My Brother’s Keeper Demonstration Project
The My Brother’s Keeper (MBK)/UMass Boston (UMB) Alliance is designed to promote the educational, vocational, identity, and civic engagement of the UMB students (Fellows) who are participating in this Alliance with the following goals.
- to provide UMB/MBK Fellows with the resources, skills, and mentoring necessary to achieve their highest potential
- to create opportunities for Fellows to serve as role models to students across Boston
- to create and sustain vibrant governmental, educational, and nonprofit partnerships that collectively work to advance these goals
My Brothers Keeper (MBK) was founded in February 2014 by President Obama to allow young men and boys of color achieve their full potential. By building communities that support these individuals and work to reduce the devastating effects of systemic racism, they have more clear pathways to opportunity. Learn more about the MBK Alliance here.
The structure of the current project uses a three-tiered “pay it forward” mentorship model. MBK and UMass Boston (UMB) Alliance fellows will receive mentoring from Omega Psi Phi’s network of brothers. Additionally, MBK/UMB fellows will be mentors to elementary school students through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of Eastern Massachusetts (BBBSEM). All of these relationships will be supported by the MentorHub app, a supportive accountability platform which enables mentors and organizations to track and encourage mentees’ use of effective educational and wellness tools. This partnership was designed to promote the educational, vocational, identity, and civic engagement of its student participants. The goals of this alliance revolve around several components aimed at providing the UMB/MBK fellows with the resources, skills, and mentoring necessary to achieve their highest potential. UMB/MBK fellows will participate in an immersive program that brings together academic, skills-based and experiential learning, and mentoring. This will offer fellows a robust curriculum of leadership development, training, network activities, and mentorship throughout the academic year. Additionally, this will help fellows gain the real-world skills, tools, and experiences they need to make meaningful contributions to their communities. Key components of the program include personal and professional development, mentoring experiences and a therapeutic mentoring certification. We hope that this project will serve as a catalyst for the creation of future programs like it.
