In a collaborative effort, Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh have announced the creation of a regional My Brother’s Keeper committee aimed at improving educational, health and employment opportunities for African American youth.
The committee’s first goal is to write a Greater Pittsburgh Region MBK Playbook. This document will outline effective strategies that are working to support the success of young men of color, and ways to implement these strategies locally.
The playbook will reference existing programs, common vocabulary and methodology used in the programs and also seek areas of improvement for the region. It will also establish target goals for the city in order to improve livability for all.
The playbook will include recommendations for on how the region can develop a comprehensive plan to improve outcomes for young men of color in Pittsburgh. The committee is the local outgrowth of President Barak Obama’s call to create “MBK Communities” where elected officials work with local partners to forge long-term and strategic programs to help the job and life development of at-risk young people.
The six goals of My Brother’s Keeper are:
•Ensuring all children enter school cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally ready; •Ensuring all children read at grade level by 3rd grade;
•Ensuring all youth graduate from high school;
•Ensuring all youth complete post-secondary education or training;
•Ensuring all youth out of school are employed, and
•Ensuring all youth remain safe from violent crime.
In late September the city began surveying key members of the community to identify the top goals for the local My Brother’s Keeper drive. The surveys indicated the top three needs for young men of color in the greater Pittsburgh community are workforce development, education, and police interaction.
State Rep. Ed Gainey, D-East Liberty, said he is honored to have been named to the committee and looks forward to working on education initiatives in particular.
“The number one thing is about this is opportunity,” he said. “I like to see a focus on pre-K education, and putting a better health and human services delivery system in place. And, of course, we have to retain our community to have the skills needed in today’s job market. Those are the things keep hope alive, and at the end of the day, what we you should be doing.”
Peduto’s Deputy Chief for Operations and Administration LaTrenda S. Leonard, who will oversee MBK initiatives for the city, said the committee plans to work on two other initiatives. The first is a livability index/community tracker for Pittsburgh. This will be a tool that uses data to track the progress of specific indicators of livability in Pittsburgh including kindergarten readiness, early grade reading, high school graduation, post-secondary enrollment, postsecondary completion, and career placement and retention.
The second is a Youth Narrative that speaks to the experience of youth of color in the City of Pittsburgh and provides recommendations of how the city should approach this issue from their perspective.
“The Pittsburgh MBK committee is a strong group that will produce tangible results that can be used by the community to empower residents and organizations to truly affect the MBK cause,” she said. “The committee will be an active, engaged body and full participation will be key in order to achieve any its outcomes.”
The committee is currently scheduling its next b-weekly meetings, and is expected to produce action recommendations by early summer.
In addition to Gainey, the committee includes: POISE Program Officer Aerion Abney; Urban Redevelopment Authority of Community and Diversity Manager Karen Abrams; YMCA Lighthouse Project program Director James Brown; Rodman Street Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Dr. Darryl T. Canady; Adonai Center for Black Males Founder Kevin Carter; Allegheny County Dept of Human Services Deputy Director Erin Dalton; Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Commander Eric Holmes; Iron Cross Community Ministries Rev. Cornell Jones; Homewood Children’s Village Manager Walter Lewis; Robert Morris University Black Male Leadership Development Institute Director Dr. Michael Quigley; Pittsburgh Public Schools Jason Rivers; Deputy Director of Children, Youth and Families Dr. Walter Smith; Higher Achievement Executive Director Dr. Wendy Etheridge Smith; Youth Opportunities Development Director of Operations Talli Thompson, and Concord Elementary School teacher Mary Young.
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com.)
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