Last week at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, we hosted our annual played host to the Mitchell Kapor Foundation’s annual What Works! convening, focusing on the College Bound Brotherhood. This year’s one day event, Back to School, Back to Work: College Readiness for Young Black Men, featured select Brotherhood grant recipients who have demonstrated successful college readiness strategies for working with young black men. Attendees heard presentations on such topics as networking, recruiting and retaining black men, parental involvement, and balancing academics and athletics.
The day also featured tech presentations from three new startups, Magoosh, Acceptly, and Logrado, that are improving the educational experience for students through tech. These short presentations, called Ten Minutes for Tech, demonstrated how tech can be a disruptive force in changing the way students learn and how teachers teach. Please click on their names to learn more.
Below are a few takeaways from each of the convening presentations. Additional highlights are available on Twitter: #mkfbrohood.
Fund-raising and Friend-raising: Networking Leads to Both!
http://www.mkf.org/documents/EOYDCWW2011.pdf
- Keep your business cards handy; opportunities exist when you least expect them.
- Be mindful/respectful of your approach and understand when “no” means “maybe later.”
The Gap is Closed: How Corporate Philanthropy Helped the Greene Scholars Program!
http://www.mkf.org/documents/CAAAEWW2011.pdf
- Do not be afraid to ask for what you want from people with resources.
- Be strategic in seeking partnerships.
Creative Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining Black Males in a Diverse Student Program
http://www.mkf.org/documents/SummerSearchWW2011.pdf
- Use data to make the case for outreach and offerings tailored especially for a specific demographic.
- Utilize your current students as a resource to recruit additional students.
Best Practices in Parental Involvement
http://www.mkf.org/documents/YSPWW2011.pdf
- Establish meaningful relationships with your parents through volunteer opportunities and parent-run group meetings.
- Convince parents that you need them just as much as their child needs your program.
ASAP: Individualized Academic Mentoring for Scholar Athletes & Athletics’ Role in College Access
http://www.mkf.org/documents/ASAP_SPAATWW2011.pdf
- Athletics are a terrific gateway to reaching students, potentially providing discipline and performance standards as well as post-secondary opportunities.
- Collaborate with coaches and administration to recruit and retain student participants; work with parents when coaches are unhelpful or uncooperative.
- Have honest conversations with your students about the probability of playing at the next level (and the necessity of an academic fallback).
