In January 2010 the Mayor Bloomberg appointed two leading experts on youth and families, Ana Oliveira, President & CEO of the New York Women’s Foundation and David Banks of the Eagle Academy Foundation to co–lead a steering committee to investigate the barriers that black and Latino young men encounter, and create a plan of action to meet the challenges. The result is the Mayor’s newly launched “Young Men’s Initiative” an ambitious three-year plan to close the gap between black and Latino young men and their peers.
“We know how important family support is to the success of our children,” “We must remove the barriers and build the conditions for young men to be actively engaged,” says Ana Oliveira. “In our report to the Mayor we recommended a multi–pronged approach to tackling the challenges faced by young men of color. We called on the City to exercise all of the levers of power available to it: policy change, reforming the practice of its agencies, and launching or expanding promising programs that directly improve the quality of participants’ lives. I’m proud to say that it’s what the Young Men’s Initiative does.
“We believe it [the Initiative] is one of the most ambitious and comprehensive attacks on racial and ethnic disparities among young men that any city has ever undertaken.” Mayor Bloomberg stated at the public launch of the Initiative.
This initiative can well be a model for cities across the country. Inside Bay Area columnists asks, “Could this be a lesson for Oakland?” Her answer is, yes. Read more
| Mayor’s Press release | |
| Young Men’s Initiative Report | |
| Mayor’s Address | |
| Press Coverage | |
We can see the Initiative’s critical impact already! The city announced a new mandate requiring sex-ed classes. Read more.
Mandatory sex ed is a significant victory for our grantee partners who, over the past several years, have tirelessly provided many services to engage the City’s youth in pro-actively addressing sexual and reproductive health issues, even in the absence of City and State resources. As always, we are indebted to their vision, leadership and perseverance. Read more
