MBK Community Challenge Competition

Barack Obama sits at a table speaking with Black men, who look in his direction. On the table in front of them appears fried food in red lattice baskets and water cups with ice and lemon slices. Behind them is a sign that reads "Willie Mae's Scotch House."

We believe lasting change for boys and young men of color begins with communities. Research shows that when youth, community leaders, citizens, and public and private sectors work together to expand opportunity and reduce barriers, boys and young men of color - their communities and families - thrive. That’s why MBK Alliance is continuing efforts to help unleash this potential and provide the support to accelerate impact and spotlight success nationwide.

The MBK Community Challenge Competition online application was open for nearly two months with a deadline of May 24th. We also went an additional step to extend the deadline from 5 p.m. ET to 11:59 p.m. ET for all applicants. We have a strict application review timeline and to be fair to all applicants, we cannot accept late submissions. If you believe there was a serious technical issue with our online application system that prohibited you from applying on time, please explain the circumstances via our online form here:  https://obamacenter.typeform.com/to/waKpEw (Opens in a new tab) . We will only review requests submitted by 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 29th. We are committed to running a fair, equitable and transparent process.

For additional information, we encourage you to read the full  Request For Proposals and FAQs .

About the Competition

In April 2018, MBK Alliance launched a national competition to identify and support several cities, towns, counties and Tribal Nations that accepted the MBK Community Challenge. We’re looking for MBK Communities that are making steady progress and have the potential to be proof points for what it takes to substantially improve life outcomes for boys and young men of color, especially as it relates to reducing youth violence and growing the pipeline of mentors having a measurable impact on boys and young men of color.

Additionally, as home to the Obama Foundation, advancing the mission of My Brother’s Keeper in Chicago will be a permanent priority well beyond this Competition. Accordingly, a Chicago nonprofit will be selected to be part of the inaugural Community Competition cohort, while other Chicago nonprofits will have the chance to compete for Seed Grants.

Eligible grantees are high-performing backbone organizations (Opens in a new tab) , U.S.-based 501 (C) (3) nonprofit organizations with strong leadership and a track record of success in driving collective impact (Opens in a new tab) efforts locally, initiating program development, and expanding policies and practices that enhance equity and opportunity for boys and young men of color. These organizations will need to have the backing of local government leadership or an approved MBK Alliance partner in order to submit a proposal in the future.

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