XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: jesse@msnbc.com   
      
   I'm sorry my niggers.  I know I asked for 4 billion dollars for   
   the illegal aliens who will take your welfare money.  But don't   
   worry because the Republicans won't give it to me.  Here's a   
   $104 million to shut up and go away.  Don't forget to sign up   
   for Obama care.   
      
   Six months since the launch of My Brother’s Keeper – the   
   president’s boldest effort since taking office to address the   
   dire state of young minority men – Obama is set to announce that   
   millions are being dedicated to expanding the initiative.   
      
   According to a White House official, Obama will announce Monday   
   at the Walker Jones Education Center in Washington new   
   partnerships with public and private groups to the tune of about   
   $104 million in funding to help this demographic succeed at   
   critical stages throughout their lives – from early education to   
   college and career.   
      
   Young minority men generally faces some of the worst social,   
   academic and economic outcomes in the country.   
      
   “Tomorrow’s announcements are an important next step in   
   continuing to build ladders of opportunity for all and to   
   highlight the President’s commitment to ensuring that all   
   children have a fair shot to succeed in this country,” a White   
   House official said.   
      
   The new private partner organizations include the NBA and NBA’s   
   player and retired players association, AT&T, the Emerson   
   Collective, The College Board, Citi Foundation, and Discovery   
   Communications.   
      
   Obama assembled the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force and charged   
   them with spending the next few months combing through data and   
   best practices in preparation for a massive scaling-up of   
   national efforts.   
      
   The administration convened some of the wealthiest foundations   
   and philanthropists in the country and secured about $200   
   million to identify and bolster efforts that are working   
   nationally to help boys and men of color while also developing   
   new strategies. The efforts center around disrupting what many   
   in the philanthropic space refer to as the cradle-to-prison   
   pipeline that disproportionately siphons off minority boys from   
   as early as pre-Kindergarten.   
      
   The NBA groups have pledged support for a new public service   
   campaign primarily designed to recruit 25,000 minority male   
   mentors. AT&T has pledged $18 million this year to support   
   mentoring and educational programs as part of a broader $350   
   million commitment targeted at students at risk of dropping out   
   of school. The Emerson Collective has committed $50 million to   
   work with school districts to launch a competition to find the   
   best designs for high schools of the future.   
      
   The College Board will invest more than $1.5 million for an   
   initiative called “All In,” a program to help ensure that 100%   
   of African-American, Latino and Native-American students with   
   strong advanced placement potential are enrolled in AP classes   
   before graduation.   
      
   The Citi Foundation is committing $10 million over the next   
   three years to create a national volunteer program to help   
   25,000 young people in 10 cities across the country develop   
   college and career readiness skills. And Discovery   
   Communications will invest more than $1 million to create   
   original programming to breakdown stereotypes and negative   
   public perception of boys and men of color.   
      
   The Chicago-based Becoming A Man program, which consists mostly   
   of black boys and was instrumental in spurring Obama to take   
   bold new action aimed at at-risk boys following the acquittal of   
   Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, pledged an additional   
   $10 million in new funding to My Brother’s Keeper.   
      
   The new partnerships and funding also includes a number of   
   government agencies and efforts. The Corporation for National   
   and Community Service and the Department of Justice will jointly   
   fund a $10 million, three year AmeriCorps program to enroll   
   disconnected youth. And the USDA will be teaming up with   
   AmeriCorps to offer $3.8 million to give youth opportunities to   
   help restore the nation’s forests and grasslands.   
      
   In May, the task force released its first report to the   
   president, in which they outlined a broad set of guiding   
   principles and recommendations. The recommendations include   
   launching a national mentor-recruiting campaign, eliminating   
   suspensions and expulsions of preschoolers, encouraging a   
   culture of reading at home, and growing youth summer programs   
   and pre-apprenticeships.   
      
   The President’s effort to help young minority men and boys is   
   one that White House officials say will be central to the   
   president and First Lady’s life after leaving office. But that   
   effort hasn’t gone without controversy. Many critics have   
   wondered how much vigor will be put into the program once Obama   
   leaves office, and if it will survive the next administration.   
   And several prominent African-American men and women have   
   criticized the administration for not including girls of color   
   who also face disproportionately bad outcomes. Others balked at   
   the initial $200 million commitment, arguing that the great   
   issues facing minority boys requires maximum resources.   
      
   The administration and funders of My Brother’s Keeper have said   
   time and again that the efforts toward minority men and boys is   
   based on empirical data that highlights this group as the most   
   effected on many key indicators, including incarceration,   
   poverty and violent crime rates.   
      
   “I think that the desire to focus on black men and boys really   
   grew out of smaller groups of people coming together to say,   
   this situation has grown so dire, particularly around violence   
   that has affected our young men in communities and this cradle   
   to prison pipeline,” Cedric Brown, managing partner at the Kapor   
   Center for Social Impact, told msnbc recently. “This isn’t a   
   matter of trying to order the priorities necessarily. The   
   question is how do we build something that’s parallel or   
   combined, how can we have these movements run adjacent to one   
   another and build upon one another.”   
      
   Brown, whose organization was among the group of original My   
   Brother’s Keeper funders, said the initiative has raised the   
   volume and level of discourse around the plight of boys of color.   
      
   “It gave a sense of urgency around needing to get a plan, a   
   framework together and out there and moving forward in a way   
   that was going to be responsive to real issues that young men   
   are facing in communities and not going to be more talk not   
   going to be another blue-ribbon panel, but this was actually   
   going to work,” Brown said. “This was actually going to change   
   things and get us as a nation on the road to increasing the   
   opportunities of men and boys of color.”   
      
   http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obamas-my-brothers-keeper-initiative-   
   gets-104-million-boost   
      
       
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)