At the My Brother’s Keeper Strategic Stakeholder Session in Allentown, PA, Michael A. Nutter delivered remarks about Philadelphia’s MBK efforts, and highlighted the important role of cities, communities, and partnerships in this work.

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to this strategic gathering of stakeholders from across the public, private and non-profit sectors to discuss President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative.

This practical, results-driven strategy proposes to address the factors that hold back young men and boys of color and what we can do, collectively, to help set them on equal footing with their peers and have the opportunity to achieve the American dream.  A little more than a year ago, President Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and issued a challenge to cities to develop comprehensive cradle-to-career strategies for young men and boys of color.

My Brother’s Keeper is based on a belief that communities have a shared responsibility to ensure every person has an equal chance at success.  s Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” 

But, My Brother’s Keeper also acknowledges that our children, particularly men and boys of color, face unique challenges and systemic roadblocks to success, often not of their making.  We know the problems – disproportionate rates of poverty, limited economic opportunities, high instances of crime as both a victim and perpetrator, poor educational attainment. 

Creating Solutions

Now, we need to work together to create solutions and I believe that we all have a role to play in creating those solutions.  It is through the collective action of the public sector, nonprofits, private sector, academia, clergy, families, and especially parents, that we will change the trajectory of young boys and men of color in our communities.

There is no one solution or program. It will take the collective imagination, creativity and energy of this generation to help the next generation prepare for successful lives.  President Obama and the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force recognize this, which is why groups across the country like this are forming to address these challenges collectively.

No one person or group can tackle this challenge without the help, coordination and dedication of others.  But, as an elected official, I believe that I have a specific duty to address these challenges, the biggest problems that affect my most vulnerable constituents.

I know that Mayor Pawlowski shares this feeling. I want to thank him for convening this group and making the success of young men and boys of color a priority for Allentown and the Pennsylvania Municipal League.

Since the beginning of my Administration, we have been working diligently to address the challenges specifically facing boys and men of color because the facts speak for themselves.  In Philadelphia, the overall poverty rate is 26.3%, including 123,000 children. And, young black men of color are deeply affected: of those under the age of 24, 35% of Black males, 39% of Asian males, and 47% of Latino males live in poverty.

Overall, Philadelphia’s on-time graduation rate is 65%. Among young men of color, educational attainment is worse: 51% of Latino and 46% of Black males do not graduate from high school in this city. These are not just statistics. There are real faces, real children behind these numbers. It is through our inability to help more men and boys of color thrive that we threaten our city’s future.

Their loss is our loss. Their failure is our failure. We are one city, and we rise or fall together.

Long Term Solutions

With these dreadful ‘facts on the ground’, we have spent the last seven years working to implement long-term solutions for our citizens.

• We re-instituted the Mayor’s Commission on African-American Males, which was originally created by Mayor Wilson Goode.
• We created the Shared Prosperity Plan to implement a comprehensive strategy to address poverty in Philadelphia, including increasing access to high-quality pre-k, to benefits that they qualify for and to workforce development programs.
• We created the Graduation Coach Campaign to provide adults with the tools to help young people in their lives graduate from high school and prepare for post-secondary education or training.
• We created the PhillyGoes2College Office to help residents of any age get and pay for a college degree.
• We increased the City’s contribution to fund youth summer jobs to $7 million, recognizing the importance of summer employment for young people.
• In partnership with the City of New Orleans, we created Cities United, which addresses the violence epidemic among young black men in America’s cities.
• We have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, of which arrest rates disproportionately impacted men and boys of color.
• And, on Tuesday, March 31 st , we will be releasing the City’s My Brother’s Keeper Action Plan. The launch event will be on the 31 st at 10:30 a.m. at the Community College of Philadelphia’s Center for Business and Industry.

City government has some of the tools and has already built a foundation to address many of the disparities boys and men of color face when trying to lift themselves out of poverty,get a good education, and put their lives back on track.

However, your organizations reach beyond the realm of city government to work with men and boys throughout the city across all socioeconomic and educational levels.  If we put our minds and hearts together, if we can identify the solutions and if we all pull in the same direction, then our children and grandchildren will have a brighter future.

Thank you.