Hope Has An Address: Building Brotherhood — My Brother’s Keeper at 10 Years

This week’s Hope Has an Address segment highlights the 10th anniversary of My Brother’s Keeper, the Obama Foundation’s initiative empowering young men of color.

This segment brings together MBK alumni, mentors, and Foundation staff to reflect on a decade of impact — how mentorship, leadership, community programs, and brotherhood have changed lives. They share stories of growth, second chances, and the power of showing up for one another. The conversation looks ahead to the next generation of leaders who are turning those lessons into lasting change in their own communities.

Listen now! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hope in the face of difficulty, Hope in the face
of uncertainty, the audacity of hope. I'm asking you to
believe not in my ability to bring about change, but
in yours. Yes we can.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hope has an address, and it starts with us, honoring legacies,
overcoming barriers, pursuing justice, empowering generations.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome back to Hope has an address. I'm Bree Would
and today we're talking about something that started as an
idea in the White House and has grown into a
whole movement, My Brother's Keeper. When President Obama launched in
BK and twenty fourteen, the goal was simple but bold,
make sure every young man of color has the same

(00:45):
chance to succeed as anyone else. And today that vision
is alive and thriving.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
One thing I've come to appreciate over the last decade
is that improving the lives of boys and young men
of color is bigger than any one person or group
of people. It requires everybody, parents, neighbors, teachers, administrators, local governments,
everybody in between, all working together to make a difference.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Here's what I love about MBK. It's more than a program.
It's a community, a brotherhood, and at the center of
it all are the people, the alumni, young men who
walk the path, face the challenges, and are now leading.
They're running businesses, teaching in classrooms, and giving back to
the neighborhoods that raise them.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
As ambassadors, we have to do a community service project
over our two years, so we spent a lot of
time focusing on that, sharing ideas, beingsed.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
We spent a lot of time doing a lot of
leadership development, training trust. Every day right now we're working
on training and focusing on milestones and implementing the milestone
to our own communities back home.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
It was so powerful for me to speak through these
steps with these other likelind individuals because we're all so different,
we all had different things to contribute.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
Then you've got the mentor. These are the folks who
show up who say I see you, I believe in you,
and sometimes that's all it takes to change a life.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
It was President Obama's vision for My Brother's Keeper Alliance
that empowered my voice, guided me through mentorship and expose
me to the type of access and opportunities, expanding my
horizon of what it meant to really impact change on
a broader scale. All while enriching my soul in the
power of hope. So the work that I'm doing today,

(02:27):
I have the honor of being a Scholastic mentor and
upcoming children's book author with Scholastic Publishing Company, I get
to travel with the country to expand the joy and
the power of literacy.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I'm also a spoken word artist.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
I'm deeply grateful to be able to expand the power
of poetry and work with organizations and brands to help
tell their stories. The advice I would give a young
person on this journey is to continue to tell your story,
continue to use your voice to impact change, taining to
bring this world together through your story. My name is
Trey Baker, and I am my brother's keeper.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
And let's not forget the Obama Foundation team, the people
behind the scenes making sure MBK keeps growing, keeps reaching,
and keeps opening doors. And it's not just former President
Obama who believes in this work. Our former first Lady
Michelle Obama once said.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
When you are struggling and you start thinking about giving up,
I want you to remember the power of hope, the
belief that something better is always possible if you're willing
to work for it. And fight for it.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
And that's exactly what MBK is doing, reaching back, lifting up,
and building a future where no one is left behind.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
Young black men that are raised in Chicago. You know,
most of us never even seen outside of our centil limits.
So I just really think my Brother's Keeper, just for
putting on for our community, is just allowing us to
be able to embrace our true passions.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
So today we celebrate the alumni who lead, the mentors
who guide, and the staff who make it all possible.
Because when hope has an address, it looks like this,
a community lifting as it climbs. Stay inspired, stay connected.
If you want to learn more, get involved, or become
a mentor, visit Obama dot org, backslash MBK. Together we

(04:15):
can keep this promise alive. I'm Breewood for the Black
Information Network