100 Black Men of America, Inc.

This is probably my most favorite organization!! I remember hearing about them around the time they were just getting started (maybe about their 3rd year) and I went to a couple of their functions early on and there were so few people participating that I thought, “This is a great idea that is never going to get off the ground!”

Well, 20 years later, they have produced the biggest mentoring program in the country! And probably the world!! They tout having over 10,000 members and mentoring to 100,000 of your youngsters annually! Many Black CEOs and scholars and high-ranking officials are either a part of or a product of 100 Black Men and more and more are being produced everyday.

Although you only really hear about this group during Father’s Day with their Real Men Cook campaign, they are all over the place and have events all the time to connect Black youth (especially young Black men) with positive role models and continue to keep education a priority … although now they have also added significant programs in financial and health education.

I invite you to go to their website and look around … read about their mission and their goals and their accomplishments. See if there is a chapter in your town or state and what events you might like to check out and support. And, most important, before you leave click on the “Contact Us” button and drop them a “Good Job” email! Even if that’s all it says … a little encouragement can go a long, long way!

Two to 100 Black Men of America, Inc.

This was, I believe, the very first thread I posted in the ER! I have revisited it because of some information I found on their website today that I hope might inspire someone to get involved.

100 Black Men in coalition with Essence Magazine, the National Urban League, The Links, Incorporated, the YWCA, and others have launched a National Mentoring Movement with the goal of saving some of our at-risk youth by trying to recruit 1 million mentors and volunteers for other projects within communities all over the country.

The Movement, entitled ESSENCE CARES, is working towards keeping many of our young children from heading down the disastrous paths of early incarceration, gangs, teenage pregnancies and education dropout and illiteracy.

A quote from their website states the following statistics:

quote:

Why We Must Act Now!!

Everyday more than a thousand Black teenagers are arrested.

58 percent of Black forth graders are functionally illiterate.

In some cities fewer than 20 percent of Black males are graudating from High school.

Nearly 7 percent of African-American babies are born to girls under the age of 18.

2.4 million Black children have an incarcerated parent.

Murder is the number one cause of death among our boys.

The situation for many of our youth is critical.

Also, on their "Partners" page are links to various other organizations that you might be interested in getting connected to.

For anybody looking for *something* they can do, this coalition project may give you some ideas!