It’s hard to believe that May marks the completion of our first year as an independent 501c3 non-profit organization. What a year it’s been!

We first want to thank all of you who have supported us in a variety of ways. Your thoughts, emails, encouragement, collaboration,  advice, investment and belief in us provides great inspiration. We feel most honored to have the support and participation from the students we are serving. Overwhelmingly the students have been engaged, open and honest and have requested more content and interaction with Visible Men. This is music to our ears.

Like most start ups and non-profit organizations, this first year has not been without growing pains. Our most regrettable one being the recent cancellation of our Visible Men Across America RV Tour that was scheduled for Summer 2011. We came to this difficult decision after much internal reflection and felt that it was not the right time to allocate our precious resources to such a large endeavor. We remain very hopeful that we will “hit the road” in search of the untold stories of Visible Men Across America at a later date.

For now, we are very enthused by our ability to meet exceptional Visible Men “in the cloud”. Please continue to keep your referrals, emails, comments and online connections coming. They serve as powerful testimonials to the youth we serve that there are thousands of accomplished black men living fulfilling healthy lives.

Please see our Annual Summary of Programs and Operations for 2010-2011.

We are doing lots of “behind the scenes” capacity building, fundraising, and strategy work to ensure that we are in a position to serve more African American male students next year. Skype, Starbucks, late night texts from friends in California, we are so grateful to have great innovators, entrepreneurs and advisors in our inner circle.

Look for the exciting debut of our first Visible Men Promotional video next month! We’ve had the pleasure of working with Run Riot Films in Washington, DC and feel blessed that our first media production project has been with award winning Documentary Film maker, Josie Swantek and her amazing team.

Our amazing interns from Georgetown University have worked hard all year to assist us in researching and designing our first online Visible Men Student Campaign. In the 2011-2012 school year, we will invite students to participate in our VM student campaign by interviewing Visible Men in their communities and submitting a video, essay or electronic form of artwork that captures their encounter.

Also stay tuned for announcements of our selected areas for the expansion of our VM after school pilot programs for 2011-2012 and some powerful additions to our Executive and Advisory Board.

We’re grateful, determined and even more focused on ensuring Visible Men is a positive change agent in the lives of young black boys and men. Among the many positive responses we received from our student surveys, the following were our favorites:

“Visible Men makes me proud to be black.”

“I really wish we could do more of this, like have the group meetings more often and throughout the whole year.”

At a time when far too many young black boys are fatherless, dropping out of high school, and making unhealthy choices, Visible Men will continue to work with other dedicated individuals and agencies who are called to action.

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right , especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank each and every one of you in our Visible Men Family!

• 1/2 a dozen security officers on the inside
• Heavy Police presence around the building
• 12 police officers on the outside
• Squad Cars and SUV’s
• Police Helicopters
• Community Activists
• Veteran Volunteers from “leave no Veteran Behind”

This description could easily be describing a recent crime scene or natural disaster. But it’s not. That’s just what it looks like after school from the outside. Imagine what it feels like from the inside, from the eyes of an incoming 9th grade boy. Thomas Trotter knows what it feels like. He grew up in this neighborhood, and says, ” I didn’t exactly have a silver spoon in my mouth, if you know what I mean. I encountered many of the same things my students do today, single family home, neighborhood plagued with drugs, poverty, violence and gangs.” But Trotter, a star student-athlete, went on to get a scholarship to University of Wisconson Parkside, and subsequently did his Masters work at Northeastern Illinois University.

He returned to his community as an educator because, “I knew these students would be able to relate to me. I’ve seen what they have, and felt what they have. I needed to teach them, however, that the world opens up once you leave Englewood and Woodlawn, and there are great opportunities out there for each of you.”

When we contacted Hyde Park Academy,  we had a hunch that despite the concerning statistics about drop out rates, gang involvement and violence in the areas surrounding the school, there were some silent heroes in their building, both young and old. We found one in Visible Man Thomas Trotter along the way.

