President’s Brother’s Keeper Initiative Launches as a Charitable Organization

I was wondering what all the traffic gridlock was about when I got out of LaGuardia airport early Monday afternoon and tried to make my way to Poughkeepsie.  fearing the worst, I tuned in to 1010 WINS to catch the traffic report.  That was when I heard it: President Obama had been at Lehman College where he had announced the creation of a nonprofit called the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.  The new organization is a spinoff of a White House initiative of the same name aimed at uplifting African American and Hispanic boys from preschool through high school.  

In launching the new Charity, President Obama stated that the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance will “continue the work of opening doors for young people — all our young people — long after I’ve left office.”

Reporting on the launch, TheNonProfitTimes reports that the President

told the audience at Lehman that the new organization has secured $80 million from companies such as Deloitte, News Corp and American Express.  The group’s star-studded executive team and advisor board will include former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), basketball stars Alonzo Mourning and Shaquille O’Neal, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, among others.

The new organization will be led by former Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria and might serve as a vehicle through which the president can influence policy after his second term is up.  Speaking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest stated:

While I’m not in a position to describe the specific, detailed relationship between the president and this alliance that will continue after his presidency, I can tell you that this is an issue that the president intends to continue to be focused on long after he has left the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Broderick Johnson, chair of the White House initiative, linked the My Brother’s Keeper with the unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray.  Writing on the My Brother’s Keeper initiative’s website, Johnson stated:

For so many of us, the My Brother’s Keeper initiative is deeply personal.  As a proud son of Baltimore, this week’s announcement comes at a time of unique and special resonance for me.  As the country reflects on our shared responsibility to ensure that opportunity reaches every young person, I urge everyone to look at their own capacity to make a difference.

The My Brother’s Keeper initiative was designed to focus federal resources towards closing the opportunity gap experienced by African American and Latino males.  To that end, Johnson identified almost $1 million in funds from a number of federal agencies: the departments of Education and Health and Human Services announced $750 million in Preschool Development Grants for 18 states this past December, and the Department of Labor and the National Guard have programs that will together expend $100 million to improve career prospects for minorities. 

VEJ