Blog: My Brother's Keeper, Because so Much is Riding on the Next Generation

Statement

As they do in many cities and towns across America, elected officials, business leaders, and other key influencers in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are invested in helping their community thrive. And, as so many leaders in other cities and towns in America do, Fayetteville's leaders understand that the thriving community they build today will be in the hands of the next generation tomorrow.

And, when I say "the next generation," I mean everyone in that generation. The alert girl who sits in the front row as well as the quiet boy who sits in the back --the one whose silence is not a sign of a lack of interest or intelligence, but of the fact that he was too busy taking care of his younger siblings to get his homework done.

So this morning, I joined Congressman David Price and Fayettevillians of several generations for a roundtable discussion and a youth town hall at Fayetteville State University (FSU).

At the roundtable, I talked with civic leaders about the My Brother's Keeper initiative, the challenges facing young men of color, and ways to help address these challenges. My Brother's Keeper, created by President Obama, encourages towns and cities to improve educational and professional opportunities through partnerships with local organizations and leaders.

My Brother's Keeper reminds us that, as Fayetteville's leaders know, our nation's fate is tied to the fate of our young people. With My Brother's Keeper, the President is calling our nation to help lift up our youth, especially our young men of color, and prepare them for the roles this nation needs them to fulfill in the decades ahead.

This work is critically important because as you know, far too many young people in our country face extraordinary odds. But when they succeed --when we help them beat the odds- then all of America succeeds. I left the discussion with a distinct sense that Fayetteville's leaders understand that.

At the town hall meeting in FSU's Rudolph Jones Student Center, I had the chance to speak with students at this historically black university about my own experiences growing up and about overcoming the barriers to success that often confront boys of color. But what I was really pleased to share with students was the commitment I had heard during the earlier roundtable, the sense that Fayetteville's leaders see the challenges their youth face and understand how helping young people navigate those challenges is not just good for young people, but good for Fayetteville.

More than 200 communities in 49 states have adopted the My Brother's Keeper challenge of closing opportunity gaps. Foundations, businesses, and social enterprises have responded to the President's call to action with funding and other resources. More than $500 million in grants and in-kind resources and $1 billion in financing through CDFIs have been independently committed to advance the mission of My Brother's Keeper, including investments in safe and effective schools, mentoring programs, juvenile justice reform, and school redesign. The work of the interagency My Brother's Keeper Task Force has led to new and expanded grant programs, important federal guidance, and new public-private partnerships.

President Obama has said that the poetry of the March on Washington in August 1963 painted a very clear contrast between what our country should be and what our country was. It held a mirror up to America. But the way we make progress isn't always in poetry.

Sometimes, it's in sitting down. Sometimes, it's in marching. Sometimes it's in legislative office. Sometimes, it's in projects that we do through the U.S. Department of Transportation. But often, it's by just reaching out a hand to help lift someone else up, making your shoulder available for someone else to lean on --an entire community putting our hands around our young people and saying, "We are not going to let you fail."

My Brother's Keeper envisions an America where everyone has a fair shot at opportunity -- no matter what side of the highway you live on or the color of your skin. In Fayetteville today, I saw the promise of that America. I saw it in the energy and preparation of the FSU students I met and in the commitment of the civic leaders I huddled with. Let's keep that momentum going.

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