Tag Archives: Males of Color

Alumni, College, High School, Staff

Our Community Responds

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Social injustice and racial inequalities must come to an end. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, James Scurlock and too many other Black people are acts of terror.

We know these senseless deaths have caused great pain and angst for all Summer Searchers and have had an especially traumatic impact on our black-identifying students, staff, and community members.

In times of crisis, everyone reacts differently — from speaking out, to reflecting inward, and everything in between. We wanted to spotlight how a few folks in our Summer Search family have responded publicly — from expressing their emotions, rallying their communities, sharing resources, and much more.

Continue reading Our Community Responds →
College, Photos

Your Mental Health Matters

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The following is a guest post written by Antonio Morales Jr. — blogger, poet, photographer, and Summer Search Philadelphia student — for Mental Health Awareness Month.

Antonio, who currently attends Community College of Philadelphia, describes himself as “a creative, who loves to spread positivity and inspire. I aspire to change negative narratives and stereotypes of black men, while making it look good.”

Antonio Morales JrAntonio Morales Jr.

Continue reading Your Mental Health Matters →

Mentoring, Staff, Summer Search News

Observations from the Summit: The Evolution of Mentoring

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Last month, we sent a team of Summer Search staff to the 2018 National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC. Our National Director of Research and Evaluation, Salem Valentino, Ph.D., shared her reflections from the conference in this guest blog post.

This is my sixth year as a researcher in the field of mentoring and also my sixth year attending the National Mentoring Summit. While that may not seem like an extensive period in anyone’s professional career, the field of mentoring has rapidly evolved during those six years.

SS-staff-group-MENTORSummer Search staff at the 2018 National Mentoring Summit. From left to right: Seth James Ellis, Antonio Brown, Stacey Thompson, and Salem Valentino.

Continue reading Observations from the Summit: The Evolution of Mentoring →

College, High School, Mentoring, Summer Search News

Partnerships to Honor Our Young Men and Women

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Here at Summer Search, we are fortunate to have partners that generously support the work that we do, creating greater equity by increasing the number of students from low-income backgrounds who successfully enter and complete college.

Recently, Summer Search New York City received two significant public funding grants totaling $140,000 to support college access services for the young men and women in our NYC high school program. Continue reading Partnerships to Honor Our Young Men and Women →

Mentoring, Summer Search News

Reflections from the 2017 Mentoring Summit

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In February, we sent a team of Summer Search staff to the 2017 National Mentoring Summit. Two members of our team, Boston mentor Claire Marian and Bay Area mentor Alysa Delgado shared what they learned in this co-authored guest blog post.

This year, we (Claire Marian and Alysa Delgado) had the opportunity to represent Summer Search alongside our colleagues Salem Valentino, Stacey Thompson, Alex Bartz, Stacy Barr, and Eliza Arai Carrington at the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, DC.

SS-last-dayFrom left to right: Alysa Delgado, Claire Marian, Alex Bartz, Stacy Barr, Salem Valentino, and Stacey Thompson.

Continue reading Reflections from the 2017 Mentoring Summit →

Alumni, Photos

Black Male Voices Inspire Bay Area Alumnus Justin Bethune

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“I’ve decided to dedicate my life to taking positive images of Black men and creating a platform for their voices to be heard.”

Those are the determined words of Summer Search Bay Area alumnus Justin Bethune. At the start of Black History Month this year, Justin announced in a post on Medium that he was launching The Bethune Project, a photo campaign on Instagram.

Justin-BethuneSummer Search Bay Area alumnus Justin Bethune.

Continue reading Black Male Voices Inspire Bay Area Alumnus Justin Bethune →

Alumni, Mentoring

Claiming Excellence: How Our Alumni Help Us Better Serve Our Black and Latino Males

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Guest post written by our own Antonio Brown, National Males of Color Initiative Coordinator.

antonio_bio

Reblogged from the National Mentoring Resource Center Blog, originally published on September 12, 2016.

Claim excellence is a core value at Summer Search. As you walk through our offices, you see these words written on the walls as a reminder of this commitment to our communities. Continue reading Claiming Excellence: How Our Alumni Help Us Better Serve Our Black and Latino Males →

College, High School, Videos

Speaking Up in Philly

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Our mission is to help our students become college-educated leaders who give back to their families and communities. That means every Summer Searcher is a leader, and their leadership can take many forms.

One way they can lead is by speaking up, by lending their voices to issues that are important to them, no matter how difficult, uncomfortable or emotional.

Recently, two Philadelphia Summer Searchers had opportunities to do just that, to speak up and be vocal and visible leaders in their community. Continue reading Speaking Up in Philly →

Mentoring, Photos, Summer Search News

Committing to Action at CGI America

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We recently sent our very own Sandra LaFleur, Vice President of Program, to the Clinton Global Initiative America 2016 (CGI America). Here is what she learned, in her own words. #GuestPost

Last week, I had the privilege of representing Summer Search as I joined more than 1,000 leaders in business, philanthropy, government and nonprofits at the sixth annual CGI America meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

The mission of CGI America is to turn ideas into action. To accomplish this, conference participants create and submit Commitments to Action, a defining feature of CGI America, which are concrete plans that address pressing challenges across a variety of sectors in the United States. The workgroup we participated in focused on critical needs in the college and career readiness space. Continue reading Committing to Action at CGI America →

Mentoring, Summer Search News

Bold Goals and Hard Questions

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We recently sent our very own Rich Robinson, staff mentor at Summer Search New York City, to the Campaign for Black Male Achievement Bold Goal Planning Session, a national conversation focused on generating ideas for improving the life outcomes of black men and boys in America. Here is what Rich learned, in his own words.

On March 15 I arrived in Baltimore, Maryland to participate in a strategy session for the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), a national network of nonprofits led by friend of Summer Search, Shawn Dove.

“Is your goal bold enough?” was both a proclamation and the guiding question posed to all the attendees. When Ron Walker, Executive Director of the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color, challenged us with this question, I felt the weight of the gauntlet laid down before us. Continue reading Bold Goals and Hard Questions →