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.
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.