Washington, DC
Boys and Young Men of Color Collaborative Action Network
The District’s Boys and Young Men of Color Collaborative Action Network brings together thought leaders, stakeholders, and community representatives, who are identifying policy reforms, promising solutions and shared strategies to address system-level challenges undermining the success of Boys and Young Men of Color; and works to support My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) DC.
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Our work (Overview)
The work of this Collaborative Action Network will complement the work of the DC Early Learning Collaborative Action Network and the DC Career and College Readiness Collaborative Action Network, which are prioritizing outcomes improvements for Boys and Young Men of Color within those respective priority areas. The BYMOC Collaborative Action Network adopted a framework that prioritizes outcomes within the broad MBK Milestones:
- Completing Postsecondary Education or Training;
- Successfully Entering the Workforce; and
- Keeping Kids on Track and Giving them Second Chances.
The Network seeks to improve rates of postsecondary education and training completion, successful entry into the workforce, and reduce exposure to violence and related trauma, and expand second chance opportunities for Boys and Young Men of Color in the District of Columbia through the identification and implementation of shared strategies to prevent educational disengagement and disconnection, reconnecting students who have disengaged to best-fit educational and employment pathways with adequate wraparound supports, and identifying and elevating policy recommendations to remove systemic and structural barriers.
MBK DC is part of a national network of community-based, cross-sector collaboratives, including local leaders; nonprofits; businesses; philanthropy; and young people and their families, dedicated to addressing persistent opportunity gaps confronted by boys and young men of color.
Partners
DC Early Learning Collaborative Action Network
DC’s Early Learning Collaborative Action Network works with key stakeholders across the District to increase third grade literacy rates.
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Our Work
DC’s Early Learning Collaborative Action Network seeks to increase third grade literacy in the District by: expanding access to quality early learning; increasing the number of well-educated and trained early learning educators in Wards 7 and 8, where the need is greatest; resolving the misalignment of assessment tools for kindergarten readiness; and addressing systemic barriers to sustainable wages and business models. It also seeks to change the negative perception of early learning educators and reposition public understanding of these workers as essential educators. Youth Invest Partners is serving as the initial backbone for this Network.
Partners
Career and College Readiness Collaborative Action Network
Focused on ages 16-24, this Network seeks to ensure youth, especially youth of color, in the District of Columbia complete high school ready for career and postsecondary education or training, as measured by on-time high school graduation and the attainment of alternative high school credentials.
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Our Work
Focused on ages 16-24, this Network seeks to ensure youth, especially youth of color, in the District of Columbia complete high school ready for career and postsecondary education or training, as measured by on-time high school graduation and the attainment of alternative high school credentials. The Network will improve career and college readiness outcomes through the identification and implementation of shared strategies to prevent educational disengagement in the K-12 system; identify, assess and reconnect students who have disengaged to best-fit educational and employment pathways with adequate wraparound supports, better support the social-emotional needs of the District’s students in K-12 and alternative education settings, and articulate high-quality and accessible postsecondary and career pathways for students at the highest risk of disconnection.
Partners
Fairfax County, Virginia
Boys and Young Men of Color Collaborative Action Network – Fairfax
Youth Invest Partners’s investment in growing the capacity of and providing strategic assistance to the backbone entities for this Network in Fairfax County, Virginia will help sustain a partnership among thought-leaders, stakeholders, and community representatives, who are identifying promising solutions and shared strategies to address system-level challenges across various systems in Fairfax County that hinder the development of positive outcomes for Boys and Young Men of Color in the County.
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Our Work
Focused on ages 14 to 24, this Network seeks to utilize prevention and intervention strategies, while removing systemic barriers, to increase the percentage of African-American and Latino boys who graduate from high school in Fairfax County and to re-engage those who have stopped out or dropped out of school and work.
Continued providing guidance and coaching to Fairfax County Office of Neighborhood and Community Services, which served as the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Fairfax backbone entity, to navigate MBK Fairfax onboarding and certification processes.
Provided coaching and assistance to MBK Fairfax’s organizational leads: Capital Youth Empowerment and Edu-Futuro. It included coordinating a Steering Committee, and planning a Spring 2024 Local Action Summit.