Principal Trotter’s voice lifted when we asked him to tell us about some of the success stories and accomplishments of his students inside the building: “Where do I begin? I’ve got a straight A student who’s been accepted to 2 top schools in the last month, a kid going to West Point, and dozens more who will be enrolled in colleges and vocational schools after graduation.” Mr Trotter went on to describe the accomplishments of his debate team, and that he has 50 juniors who faithfully and enthusiastically attend the Princeton Review Course. He states he’d have more if the budget could support it. He has exceptional student-athletes who are learning important life lessons about teamwork, punctuality, responsibility, victory and defeat. There are artists, technology experts, history buff’s and more. Hyde Park has kids who have seen more trauma and hardship than many American adults could ever fathom, and yet most of them show up on time to school every single day. Success.

Thomas is keenly aware of the psychosocial needs of his students, the skill set of his faculty, and the resources and programs required to improve student outcomes, but also the unique educational strengths and challenges many of his students present with. Ninety percent of his students receive free lunch and are living in poverty. “I truly believe, that each child can and will learn. Some may not learn fast, some may not learn yet, but eventually if we work hard enough, they will get it. My staff and I operate from a position of strength and urgency.”

If you want to know about resiliency, pause, and think about the kids walking by the squad cars and security officers, the drug addicts and gang members on their way home from school. Think about them, in the midst of  that landscape, thinking about their Princeton Review course, college, and beyond.

http://www.hydeparkcps.org/

Thank you, Thomas Trotter, and the silent heroes of Hyde Park Academy. And, congratulations.

Happy New Year!
We hope this message finds you well and on track with your resolutions!

2011 will be a big year for Visible Men
We are excited about all that 2011 holds for Visible Men. We join all who are striving for new personal and professional excellence this year, and have set our sights on innovative new opportunities in the coming months. We know this will be our biggest year of growth, focus, and impact.

Details Coming Soon on our expansion plans…stay tuned!

Every time Derrick Barnes stands in front of a group of schoolchildren, he realizes that he isn’t just speaking to his target audience as an author of children’s books — he’s looking into the faces of future writers, artists, and poets.

Inspiring future writers and scholars

“I do as many school visits as I can across the country,” he says. “Seeing me – a black, male author – validates their hopes and dreams of being a writer or professor. I take my social responsibility seriously. I understand that just having them see me makes a difference in their lives, especially the boys who keep journals and write but don’t share it with their friends.”

We Could Be Brothers

His latest book, We Could Be Brothers, tells the story of two 13-year-old African-American boys from very different backgrounds who, over the course of several days, engage in a dialogue about life. Derrick’s goal was to reflect the diversity of the black community — to remind readers that not all black boys fit the stereotypes seen in popular entertainment.

Novels about the African-American experience

Growing up, Derrick didn’t dream of becoming a writer, but he’s published eight successful books for children and continues to write works that reflect the African-American experience. That success has opened the door to speak to young people about the importance of dreaming big and becoming difference makers.

“They don’t have to be writers or authors or artists, but to see people from multiple careers gives them options and gives them hope,” he says.

Derrick’s growth as a writer

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Derrick earned an undergraduate degree in 1999 from Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss. He returned to his hometown after graduating, and later that year, he was hired as the first African-American staff copywriter at Hallmark Cards.

Derrick considers his three-year stint at the Kansas City-based company his “graduate school.” At Hallmark, he was surrounded by writers, poets, painters, and other artists. He grew as an author, discovering his literary voice, and he also grew as a man.

Derrick found inspiration in men who valued their families

“I came from a single-parent household. I didn’t have a lot of role models or male influences in my life,” he says. “Being around these guys, who had centered their whole lives and careers around their families, was a great influence.”

Finding his way through New Orleans

Many of the lessons Derrick learned from his role models were reinforced when he and his young family moved to New Orleans in 2003. For starters, he had a tough time finding a job. “There wasn’t a lot of work for ex-greeting card writers in New Orleans; that was my only work experience,” he says between laughs. So, he worked any kind of job he could find, from a substitute teacher to off-shore work and from the graveyard shift at an emergency room to a secretary.

Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast two years later, Derrick and his family escaped and spent time in other parts of Louisiana before returning to Kansas City, which has been their home ever since.

“That experience really helped shape who I am as a man and a father,” recalls Derrick, who is now the father of three sons, with a fourth child on the way. “You really don’t realize how much your family needs you until you’re in a dire situation like that, with no resources.”

Derrick believes in Visible Men’s mission

The absence of many strong male role models growing up is one of the reasons Derrick feels such passion for Visible Men’s vision of highlighting the stories of successful black men across the nation.

