond-the-check supports:

  • Technical assistance provided across five areas of interest (1) Collective action and systems thinking (2) Mentoring program design and implementation (3) Violence prevention program design and implementation (4) Communications strategy (5) Sustainability and development (mandatory grant requirement)

  • Access to monthly grantee roundup calls for MBKCCC sites to connect and interact with instructional workshops

  • Implementation support for sites that provided mentoring services to boys and young men of color (BYMC)

  • Invitation to the MBKCCC Leadership Forum, which highlighted the Impact and Seed sites’ work to those within the larger MBK network and provided workshops and training from leaders in the field

  • National recognition and visibility due to the MBK Alliance and Obama Foundation’s platform

“ We believe that violence is a symptom of not systemically supporting boys and young men of color. [W]e believe that by addressing the underlying conditions that prevent boys and young men of color from achieving their dreams is implicitly a violence prevention strategy.”

–Chris Goins, former MBK Impact Community Lead for the City of Chicago, and Chief Equity Officer for Thrive Chicago.

Tracing MBKCC Site Progress

All Impact and Seed Community sites committed to tracking and reporting quarterly progress reports and bi-annual financial reports as part of their grant agreement. In addition, these communities were expected to have policies and practices that addressed the following five aspects of data quality:

  • The data measured what it intended to measure;

  • The data reported was complete;

  • The grantee collected data in a consistent manner;

  • The grantee took steps to correct data errors; and

  • The grantee actively reviewed data before submission.

The MBK Alliance also monitored the community site’s progress through regular grantee roundup calls, staff supervision of grantee activities, and other MBK Alliance sponsoring activities. Outside evaluators created year one and year two evaluation reports as well as exit interviews to discover key learnings, outcomes, and highlights from the two-year grant period. These evaluations were grounded in a commitment to equity and inclusion.

Throughout this narrative, you will learn more about the impact these grantees had on their local community with the help of their Community Competition grants and the MBK Alliance beyond-the-checks supports.

By the Numbers
20,000

Young People Received Programming From Grantee Alumni

A grayscale map of the United States titled MBKA COMMUNITY COMPETITION CHALLENGE SITES. Green dots identifying NATIONAL SEED SITES are shown on Nebraska, coastal California, Georgia and Florida. Blue dots, indicating IMPACT SITES are shown on Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey, inland California, New Mexico, Texas and Hawaii.
$12,000,000

Grantee Alumni Raised Additional Funding Due to Their Affiliation With MBK Alliance

1,000 Youth

Grantee Alumni Created Over 1,000 Youth Employment Opportunities.

50%+

Capacity to Serve Boys and Young Men of Color and Their Families Increased by an Average of 50% or More

Youth Served

50% Are Latinx, 40% Are Black. 57% Were Between the Ages of 13-17. 26% Were Between the Ages of 18-24.

“ Our North star is that young people feel loved and that systems love our people. That means some systems got to go and we have to build the ones we all deserve.”

–Kanwarpal Dhaliwal, RYSE Director