“Just watching the events that unfolded this summer, you were angry, you were sad, but you knew you had to do something,” Betz told CNN Business. “We wanted to do something that was not only impactful, but also a long-term commitment that supports as many communities as possible.”
My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Executive Director Michael Smith says the funds his organization receives from Enterprise will be used to fund anti-violence and mentorship programs so underprivileged young men of color can have a caring adult in their lives who’s not their parents.
“Our models show if we have these successful handoffs at each one of these development phases, it greatly increases a young man of color’s chance to enter the middle class,” Smith said. “You might see some more entrepreneurship programs. Many of our communities have tied that with a workforce strategy.”
Cheryl Jones, head of the St. Louis division of Girls Inc., says 95% of the 8,000 girls nationwide that her organization supports are children of color who typically go on to enroll in college and work in fields where women of color are underrepresented, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“We also provide them with internships so they know they can go anywhere in corporate America and they belong,” Jones said.
“We’re not where we want to be just like most companies today,” he said. “This [initiative] caused us to say we need to make more of an inward look to make sure everybody has an equal opportunity for success.”