On March 17, IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools is hosting a four-part series of webinars, entitled “Community Schools and Equity: Bringing Community and Opportunity into the Heart of Education Reform.” The next webinar, “My Brother’s Keeper & Community Schools,” will feature community school leaders from Oakland, Calif. and Chicago, Ill. Presenters will focus on their approach to effectively reaching young men of color in community schools through the lens of President Obama’s call to action to empower young men of color, known as the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. Presenters will also share how they leverage community partnerships to address racial and educational disparities.
Presenters include Christopher P. Chatmon, executive director of the Office of African American Male Achievement at Oakland Unified School District; David Yusem, program manager for Restorative Justice at Oakland Unified School District; A.J. Watson, Becoming a Man (BAM) director at Chicago-based Youth Guidance; and Kathryn Rice, community school coordinator at Hancock College Preparatory High School in Chicago.
My Brother’s Keeper is based on the president’s challenge to cities, towns, counties and tribes across the country to implement a coherent cradle-to-college-and-career strategy for improving the life outcomes of all young people, particularly young men of color, to ensure that they can reach their full potential, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or the circumstances into which they are born.