Ossining Celebrates Growth of My Brother’s Keeper Movement

Ossining had an incredible turnout Thursday night at Anne M. Dorner Middle School to celebrate My Brother’s Keeper scholars and the MBK movement’s successful growth in the schools and community.

MBK is a nationwide initiative to connect boys and young men of color with support networks and address opportunity gaps. It was founded by President Barack Obama in 2014 and has been in Ossining schools since 2017.

Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young, the first African-American leader of the state board, was the keynote speaker. In addressing students, families and school district staff, he referenced the late Martin Luther King Jr.’s Blueprint speech to middle school students 54 years ago.

“Everyone should have a blueprint,” he said. “And the first, the very first, item in your blueprint has to be a deep belief in your own personal dignity. In other words, you have to believe in yourself. You can’t make anyone make you feel like you are no one.”

The second key part of a blueprint is to always strive to do your best which will serve as your foundation, Dr. Young said.

Dr. Young told members of the audience that we are living in a time when people are questioning the values of what it means to be an American. “And what I would say to you is this: It’s not so hard,” he said. “All you have to do is come to Ossining and look at what we have in this lunch room. This is what America’s all about, where we have young people and we have parents and we have adults who are willing to work together to ensure that each and every one of our young people is successful.”

Superintendent Raymond Sanchez, Board of Education President Graig Galef and Trustee Melissa Banta also spoke at the event, as did MBK Fellow Nicholas-Ajani Davis, MBK advisers, MBK Ossining Coordinator Oumar Sarr and Director of Student Academics Mirla Puello. The event also included a raffle for books, gift cards and Ossining “swag bags,” and a grab and go meal at the end.

“We’ve all been very excited about the program and it’s just amazing how it’s grown,” said Trustee Galef, who has participated in the MBK mentor program.

Nicholas-Ajani, who introduced Chancellor Young, said MBK has been a great experience for him so far, from taking cooking lessons from a chef to having peers and advisers to talk with about school life and any difficulties they encounter. “It’s been a fun experience and also I’m part of the wider network for the MBK,” he said.

He and fellow student John Jarama are in the statewide MBK Fellows program this year, which will entail an internship and community project.

Ossining High School teacher and MBK adviser Brian Prince said he’s amazed to see how much the program has grown at the school since it began in 2017. It started with five or six OHS students, and now there are about 40 who meet with advisers and take part in events regularly. There are now MBK groups at Claremont, Roosevelt and AMD too.

“It’s been such a blessing to see this initiative grow from where we started to where we are now,” Mr. Prince said. “I just want to thank you folks for encouraging your young person to come to MBK and be part of something special. I really wish I had something like this when I was in high school, just to know that there is a brotherhood and there are people that look like me that want to achieve the same things, that are going through the same struggles.