From big sisters to reading mentors: Obama Foundation youth programs change lives
Meet two young changemakers of MBK Alliance and The Girls Opportunity Alliance.
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For World Children’s Day 2025, The Obama Foundation celebrates young leaders who embody our mission to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. Through My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, sometimes called MBK, and the Girls Opportunity Alliance, we’re investing in the next generation of changemakers.
The Obama Presidential Center, opening in 2026, will be a place where communities can come together and where young people can find new opportunities.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance supports adolescent girls’ education and empowerment through a Network of more than 4,000 grassroots leaders and has reached girls in 48 countries such as Kenya, Peru, and Cambodia since its launch in 2018.
The MBK Alliance’s work is rooted in six key milestones, which span from entering school ready to learn to graduating high school in four years and beyond. Through supporting the hundreds of communities within its network, including cities like Newark, New Jersey, and Omaha, Nebraska, as the they lead efforts to reduce homicides by over 50 percent, Tulsa, OK as they increase pre-K attendance by 33 percent, and Yonkers, NY as they boost graduation rates for students of color (the highest graduation rate in the state of New York), MBK aims to drive real, measurable impact for boys and young men of color across the country.
Herbert Toler III, MBK Ambassador
Newark, New Jersey
Herbert Toler III wasn't much of a reader before becoming an MBK ambassador.
Now, he's leading Newark's fight to close the literacy gap and practicing what he preaches.
“If I'm going to be telling kids to read, there is no reason that I shouldn't be doing the same thing,” said Toler, a senior at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, studying economics with minors in urban studies and English.
The MBK Ambassador program engages 18 young men of color from across the country as mentors, advocates, and community leaders, driving local change and advancing My Brother’s Keeper’s mission to help boys and young men of color thrive.
“ I knew that I wanted to have an impact on a community.”
–Herbert Toler III
Toler's journey to MBK began with persistence. After reaching out repeatedly to the New York Opportunity Youth Network during his sophomore year of high school, he secured a summer role that transformed into an ambassadorship.
“I knew that I wanted to have an impact on a community. I knew that I wanted to learn the most from an organization that was having impact,” Toler recalled.
Working closely with his mentor, Toler learned a fundamental truth: “Everything happens at the speed of relationships.” That principle now guides his approach to community work.
He's tackling Newark's literacy crisis through a three-pronged strategy examining public safety, education and housing sectors. The work connects to lessons learned from his grandfather, Herbert Toler I, a man who "created so much opportunity for a lot of my family" through his investment in future generations.
“Whenever I think of this quote, I think of him immediately,” Toler said. “It's something like, being a man is planting trees of which you'll never see the fruits of. His kind of foresight to invest so much… He has given me such a perspective that I can't only invest in myself but those who come after me."
Toler graduates this spring with a commitment to making excellent education accessible to all children, starting by making reading fun and “gamified” for the next generation.
Barbara Mukisa, Girl Up Initiative Uganda
Kisasi, Uganda
When 13-year-old Barbara Mukisa arrived at Girl Up Initiative Uganda's (Opens in a new tab) Big Sisters Camp this summer, she said she was initially nervous about being away from home for the first time. The Kampala student, who was born in the city and now lives in the Kisasi neighborhood, balances school, evening study sessions, caring for younger siblings, and household chores. It is a typical juggle for many girls in Uganda, where domestic responsibilities often compete with education.
“ I believe in myself more than I used to. I know that I'm a different girl. I'm a girl who has courage.”
–Barbara Mukisa
By the time she left the weeklong camp, she was a different person.
“I believe in myself more than I used to,” Barbara said. “I know that I'm a different girl. I'm a girl who has courage.”
The Girls Opportunity Alliance supported Girl Up Uganda to bring together 300 girls, 25 teachers, and 30 staff for a weeklong immersion in leadership, menstrual health education, and climate justice. For Barbara, the camp addressed topics she once found difficult to discuss.
“Even if you talk of menstruation, I feel like leaving. I feel disgusted,” she said about her old feelings. “But right now, I believe that by the time I (experience menstruation), it will be fine, because I learned about the menstruation period. They taught me how to make pads.”
The camp's candle-lighting ceremony left a lasting impression. Girl Up Initiative Uganda co-founder Monica Nyiraguhabwa handed each girl a candle, symbolizing the responsibility to light other girls' candles and create a movement of information and empowerment.
“A good leader should be a good listener,” Barbara said. “A good leader should be knowledgeable. A good leader should have a sense of unity. And a good leader should have courage. Don't fear. Talk the fact. If it's wrong, say it's wrong.”
Now back at school, she serves as choir conductor and dreams of becoming a surgeon. She says she meditates when she can between studies and household responsibilities, and she's already teaching her mother how to make reusable sanitary pads.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance has supported Girl Up Initiative Uganda since 2019, helping launch the Big Sisters Network, which has reached more than 40,000 girls directly. This year's camp was the largest yet, more proof that investing in one girl creates a ripple effect that can transform entire communities.
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