The Blueprint
MBK Houston Movement
"All glory comes from daring to begin..."
~Eugene F. Ware
FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: MY BROTHER’S KEEPER IS HERE TO STAY!!!!
Michael Smith, Special Assistant to the President, My Brother's Keeper at The White House – “The President sends greetings and thanks to all the communities who are doing work to advance the MBK cause.”
CHECK OUT THESE KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE CALL HELD NOVEMBER 10TH:
White House launches MBK Week of Action on 11/28 – 12/2 – MBK Houston is challenging the city and our partners to leverage their social media networks and post pictures, blogs, or video that supports MBK using, hashtag #mbkinaction
President Obama to Host another MBK Convening – Fall 2016
Over 250 MBK communities in 50 states across the country
have accepted the President’s MBK Challenge
Houston is among the top MBK communities that has shown great promise and progress
Received over $1 billion dollars in commitment from the private sector
Bloomberg Associate to sponsor Implicit Bias Training by Dr. Bryant Marks for Houston’s agency executives on December 1, 2016
Coming Soon – President Obama MBK Legacy Video
Check out the MBK Alliance, this is the organization that will provide technical support and assistance to the 250 communities after the Obama’s Administration
Bloomberg Associates MBK Community Support
Bloomberg Associates provides pro-bono consulting to cities and Mayors from around the country and the world. Since Houston’s 2015 local action summit, Bloomberg Associates has been engaged with their My Brother’s Keeper efforts. Associates helps cities map out goals, identify evidence based approaches to adopt, establish success metrics, and embed strategies in Local Action Plans. Bloomberg Associates on-going support to Houston has come in the form of implementation guidance on challenges and efforts to institutionalize the MBK effort. In June 2016, Bloomberg Associates, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the White House co-hosted a national gathering of select communities to share best practices and develop approaches that will produce measureable results in reducing racial disparities over the long term. MBK Houston was featured and had the opportunity to address attendees on their governance structure and city-county partnerships.
Photo below: Houston Health Director Stephen Williams addresses convening participants.
Become a School Based Mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters and MBK Houston
Big Brothers and Big Sisters Wants YOU!!!
Become a School-Based Big today!
- Visit www.bbbstx.org/mybrotherskeeper and complete an online application to begin changing the life of a child.
MBK WRAP Network Launch - November 1st
My Brother’s Keeper Houston is a movement designed to improve outcomes and reduce opportunity gaps for all youth in the city of Houston. Many of these gaps cannot be addressed by the school district alone or by any one agency. It will take a collective approach to address these disparities. To that end, HHD has worked with a variety of individuals and organization to develop and release the MBK Houston Local Action Plan in May 2015. A major part of the MBK Local Action Plan includes the implementation of an early warning system (EWS) and multi-agency wraparound program.
HHD will be launching the MBK Wrap Network throughout the city, starting with Wheatley High, Fleming Middle, and Bruce Elementary schools as part of a historical collaboration with the Houston Independent School District (HISD), Harris County for Protective Services of Children and Adults (HCPSCA), Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities (MHIDD), and Community in Schools (CIS). The MBK Wrap Network response system components include a systematic review of academics, behavioral, attendance, and other high risk factors that will deploy an interagency interventions team on HISD campuses, a social worker, a service provider network and care coordination to tailor services to fill the potholes in the lives of individual students and families. These services are designed to address the social, emotional, physical and behavioral health issues that are the root causes for poor academic performance, poor attendance, and unacceptable behavior that leads to a prison or a cycle of poverty.
A key service component that is included in the MBK Wrap Network is school-based crisis intervention and supportive counseling services provided by HCPSCA – Community Youth Services (CYS) program. Under the MBK Wrap Network agreement, HCPSCA responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:
Providing crisis counseling and consultation to students and families from MBK Early Warning System and referrals by HISD authorities, parents, social agencies, interested persons, and students themselves
Providing follow up to appropriate referrals from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS) and the County Youth Service Center;
Assisting families in voluntary facility placements outside of the home; and
Participating in the MBK Wrap network planning and coordinating team.
HHD will work with all parties to assure that a referral response system is in place to facilitate the handling of referrals for basic needs of students and families (e.g. utilities, housing, public transportation) as well as provide overall coordination and core connecting services at the 5th Ward and Kashmere multi-service centers.
Currently, the MHIDD system of care manager has been authorized for hire and MHIDD has allocated an in-kind bilingual cognitive behavioral therapist to support the MBK Wrap Network. Over 60 6th graders at Fleming Middle School has been identified to start receiving these wraparound services based on the prevailing risk factors identified by the MBK EWS. There will be approximately 2,000 youth and families served through the MBK Wrap(around) Network.
A special thanks from MBK to...
Houston Basics Campaign
The Houston Basics Campaign is inspired by the fact that 80% of brain growth happens during the first three years. Even by age two, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic skill gaps are clearly apparent. This does not need to be!
Fortunately, science points to “the Basics,” five clusters of parenting and caregiving practices for helping children thrive mentally and emotionally, starting from birth. The Campaign's 60+ community partners are working arm in arm to ensure that every parent and caregiver is fully supported by family and friends to use the Basics.
We recognize that there are many excellent, established groups working with the families of young children. This strategy provides science-based tools for these organizations to use in the normal course of doing their business. The doctors, ministers, teachers, childcare providers, librarians, barbers, and housing representatives from our many partner institutions who touch the lives of parents and caregivers can make the Basics second-nature in households throughout Houston.
