Jimmie Briggs was the founding executive director of the Man Up Campaign, a global movement to collaboratively engage boys and men to stop sexual and gender-based violence. An award-winning (former) journalist and lecturer, he is currently producing a documentary project with the community of Ferguson, Missouri. Briggs spoke with Michael D. Smith (right) about My Brother’s Keeper and the goals it shares with the encore movement; their conversation has been edited and condensed.
In 2014, the White House announced an innovative effort to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color and ensure all youth can reach their full potential. Michael D. Smith was named Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Cabinet Affairs for “My Brother’s Keeper.” Michael was formerly the director of the Social Innovation Fund, a key White House initiative and program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which supports nonprofit efforts in economic opportunity, health and personal development, among other indicators for young people.
My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) offers a multitude of opportunities for inter-generational connection for the Encore community across the United States, through an ever-growing network of governmental agencies, corporations, nonprofits and the philanthropic community. In response to the President’s call to action, nearly 250 communities in all 50 states have accepted the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge; more than $600 million in private sector and philanthropic grants and in-kind resources have been committed in alignment with MBK; and new federal policy initiatives, grant programs, and guidance are being implemented to ensure that every child has a clear pathway to success from cradle to college and career. Participation of older Americans is one of Smith’s explicit priorities.
JIMMIE BRIGGS: How would you describe My Brother’s Keeper and — a campaign, a coalition, a hope?
MICHAEL SMITH: Calling it a campaign would indicate that it’s short-term, which it’s not. We’re dealing with issues of equity, bias and disparities, so we’re in this game for the long haul. We also realize that there’s no silver bullet — we’re looking at a cradle-to-college and career strategy for young people between the ages of 0 – 24. I would consider MBK a mission and a movement to address the shocking opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color. And to help make sure we have a society to show these young people that we care about them so they can reach their full potential.
JB: Reflecting on recent events and difficult conversations taking place in the U.S. around race and policing, how responsive do you see MBK being to these discussions?
MS: The President’s entire domestic policy agenda has been about expanding opportunity and making sure that there will be a lot more Barack Obamas and Michelle Obamas that come along. MBK was created in the aftermath of the death of Trayvon Martin. After Trayvon, the President was very concerned about how young men of color were feeling and about the images that they were seeing in the media and whether or not their communities cared about them and were willing to invest in them. At the same time, we were seeing more and more data showing these horrible disparities in all sorts of key developmental indicators — incarceration, homicide, employment, even second chances. And so the President created MBK both to try and deal with these issues surrounding Trayvon Martin and so many other young men, and also to create some systemic change and deal with these tough challenges in many communities across the country.
JB: How is MBK serving those beyond the ages of 0-24?
MS: There’s the MBK Community Challenge: There are now 250 communities working on these cradle-to-college strategies in all 50 states, and they’re having conversations about race, bias, law enforcement and second chances. We’re trying to see how we can help to develop a young person who’s fully productive in society. A lot of the work on the policy side benefits not only our younger population, but also benefits men, women, girls and older folks.
JB: With only a few months left in this administration, how will MBK transition from being a political initiative to one that exists outside of government?
MS: We were in many ways fortunate that MBK didn’t start until 2014 because we thought about the end of the administration right at the beginning. The President created MBK with a Presidential memorandum that included a federal task force with 22 federal agencies, so the work doesn’t end when the President leaves. That was the other reason why initiatives like the MBK Community Challenge were launched. We recognized that this couldn’t just be about Washington — it had to be work communities owned. Many of the MBK communities have multiple year funding for staff, their plans are for 3-5 years, so that work will continue. On the private- sector side, we’ve seen a steady increase of philanthropic dollars supporting this kind of work. The MBK Alliance launched in May 2015 in the Bronx. That’s an organization with a powerhouse private sector board and they’re going to make grants to communities, do field-building, and focus a lot on jobs and opportunities, so we know there will be an external coordinating entity for this work going forward. In July, the President was having lunch with the mentees and brought the press in and said: “You need to know that this is work I’m committed to for the rest of my life.” So you’ll see this as something the President will be working on after January.
JB: What opportunities for intergenerational engagement do you see for everyday citizens with the MBK Alliance and with the larger aims of MBK?
MS: There are so many opportunities! I think the easiest, most obvious one is a big focus on mentoring with MBK. That’s playing itself out in lots of different ways: The NBA and MENTOR are working on a campaign to target millennial mentors. And while the branding might be designed to attract millennials, this is an area where we can see intergenerational opportunities as well. We’ve also seen our partners at CNCS figuring out how to use RSVP and Foster Grandparents to support the work of MBK. Our Success Mentor Initiative, which is a schooling mentoring program taking place in 30 cities to connect 6th and 9th graders to mentors to reduce chronic absenteeism, is another great place where we could see intergenerational opportunities. And then, just working with our MBK communities that need smart, engaged people that might have a little extra time — this is a great way to pull folks into areas where they never have enough staff. Lastly, there’s a big push around jobs and the workforce. So if you’re someone who has a business, who’s hiring, can you offer internships, apprenticeships and other experiences? The sky is the limit.
JB: How does MBK intersect or align with, social movements like Black Lives Matter, harm reduction, LGBTQ, etc.?
MS: MBK is not a stand-alone issue. The issues of race and inequities that are keeping our kids from being able to fully participate in society, keeping so many young folks outside of the workforce — these are interconnected. They’re issues of poverty, race, communities of color. In communities across the country, you’re seeing MBK being coordinated with multiple efforts. We actually just had a MBK Forum at the White House on the LGBTQ community because young men of color who are also in that community suffer the impact of trauma, poverty, violence and essential social disenfranchisement at some of the highest extents. You’re also seeing connections between MBK and My Sister’s Keeper programs. (Here’s one example, from San Francisco.)
For the work that we’re doing on the federal policy level, we’re really excited that we’re releasing data that we’ve never seen before, which is helping us track issues like the disparities in special education, school discipline, and chronic absenteeism. These issues are interconnected, and we try to tackle them that way, both on the federal level and how we work with our communities.
Published: August 10, 2016