OUR Mission.
Brothers@ is a dual-beneficiary high-school retention and college persistence organization with the mission of improving the academic and social-emotional outcomes of YMOC in both secondary and post-secondary education.
Since 2014, Brothers@ has grown from a student-led pilot program (Brothers@Bard) and institutional initiative, to a state-wide scalable model focused on expanding to college campuses and local communities across NY State and all 5-boroughs of NYC.
The organization serves as a platform for hope, self-empowerment, and engagement—pressing needs among low-income and underrepresented students in secondary and higher education.
Today, Brothers@ works with nearly 200 young men of color annually—recruiting, training and hiring collegiate men of color to become mentors and positive male role-models to YMOC in high school through our weekly programming during the academic school year—ultimately providing access to meaningful opportunities, and creating pathways to full-time employment on college campuses, local communities, high schools, and youth serving nonprofits and organizations.
Through cross-sector collaborations and partnerships with public and private institutions, corporations and nonprofits, Brothers@ is a blueprint for addressing the ever-growing opportunity gaps YMOC face, and challenging historically exclusive and predominately white institutions to become inclusive spaces for young people.
Brothers@ has launched a national consortium to increase college graduation rates for YMOC through its Ambassador Model, providing holistic student advising and leadership development. B@ trains Ambassadors & Partner Institutions to pilot satellite mentoring and persistence models for YMOC. The Consortium is designed to facilitate belonging for YMOC on their college campuses and allows B@ to serve as a critical partner to institutions seeking to deepen the inclusion of YMOC through forming a community of practice among key stakeholders on each Ambassador’s campus. With our national expansion we are projected to serve up to 300+ YMOC.
OUR METHOD
Brothers@ unleashes the power of young men of color by recruiting, training, and hiring collegiate men of color to serve as positive male role models to their high-school peers, and by creating pathways to full-time employment as professional mentors on college campuses, within local communities, and at non-profits serving young men of color.
Using our culturally-specific “Our Space” facilitation methodology, we accelerate social-emotional learning for young men of color and tap into their deep authentic knowledge to create blueprints to improving academic persistence and success.
Our story.
2014-15
founded BROTHERS@ BARD (BAB)
After struggling to find his place and watching his peers grapple with their transition into Bard College, Dariel Vasquez '17 created an on-campus support group for men of color. The group offered a safe space for healing circles, near-peer group mentorship and cultural-event planning for men of color on Bard’s campus.
2015-16
Launch of Brothers@ Kingston High school
In the wake of growing national attention on the extrajudicial killings of YMOC, our founders, Dariel Vasquez '17 and Harry Johnson '17, launched an outreach-component to BAB, seeking to give YMOC in nearby Kingston, NY a safe space to engage in critical discussion about their lived experiences with collegiate men of color from Bard College.
2016-17
Launch of B@ Kingston GRINDTIME CENTER
Building on the success of “BAB Tutoring,” we partnered with Kingston High School to launch the “BAB GrindTime Center.” The goal of the Center was to ensure a space for our KHS mentees to connect with their BAB mentors, get assistance with homework, college applications, and have access to school supplies, while building key skills of self-regulation during the school day.
2017-18
AWARDED New York State Education Department ‘MY BROTHER'S KEEPER’ GRANT
We were awarded a three-year grant from the New York State Education Department (NYSED) ‘My Brother's Keeper’ Initiative to formalize and sustain our partnership with Kingston City School District.
2018-19
Piloted Workshop Series for The Fellowship Initiative Through PArtnership with Bard Early Colleges
Through Bard College’s partnership with The Fellowship Initiative, we used our ‘Our Space’ facilitation methodology to create a 6-part introspective workshop series for 60 young men of color participating in JPMorgan Chase’s ‘The Fellowship Initiative.’ The young men engaged in critical discussion about their shared lived experiences and we used this insight to help all participants craft authentic and effective personal statements for their college applications.