Circle of Men at Wheatley High School
Pictured above is Wheatley High School's, "The Circle of Men", which include Charles Savage, Christopher Banks, Omowale Allen, Johnathan Rivers, Brandon Denton, Ishola Muhammad and Keith Labrie, it is an intergenerational gathering of adult men and maturing boys that began during the 2015-16 school year. No holds barred conversation occurs on the topics of coping skills that are needed to survive and prosper in order to make the transition from boys to men. Men teach but also listen to learn from the leaders of tomorrow. Boys probe the men on the deep matters of achievement, personal growth-responsibility , and contributing to the larger community. Solidarity is developed so that deep communication can take place that can be effective in solving personal, family, school and community problems (family hood).
“The Circle of Men” is a juvenile and adult, male mentoring program, primarily, for African-American and Hispanic-American males from “High Risk” environments. Their mission is to help participants make the successful physical, mental and spiritual transition from boyhood to responsible adulthood. They help participants learn to value the pursuit of academic and personal excellence, consequently, helping to stabilize their lives and increasing their chances of reaching responsible adulthood.
“The Circle of Men” engages participants who are, or have been, chronic failures in school, drug dealers or abusers, gang members, violent or delinquent offenders and, generally, those whose attitudes and lifestyles predict they will be killed, imprisoned or institutionalized. Many of the participants that we target don't read very much, they don't attend church or any other religious/spiritual gatherings that encourage growth. If they are in contact with their parents, they get little information or good advice from them.
“Dismantling The School To Prison Pipeline Through TAPS Academy" by Karlton Harris
Today, in school systems across America, there are policies and practices that are pushing students out of school and on a pathway to prison. These policies include, but are not limited to racial and ethnic disparities, zero tolerance discipline and school suspension criminalization of normative adolescent behavior. Many teachers are given the tough task of teaching the curriculum, managing the classroom, and enforcing policies that will negatively impact the student.
In an effort to dismantle the school to prison pipeline, My Brother’s Keeper Houston Movement partnered with Teen and Police Service (TAPS) Academy. TAPS Academy is an 11-week program primarily designed for at-risk youth where students partner with mentor officers to discuss issues including bullying, anger management, and avoidance of gang life, drug usage, conflict management and other youth and law enforcement-focused topics. One of the goals of TAPS is for law enforcement to create an environment that encourages sharing and problem solving. In this new chapter of community policing, this union can proactively address some of the most pressing conditions in the community.
My Brother’s Keeper Houston Movement stepped up to the plate, to swing at what some would categorize as an unhittable fast ball and gave its’ best swing. On September 1, 2016, My Brother’s Keeper Houston Movement launched TAPS Academy inside Phyllis Wheatley High School. Wheatley’s staff was able to identify 26 students for the TAPS Academy. Understanding that new things often make people uncomfortable, the MBK staff and Houston Police Department were committed to being strategic in its approach to shift the paradigm of the culture amongst both the students and the teachers.
At the conclusion of the 11 week curriculum, the inaugural Wheatley TAPS Academy class was rewarded for their commitment with their very own graduation. During the graduation ceremony, the class stood up in unison and recited the TAPS Creed, “We are going where we have never gone. To do what we have never done. To have what we have never had and to no longer be an at-risk kid, but an at-promise teen. This is the T.A.P.S. creed”.
My Brother’s Keeper Houston Movement thanks Dr. Rose for accepting the invitation for TAPS Academy in her school. The My Brother’s Keeper Houston Movement is committed to dismantling the school to prison pipeline, one pipe at a time, one school at a time, one class at a time, and one student at a time. . As always remember, “We do it better together!”
Houston Police Department teaching Wheatley’s TAPS Academy Class traffic stop rules of engagement
Council Member Jerry Davis' "B" Better Conference
"B" Better’s mission focuses on giving aspiring students in middle school through high school the unique opportunity to turn their career and life aspirations into reality. Our programs are innovative, safe, fun, empowering, and provide transformational experiences that enable students to:
• Discover their passion
• Explore a career
• Make a difference
• Realize their dreams
The conference will include interactive sessions highlighting top fields in Houston such as; STEM, welding, firefighting, computer science, construction, and more. With students and advisors from colleges campuses across Houston we aim to create hands on environment that will allow your students insight into the choices they will be faced with in the future.
~ Jerry Davis
Vice Mayor Pro-Tem, City of Houston
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2016, 09:00 AM
1001 Avenida De Las Americas, Houston, TX, United States
Girl Empowerment Network (GEN) will hold its 2nd annual We Are Girls Conference at Hogg Middle School
Girls Empowerment Network (GEN) is a nonprofit serving girls in 3rd – 12th grades. www.girlsempowermentnetwork.org. Our mission is to support and guide girls to make wise choices as they navigate the unique pressures of girlhood.
The We Are Girls Conference, produced by Girls Empowerment Network (GEN) is an annual statewide event designed especially for girls in grades 3-8 and the adults who care about them. Featuring skill-building workshops and dynamic presentations, the We Are Girls Conference connects girls to relatable role models and encourages healthy relationships, educational discovery, and creative self-expression. Leadership positions are available for high school girls. Tickets are $30 per person and 50% attendees attend on scholarship.
Saturday, Apr 29, 2017, 08:00 AM
1100 Merrill Street, Houston, TX, United States
Join the MBK Houston Movement
Mayor Turner's MBK Summit 2016
MBK RESOURCES FOR UTILIZATION:
Community Resource Guide
Reach Higher's College Quick Reference
MBK Houston Community Engagement Events (YTD)
High-touch Community Engagement Events
For More Information...
Email: mbkhouston@houstontx.gov
Website: mbkhouston.org
Location: 8000 North Stadium Drive, Houston, TX, United States
Phone: 832-393-5169
Facebook: facebook.com/mbkhouston
Twitter: @mbkhouston