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INITIATIVES

The Brothers Forum is a series of bi-weekly meetings that will entail mentorship, success stories, study sessions, professional development, and campus engagement. our vision is to inspire African American males to reveal who they are and empower them to achieve life goals.

FAME

Focus Group


The three C’s – (College going, College staying, College graduating)
Engages young men to ignite their own change.
Form lifelong partnerships.
Gives the opportunity to connect with the college
Allows A.A.M. and M.O.C to connect w/others that have similar goals.
Provides opportunities for young men to get together and talk about issues like theirs (bonding).
Discuss what it means to be an A.A.M. /M.O.C. in college.
Opportunity to voice their frustrations and recharge their will to succeed academically.
Allows young men to be vulnerable with each other (Transparency)
Helping our brothers who lag behind (accountability)

 

Activities


Jam Session (peer tutoring)
Bondfire 
Bi – Weekly Empowerment Meetings 
Academic Coaching and Advising 
Career Development Training - (Monthly professional development workshops)
Leadership Development 
Student-Athlete Programming **

 

Mentorship


Cornerstones of Excellence
Listening 
Facilitation of Pathways
Apply the Law of Addition
Provide support
Leadership Development
Educate students about the college process (e.g. –available resources)

 

Exposure & Visibility

Transfer Initiatives
Professional Development (e.g. – Career Networking, Internships & etc)
Public Speaking

The Cornerstones of Excellence

Who are you? Know who you are! “To Thine Self Be True!” (Internal)


⦁    Examine your role w/ family, friends, future employers and community regeneration)
⦁    Understanding the weight you’re carrying
⦁    Discuss triumphs and struggles in their journey that has lead them to this point in your life
⦁    Love yourself

 

 

Transferable Skills (Internal)


⦁    Intelligence vs. Education
⦁    Emotional Intelligence
⦁    Code Switching - time, place, and context
⦁    Good Ole Grit - Warrior Mentality

 

 

Humility (Internal)


⦁    Appearance – Reverse the curser (Visual)
⦁    Set trends rather than follow them
⦁    Professional dress day once per week  

 

Attitude (Visual)


⦁    Being Gangsta is overrated

⦁    Stop Mad dogging one another and embrace all men of color​​

⦁    Positive Racial Identity (Visual)​

⦁    Stop making excuses (Academic)

Get Educated (Academic) 


⦁    Why student success matters
⦁    Academia 
⦁    What are your grades? Who is your Guidance Counselor? How often have you visited the Guidance Center? How often have you visited the Transfer Center?  Do you know where the Transfer Center is located? Have you ever visited the Transfer Center? Tell me what you know about the Articulation Agreement? Have you completed a CSU Mentor application? Do you know where the Career Center is located? Have you been to the Career Center? Who is the Point of Contact for the Career Center? Do you understand the process of obtaining tutoring assistance?

Outwork everyone (Academic)


⦁    Have high expectations for yourself and those who are in your circle
⦁    Love yourself Control your destiny! (Professional)
⦁    The company YOU keep
⦁    Lifestyle vs Hobby​

⦁    Be Charismatic (Professional)​

⦁    Confidence over Arrogance (Professional)

"the secret sauce"

Meeting 1

Welcome Students & Ice Breaker

 

Meeting 2

Validation

 

Meeting 3

Know Yourself

 

Meeting 4

Identity

 

Meeting 5

Positive Racial Identity (visual) “Each night she prayed for blue eyes”

 

Meeting 6

Social Capital

 

Meeting 7

Porch Talk

 

Meeting 8

Communication

The Handshake!

 

Meeting 9

Personal Responsibility

 

Meeting 10

Insulting language

 

Meeting 11

Civic Engagement (Voting)

 

Meeting 12

Where do you stand? (Domestic Violence and Bullying)

 

Meeting 13

Social Justice

 

Meeting 14

Digital disrespect

 

Meeting 15

Keys to success

 

Meeting 16

Control your destiny

 

Meeting 17

Understanding consent

 

Meeting 18

Compare and Contrast

 

Meeting 19

Transferable Skills

 

Meeting 20

“Speaking the Lingo”

 

Meeting 21

Get Educated

 

Meeting 22

Outwork Everyone and Attitude

 

Meeting 23

Finance

 

Meeting 24

Emotional literacy

 

Meeting 25

Growth mindset

 

Meeting 26 & 27

Teaching students how to college

beyond the laces

Brief History

 


Nationally, African-American and Latino males are more likely than any other group to be suspended and expelled from school (Fergus & Noguera, 2010). In most American cities, dropout rates for African-American and Latino males are well above 50%, and they’re less likely to enroll or graduate from college than any other group (Schott, 2010). In 2014, the city's schools had a 53 percent four-year graduation rate for its black males, up from 49 percent in 2012. In 2010, a little over three million black & brown students were suspended (pushed out). In addition to this, non – qualifier athletes who look to continue their pathway at the community college tend to fall in the pathway of At – Risk students at the community college due to their lack of support; disconnection to the CC campus; and the race against the athletic clock.


The increase of the grade point average from 2.0 to a 2.5; the mandate to have an A.A. degree before being able to accept an NCAA scholarship; insufficient academic and social guidance; student mentorship continues to perpetuate the lack of success of African American Males and Men of Color in the tertiary system.

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Goal


The Brothers Forum goal is to increase the grade point averages of student athletes utilizing social, cultural and mentoring strategies that will aide in their successful course completion, basic skills completion/ (A – G requirements) and Degree/Transfer Completion rate for African American Males and Men of Color students by 1-2% annually.

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