ABOUT
MBK BALTIMORE
MISSION & HISTORY.
My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Baltimore harnesses the power of collaboration and trust across sectors, and apply our energy and resources to ensure that all boys and young men of color and their families in the city of Baltimore live in an environment where they can learn, reflect and grow.
In 2015, the late U.S Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, lead Baltimore's response to President Barack Obama call to address persistent opportunity gaps facing BYMOC, thus establishing MBK Baltimore as part of the MBK Alliance. In 2017, MBK Baltimore established a local board, comprised of individuals from city and state government, non-profits, academic institutions, youth advocates and youth representatives.
Today, MBK Baltimore is positioned to bring alignment across many initiatives throughout the city and empower boys and men of color as facilitators of positive change within communities and systems.
CHALLENGES.
Nearly two-thirds of Black boys in Baltimore enter kindergarten unprepared, while more than two-thirds of Baltimore’s known homicide victims in 2018 were Black men. From their earliest years, and on every life front after, boys and men of color face unacceptable odds rooted in systems and a national culture designed to hold Black and Brown males back. The unemployment rate for Black men in Baltimore is more than four times higher than it is for white men. Boys and men of color are our city’s most underutilized asset.
PARTNERS.
MBK Baltimore is powered by the Mayor’s Office of Children and Family Success (MOCFS), staffed the by the Mayor's Office of African American Male Engagement (MOAAME).