2019-20
Launched Brothers@ Bard & Kingston Next Generation Fellowships
We launched two fellowships to ensure the pathways for former Brothers@ mentors and mentees to develop the skills needed to influence positive change in the lives of young men of color through program development and management.
2020-21
LAUNCH OF BROHTERS@ AMBASSADOR PROGRAM
In 2021 Brothers@ launched it’s yearly renewal paid internship through all 4 years of undergrad, consisting of YMOC currently in college. Through participating in this internship, Ambassadors receive additional resources and mentorship during their college careers. Our Ambassadors are also uniquely equipped to help their former high school students since they have all gone through the same coursework and curriculum. Ambassadors learn how to be mentors and leaders as they take on additional responsibility to help younger fellows navigate their high school experience. Ambassadors are required to have monthly touchpoints while in the program.
2021-22
DEVELOPMENT OF CONSORTIUM
Brothers@ Consortium in Higher Education is designed to facilitate belonging for YMOC on their college campuses and serve as a critical partner to institutions seeking to deepen inclusion of YMOC. With ongoing and regular support from Brothers@ staff, YMOC enroll and persist in higher education. Central to the Brothers@ approach is the creation of a supportive community, one which the consortium will enable to intercampus.
2022-23
BROTHERS@ GOES NATIONAL
With the success of our Ambassador program in New York City Brothers@ has partnered with The Fellowship Initiative in Chicago, IL, Oakland, CA, Dallas, TX, and Washington D.C. to pilot satellite programs in each of these cities as we gear up to have 90+ Ambassadors Fall of ‘23!
Our SPace.
Our unique “Our Space” facilitation methodology allows us to tap into the experiential knowledge that young men of color possess. Ultimately, we use this platform to create youth-owned, culturally-relevant and context-specific approaches to fostering spaces of empowerment and healing, as well as positive identity development, inclusion, and academic persistence.
Youth-Owned
We take the approach of centering youth voice to a new level. All elements of our programming are created and facilitated by young men of color under the age of 25. This creates the opportunity for young men of color to move beyond feeling centered as objects to feeling a sense of ownership, belonging , and dignity not often felt in the high school and college settings.
Group-Oriented
We use a brotherhood circle format that nullifies all potential power dynamics. Our Ground Rules are the collectively created and agreed upon rules of engagement that uphold our space. This ensures that all YMOC in our space, both Mentees and Mentors, have an equal platform to share their voices and experiences in the circle.
Healing-centered
Pathways to social-emotional learning and collective healing have to be rooted in the ways of knowing and being of specific populations. Unlike trauma-informed approaches that isolate individual experiences, Brothers@ considers the way trauma and healing can occur collectively through our shared lived experiences, historical contexts, and cultural traditions as YMOC. Through our check-in process, our mentors and mentees are able to share these experiences with one another without the need to translate, (un)learn and form healthier lifestyles , and be part of a collective healing process.
Discussion-Based
Engaging , self-reflective, and critical discussion between YMOC are at the heart of all our sessions. Our facilitators and mentors are guided by the belief that the answers are already in the room and it is our job to find them. No matter the topic, young men of color have unique experiences, perspectives, and know-how that can spark new conversations, reveal unseen insights and create blueprints to academic persistence and better life outcomes.
By implementing this scalable persistence model in secondary and higher education, we disrupt and redefine the way white institutions engage with YMOC in society. With 100% of our programming staff and Brothers@’s leadership team being BIPOC, we provide these spaces by giving YMOC ownership of the Brothers@ space.
Through our methodology, our college mentors create social-emotional-based workshops and engage high school mentees in facilitated discussions focusing on unpacking the self, society, and the constructs that impact their identities.
During workshops, YMOC are able to express their personal lived-experiences and the ways they connect to the overall macro-experiences of their identity group that are often rooted in issues of race in the US. Brothers@ acknowledges the intersection between race, class, and gender when creating curriculum, as well when making decisions around staffing and compensation—creating employment pathways for YMOC in fields and spaces where they are often underrepresented.
