Big Brothers Big Sisters and the heads of several black fraternities are set to meet in Atlanta for a daylong session Friday to take the first steps in developing a nationwide plan to get more black men to become Big Brothers.

The African-American Mentoring summit is the second step of a landmark agreement Big Brothers Big Sisters formed with Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi fraternities. Phi Beta Sigma also is expected to join the partnership.

More than 255,000 children, primarily from single, incarcerated-parent, low-income families, are served by Big Brothers Big Sisters’ donor-funded, professionally supported program. African-American boys make up a disproportionate number of those waiting to be matched in nearly 400 agencies around the country.

The fraternities have agreed to use their social networking sites to encourage men to go to the Big Brothers Big Sisters' Mentoring Brothers.org Web site to donate and volunteer.

Although the volunteer network has seen a steady increase in the numbers of black volunteers, the percentage of children needing support is still disproportionately African-American.
 
“Alpha Phi Alpha, our first fraternity partner, as well as Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi know our track record - that children in our programs are more likely to improve in school, stay out of trouble and have positive relationships with their families,” Karen Mathis, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America's president and chief executive officer, who will speak at the summit, said in a statement. “At the end of the day, we will have a specific strategy for joining forces with the fraternities to support the growing numbers of parents, most of them single mothers, who look to Big Brothers Big Sisters to help their sons succeed.”

Rep. John L. Lewis (D-Ga.), a renowned civil rights leader, and former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Jr., founder of Amachi Mentoring Children of Prisoners, a national mentoring program, also will meet with fraternity and Big Brothers officials to share strategies on how to build a national movement.

Goode, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, also serves on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Lewis is a member of Phi Beta Sigma, which is expected to join the mentoring collaboration. Young black males who have gotten Big Brother matches will address the session about their experiences.

The summit is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at the Sheraton Hotel on Courtland Street in downtown Atlanta. For more information about the mentoring project, visit BigBrothersBigSisters.org or MentoringBrothers.org.

Please Login or Register to post comments on this article

Close Comment  |   Read More Comments Hide More Comments

Comments * :

Please do not enter the HTML tags(Maximum 600 characters).

It sounds like a good idea, but I am a pessimistic type of dude, so I won't believe it till I see it.

From my experience, all Ive seen black frats and sororities do, is party all damn day and night. Nothing more, just party and do NOTHING to help the community here in Atlanta.

I wont believe a damn thing until I see it.

I havent seen them run one charity in the street, nor organize an event to help the dudes begging for money out here. The females just strap on they stilletos, the dudes their forces - & and they just party 24/7 365.

by   
A_day_in_the_life
December 18, 2009, 12:28 pm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------