Investing in Young Men of Color
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to deliver the keynote address at Unprecedented Chicago’s Scholarship Celebration. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Unprecedented Chicago, they are a peer mentoring nonprofit founded by Chicago Scholar Steve Wilson and his best friend Wynston Reed with the mission of equipping young Black men with the tools to reach success and excel as leaders. Both Steve and Wynston are young Black men from Chicago and current college students, and to see them award six rising college freshman each a $1,000 scholarship for college was uplifting and inspiring. Steve and Wynston have seen a need within their own community — funding for young Black men to be able to afford college — and they are doing everything within their power to do something about it even though they are only college students themselves.
One of the things I’ve been thinking about since that event, and that I said to Steve and Wynston that day, is this should not be their responsibility as college students. They should not have to worry about paying for their own education, studying hard and getting good grades, landing internships that will lead to their future careers, AND mentoring and providing support for other young men in their community. We as a society need to be doing more to lift up our young men of color and ensure they have the opportunities to thrive in college and beyond. We need to listen to our young people like Caleb Dunson, a Chicago Scholar at Yale University, who wrote in the New York Times that even though millions of people committed to racial justice last summer, his “neighborhood still struggles with the same issues it had before the protests, the same issues it faced decades ago, when my grandparents were my age.” We need to listen, and we need to take action to create change.
At Chicago Scholars, we’re taking action. Last month I wrote about our 10-year vision to serve our entire addressable market each and every year — all 4,000 Chicago students who have the academic ambition and dream of going to a four-year college or university. As part of that 10-year vision, I am excited to announce we are creating a pilot program to increase the number of young men of color in Chicago Scholars, providing the resources and support for them to go to their dream college and universities, graduate on time, and launch their careers. We will be starting with early recruitment this fall and creating an affinity group within our program for young men of color — all with the goal of making sure Chicago’s young men are not just going to college and graduating, but have access to the jobs and careers that will provide economic mobility. This is our way forward and how we make real, lasting change in the lives of our young people and our communities.
Jeffery Beckham Jr.
CEO
P.S. — Read on for a closer look at Unprecedented Chicago’s Scholarship Celebration, as well as the success of our second-annual ScholarCon. And don’t forget about Swing for Scholars — we’d love for you to join us out on the golf course on Monday, August 16.
