Summer Updates: 3 Year Anniversary, Tons of Programming, A.I. Self Portraits, and more
What’s up, everybody – happy summer!
We have a ton in this newsletter and it’s all great progress. Thank you for supporting our work. As always, our mission is to uplift young men of color with social-emotional and cognitive-behavioral superpowers. With these gifts, they can grow to be more Authentic, Brave, and Connected in everything they do.
We’re currently on track to directly serve 175 youth this year, with another 300 participating in events, workshops, and other programs. This is incredible, especially given that we’re only three years old!
That’s right, we just celebrated The B.R.O. Experience’s three-year anniversary. Of course we marked the occasion with a Behind the Bars session for our supporters and community partners. We wanted them to feel what actually happens inside our sessions. If you were there, you did amazing! If not, make sure you come to our upcoming B.R.O. Space Celebration.
Here’s the latest on our growing portfolio of programs. Read the updates, browse the photos, and please share this email with a friend it if moves you.
Little BRO Summer Camp is back!
After a successful pilot in 2019, camp is back this year, starting July 10th. Little BRO is a free, seven-week day camp for 3rd and 4th-grade boys. This year we’ll have up to 40 boys in a program that teaches reading, science, and social skills, all while having fun across Brooklyn.
“I Hear You, BRO” Middle School Summit with My Brother’s Keeper Alliance
Another recent program success was the Middle School Summit we recently hosted here at The BRO Space. This is a collaboration with District 16 Middle School and the amazing Superintendent Brendan Mims on a program powered by the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (an initiative of The Obama Foundation).
A Night of Arts for Mental Health
Also in June The BRO Space came to life with an event we call Men to Health.
We brought together an amazing lineup of musicians, poets, and emcees to share their gifts and bring attention to issues of mental health among men of color. A range of service providers and community advocates were there, spreading their good work, and the vibe was amazing. Make sure to RSVP for the next event at The BRO Space and join us.
Soul BRO & Hero Dads
We’re also continuing with two excellent partner programs we mentioned last newsletter.
Soul BRO is our contribution to Project Bed-Stuy Restore (a collaboration with Columbia University, Bridge Street, and the Brooklyn DA's office). It brings young men from the community into the BRO world to intern and partake in self-development programming. Below are photos from the six-month milestone graduation.
Hero Dads, our partnership with Montefiore Hospital, is a four-week program for fathers with non-custodial children that provides weekly workshops on parenting, relationship development, communication, and conflict management. More on these initiatives is here.
Behind the Bars
A phenomenal and unique program, Behind The Bars engages young men of color, creating a space where they can learn about self through the art of personal expression. Meeting twice a week for 10 weeks, we use hip-hop lyrics as the springboard for diving deep into self expression through the written word.
The young men are producing a book, set to release this summer. We had an amazing event where some of the boys’ educators and school officials came out for a pre-book launch.
Thank you to WATCH (World Academy for Total Community Health) High School In East New York and The NYC Project Pivot Initiative for supporting us with the funding to do this great work.
Rites of Passage
We also continue with one of our cornerstones, BRO X Rites of Passage, our four-year high school curriculum at Frederick Douglass Academy in Brownsville.
We meet with our 10th and 11th graders, 40 of them in total, three times a week for intensive sessions that cover the deep topics of life, all informed by a cognitive-behavioral, mindful approach. We’ll soon also welcome an incoming cohort of 9th graders.
Looking to the future, we’re eager to serve all four grade levels and we hope to add a birthright trip to Africa for the students entering their senior year.
We asked the young men in our Rites of Passage program how they picture themselves. With some help from Artificial Intelligence image-generation, here’s what they created. See them all.
A Note from Coach Coop
As I reflect on the past three years it brings me so much joy to know that The B.R.O. Experience Foundation is living up to the words of its mission and vision. We have been at the forefront of social-emotional change, standing firm in our belief that to create strong communities, safe communities, thriving communities, you need strong-minded people. And with Black and brown young men at the tip of the conversation of what’s not working, we are thrilled that our organization gets to change the narrative by actually creating the space needed for our boys to be heard, seen, and healed.
As you read through this newsletter, I urge you to challenge yourself and ask:
What would the world be like if we created space for young men of color?
And I hope you come to realize that The B.R.O. Experience is already creating that world, so come with us!
Executive Director, Barry Cooper
In The New York Amsterdam News
We’re very proud to see Coach Coop profiled in the Black New Yorkers series of The New York Amsterdam News, one of the oldest and longest-running Black news publications in the country. “Just a small speck of support consistently can give a young man the stability that he needs to grow in life,” Coop is quoted.
Join our Donor Family!
Lastly, if you believe in a bright future for Black boys, please consider becoming a recurring donor, part of our 100 Strong. It only takes a moment to sign up. See what your contributions make possible.
And stay in touch... share this with a friend, follow us on IG, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Have a safe and satisfying summer, and we’ll talk to you soon.
With relentless intention,
–The B.R.O. Experience Team