The founding chapter of One Hundred Black Males, Inc. (OHBM) started its citywide listening tour, inviting Black and Brown neighborhood members throughout New York Metropolis to weigh in on the distinctive challenges they face.
Based in 1963, OBHM is a nonprofit centered round Black males’s collective targeted on giving again to the neighborhood by mentoring, training, well being and wellness, and financial empowerment packages. The group was named by co-founder and late Mayor David Dinkins, town’s first Black mayor.
“I consider that typically organizations, or individuals [who] really feel that they’ve energy, they form of resolve what the neighborhood is worried about,” mentioned Robert Brown, president of OBHM of New York. “I by no means understood that. I all the time thought that the neighborhood needed to inform the organizations, or the individuals who we give energy to, what’s essential to us.”
With the intention to create a brand new coverage plan for 2026 that precisely displays the neighborhood’s considerations, OBHM created the Committee of Addressing Issues (CAP).
“It’s no secret. We’re at a turning level,” mentioned Michael Cox, an OBHM chief. “A few months in the past, we had a gathering of 100 Black males. And through that dialog, what we realized was that not solely are issues altering, however perhaps we are able to’t do enterprise as standard. That perhaps the chaos, perhaps the concern that’s being sowed in our communities, must be extra rigorously examined.”
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The primary gathering for the listening tour was held at Anne Hutchinson Faculty (P.S. 78) within the Bronx. Most of the residents spoke about hyperlocal points regarding psychological well being and entry to companies, homelessness and the shelter system, overcoming systemic trauma, fostering mentorship and neighborhood engagement, and reintegration into society for previously incarcerated people.
“I need to discover a approach that I can turn out to be a assist and be of help, as a result of I’ve harmed our neighborhood, and now I need to assist our neighborhood,” mentioned Rasheed Davis, a Bronx resident. “I served 23 years in jail, and I simply need to be instrumental in reaching out and serving to out change.”
“Psychological well being is one thing that impacts each individual on this room. If it doesn’t have an effect on you personally, it impacts somebody in your loved ones,” mentioned one attendee. “I’ve seen, and I’m working in psychological well being, and I’ve seen the place it impacts households. Different races get the assistance that they want, and their individuals are working and residing progressive lives. Whereas, then again, our individuals are left to wander the streets and be homeless.”
A number of members of Stand As much as Violence (SUV), Jacobi Medical Heart’s violence prevention initiative, spoke about bridging the generational hole between elders and the youth in the neighborhood as a technique of stopping gun and gang violence.
“One of many largest issues that the youth is lacking is appropriate steering. They don’t have the correct steering, and so they’re searching for assist. They’re looking for assist. That’s why they joined the gangs, as a result of they’re searching for assist…You already know, Mother and Pop drop them off at college, perhaps seven within the morning, and so they could not come again till seven that evening,” mentioned Philip Erby, an SUV Outreach Employee Supervisor. “A variety of our elders are scared of those youngsters. I perceive that, however on the finish of the day, we are able to’t lose them as a result of we’re afraid. Now we have to embrace them.”
Former Bronx Councilmember Andy King, who helped arrange the occasion, and present Councilmember Kevin Riley, have been additionally in attendance.
Riley mentioned that there was undoubtedly a “lack of connection” that lots of his constituents spoke to, and he has some laws, like Invoice Intro. 975 and Invoice Intro. 82, within the works to handle two points that have been raised within the session.
Invoice Intro. 975, which Riley launched final 12 months, would set up an Workplace of Black Male Excellence. The workplace would analyze and supply suggestions referring to socioeconomic points that particularly Black males face in New York Metropolis.
Invoice Intro. 82 would create a three-digit emergency gun violence intervention hotline for the Workplace for Neighborhood Security for individuals looking for help with psychological well being and supportive companies.
OBHM mentioned the aim is to have a listening session as soon as a month in each borough. The small print for the subsequent assembly haven’t been finalized, however it will likely be positioned in Brooklyn this June. For extra details about the Citywide Listening Tour, contact cap.committee@ohbm.org
