MBKN Commemorates 10 Years of Impact in Newark

In 2024, Victoria Foundation partner My Brother's Keeper Newark (MBKN) marked 10 years of service in collaborating with nonprofits across Newark with the goal of developing a safe and supportive community for boys and young men of color. The organization has been a powerful ally. MBKN's three-pronged approach – collective action, research and reporting, and policy advocacy – has helped its partners make remarkable strides in strengthening community power, fostering economic justice, and promoting youth self-determination – areas the Foundation prioritizes in its relationship with nonprofits throughout Newark.

"MBKN is designed to be a resource and to accentuate existing resources in the city," said its Executive Director Mark Comesanas, who notes that success can only be achieved if organizations across the city come together in conversation and collaboration. "I'm not convinced we need more programs in this city, or more initiatives. We need coordination. We need to highlight the programs that exist and are doing great work and find ways that MBKN can be an asset to those organizations."

MBKN was formed after the tragic, racially motivated death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2014, which sparked national outrage and a call to action from then President Barak Obama. He launched the My Brother's Keeper Alliance and called on communities nationwide to band together to address the opportunity gaps male Black and Brown youths face. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka answered the call that same year, and MBKN was established.

In 2019, MBKN was integrated into the Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN), another Victoria Foundation grantee, to lead the organization's policy and systems change work, further building upon NOYN's mission of providing young people ages 16 to 24 with the opportunity to earn a GED while gaining on the job training through community building projects.

MBKN partners with many Victoria Foundation's grantees, such as Urban League of Essex County, La Casa de Don Pedro, Newark Community Street Team, and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and provides these organizations with the most up-to-date youth-related research and statics to ensure that programs and initiatives are responding to the community's most pressing needs. Its most recent report, "Driving Systemic Change for Boys and Young Men of Newark Through Collaboration, Coordination, and Partnership," supported by Victoria Foundation, was released at a joint NOYN and MBKN convening at Rutgers University – Paul Robeson Campus Center in December 2023.

The report outlined six Key Life Milestones set by the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (goals for youth that are a pre-indicator for future success) and where Newark boys and young men of color stood in each milestone according to the statistics. For example, in Milestone 2, "Reading at Grade Level by Third Grade," the report showed that on average, 23 percent of third grade boys of color across Newark were reading at grade level. In Milestone 5, "Successfully Employed," it detailed that an estimated 22 percent of males ages 16 to 24 were living in households with incomes below the poverty level within the last 12 months.

For Milestone 6, "Remaining Safe from Violent Crime," Newark was named a My Brother's Keeper Model Community in 2023 for the city's public safety work in reducing violent crime. According to the report, in the last decade Newark has seen a reduction of 55 percent in homicides, going from 112 in 2013 to 50 in 2022, a 60-year low for the city. Newark, New Jersey was one of four cities – including Yonkers, New York; Omaha, Nebraska; and Tulsa, Oklahoma – to be recognized by the Obama Foundation for this Milestone.

"That recognition for the city's efforts in Milestone 6 comes with a responsibility, and that responsibility for us, at MBKN and NOYN specifically, is to take what we have learned from the public safety ecosystem and what worked in Milestone 6 and think about how we can apply those learnings across other large systems – education, public health, and workforce development," said Comesanas. "So that's the charge that's before us right now at MBKN."

Victoria Foundation has been an MBKN partner since its inception 10 years ago, providing the initial startup grant and subsequent development grants thereafter to continue its vital work. Executive Officer Craig Drinkard, a former MBKN board member, has witnessed the organization's service and impact on the community and offered his congratulations.

"MBKN and the partnerships they are looking to harness will provide more opportunities for boys and young men of color to have outlets to help them avoid making decisions that can take their life off track," he said. "At Victoria Foundation, we believe in people having opportunities to fulfill their dreams and potential in Newark. Its important that we play some role in that ecosystem, and our partnership with MBKN is one of the ways in which we do that."

For more information on My Brother's Keeper Newark, visit https://www.mbknewark.org/.

Pictured, back row from left: Zaire White, Jacob Comesañas, Robert Clark, Savannah Clark, Rose Jeudy, Dawan Salley, Lauren Wells, Isaiah Clark, Emilie Stewart. Front row from left: Kalimah Wilson, Ja'Von Williams, Jordan Comesañas, Emily Bateman, Kevin Able, Dashawn Green, Kanyi Bateman, Mark Comesañas.