Struggling to recruit men of color mentors? Come learn best practices and strategies to recruit and retain men of color mentors.

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Kwame Johnson, Big Brothers Big Sisters Metro AtlantaFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Big Brothers Big Sisters Metro Atlanta

First Presenter’s Email Address

kwame.johnson@bbbsatl.org

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Kwame is the President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Metro Atlanta (BBBSMA). Kwame oversees the largest and most effective youth mentoring agency in the state of GA. Kwame directs a team of 50 staff that provide support to over 1,400 one-to-one mentoring relationships that have powerful and positive effects that change our youth lives for the better. Kwame found his passion while incarcerated during his senior year of high school. During this challenging time, he decided to change his life and made history by becoming the first youth to ever take his SATs in jail. Kwame was accepted into Hampton University and decided to leave college at the age of 19 to become a social entrepreneur and has dedicated his life to service and helping our youth reach their full potential. Kwame’s passion led him to Washington DC where he worked in youth development for over 12 years. Kwame served as the National Program Director for the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise focused on helping residents of low-income neighborhoods address the problems of their communities. Kwame also served as the Director of Corporate Relations for the national office of Communities In Schools the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization. Prior to joining, BBBSMA Kwame served as the Executive Director of the Greater Atlanta Region for PowerMyLearning, where he increased the organization's revenue by 65% and program reach by 115% within three years. Kwame has received national recognition for his work to include the Social Entrepreneur Program of the Year Award from the Manhattan Institute. Kwame recently received the highly distinguished Atlanta Business Chronicle 2020 Most Admired CEO Award and the Atlanta Business League 2020 Men of Influence Award. Kwame has received both the Atlanta Business Chronicle 40 Under 40 Award and the Georgia Trends 40 Under 40 Award. He is also a recipient of the coveted Morehouse College Dr. Joseph Draper Service Award. He was the first person that was not an alumni to receive the service award. Kwame is a recent graduate of Leadership Atlanta and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland and he holds Executive Education Certificates in Nonprofit Strategy and Fundraising from NYU, Babson, and Harvard University.

Location

Session Three Breakouts

Strand #1

Home: Family & Community Engagement

Strand #2

Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention

Relevance

To help youth development organizations and staff better recruit, support, and retain men of color mentors

Brief Program Description

1. Participants will leave the session with a blueprint to implement their own Mayors 100 Men to Mentors Challenge. The Mayors 100 Men to Mentors Challenge resulted in more than 200 men singing up to become mentors.

1. Participants will leave the session with practical strategies to better recruit and retain men of color mentors.

Summary

Best Practices for Recruiting Men of Color Mentors

Participants will leave the session with a blueprint to implement their own Mayors 100 Men to Mentors Challenge. In July 2019, Big Brother Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta (BBBSMA) was proud to launch the 100 Men to Mentors Challenge with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The purpose of the challenge is to help secure mentors for the 100 Atlanta boys who are currently on a waiting list to be matched with a “Big Brother.” Mayor Bottoms extended the opportunity to men of Atlanta- whether barbers, teachers, City employees, public officials, corporate executives, athletes, entertainers and every occupation in between- to help create a city where our boys see and believe that the can become anything they dream of being. More than 200 men expressed interest in the program through the 100 Men to Mentors Challenge. By matching 100 boys from the waiting list, we produce an average of 72 hours of mentoring annually per child. With an average match length of 29.5 months, this campaign will result in 17,700 hours of mentoring for at-risk boys from our waiting list over the lifetime of the match. This can be implemented with other leaders, not only your local Mayor.

Outline of Session

• Overview of 100 Men to Mentors Challenge

• The Campaign

• Paths to Successfully Recruiting Men of Color

• The Results

• Lessons Learned

Evidence

please refer to attachment

Learning Objective 1

To provide proven best practices used to recruit and retain hundreds of men of color mentors.

Learning Objective 2

To outline the “Mayors 100 Men to Mentor’s Challenge” implemented by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta

Learning Objective 3

To provide lessons learned of the complexities and challenges around recruiting and retaining men of color mentors

Keyword Descriptors

Mentoring, recruitment, men of color, youth development, best practices

Presentation Year

2022

Start Date

3-7-2022 2:45 PM

End Date

3-7-2022 4:00 PM

Recommended Citation

Johnson, Kwame, "Struggling to recruit men of color mentors? Come learn best practices and strategies to recruit and retain men of color mentors." (2022). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 29.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2022/2022/29