“There are so many black boys who just don’t have access to real-life, loving, supportive, strong men in their lives; they don’t really see that example,” he says. “We need more examples, which is why I’m such an advocate of groups like Visible Men.”

Visible Men encourages you to read Derrick’s books

Derrick’s perspective and attitude ring true for Neil Phillips, Founder and Executive Director of Visible Men. “One of my many personal goals for Visible Men is to profile exceptional black male authors like Derrick on a regular basis. We will create a Visible Men book club where books written by or about African-American boys and men are profiled and then sold in the Visible Men Store” Phillips says.

“Most first-time black authors will tell you that getting a book published is a monumental accomplishment. African-American youth desperately need to experience the power of great books both as an educational tool and as a recreational, and joyful pastime. I congratulate Derrick, and I’m thrilled to include a copy of his book, We Could Be Brothers in the success kit given to each student who completes our afterschool inVision Project. I encourage other parents, educators and advocates to support Derrick, an exceptional Visible Man, father, and role model by purchasing his books.

Become a difference maker

As he continues to write and share his stories, Derrick’s work will encourage young people — especially black boys — to become “difference makers.”

“In order to be a difference maker, you have to have your mind set on being a better you,” Derrick says. “Surround yourself with positive people. Always seek new information and knowledge; stay well-read. Stay up on current events. Read every chance you can get. It all starts with figuring out what you want to be, what kind of man you see yourself being, challenging yourself, and seeing the world as being a lot bigger than your environment or neighborhood or city. You’ve got to dream big and challenge yourself.”

Every Thursday afternoon, Kofi Frempong serves as a mentor and friend to a group of middle school boys who are engaged in the adventure of discovering what it means to become men who lead successful, principled, meaningful lives through Visible Men’s inVision Project.

And every now and then, his mind wanders and wonders how those boys might handle the challenges, distractions, and temptations without the involvement of an adult male role model in their lives.

Program helps at-risk boys
“If we didn’t have a program like this, I would definitely be concerned about what we’d be providing for the boys who are most at risk,” he says. “And when I say ‘at risk,’ it can mean any boy — even kids who are ‘A’ students but are making poor choices. A program like this helps to steer them in the right direction.”

The inVision Project provides a voluntary setting for black boys between grades 6 and 8 to learn more about accomplished black men through cutting-edge media. Along the way, the boys explore such success principles as character development; personal presence; dreaming and future mapping; health; achievement attitude; work ethic/motivation; citizenship; spiritual development; and leadership.

Good choices open the door to future success
“Sometimes, the key to success is just about being around people who care for you and want you to make right choices,” says Kofi, an English teacher at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, Md., where the after-school program is offered. “Some of these boys might not get that from their peers, and many of them are latch-key kids who would spend their afternoons home alone before their parents come home from their job, or their second or third job.”

Most weeks, about 10 boys participate in the program, and most of them are new to the program. Most of the boys who were involved last year were eighth-graders and graduated in the spring.

“There are a lot more boys at our school who can benefit from being involved,” Kofi says. “We won’t force them; they have to want to do it. We know that word of mouth will always bring in more boys.”

Kofi says his school is blessed with a number of after-school programs for students. “That’s good because it gives kids a chance to be involved in whatever draws their interest,” he says.

Program is seen as priority at this school
But he knows that isn’t the case at every campus across the country. “There’s definitely a vacuum at other schools,” he says. “At our school, administrators have found ways to play with the money, which has allowed clubs to stay in operation. It really takes a commitment to offering programs like the inVision Project to meet the needs of the students at the school. If people want to do stuff, even if the money is not there, I believe they can and will and should find ways to do it because they recognize the value and the importance.”

Visible Men Founder Neil Phillips says of Kofi, “We’ve found a true gem in Kofi Frempong. Kofi is dedicated, professional, and connected to the boys in the inVision Project in a way that clearly inspires the youth. Sligo Middle School is serving as an exceptional pilot program for Visible Men to test our curriculum model, delivery method, and outcome measures. It is my personal mission to have our inVision Project program offered in schools and community centers across America with a high density of African-American male students. We think studying accomplished black men is the ideal curriculum for young black boys in need of positive male role modeling.”

Each student participant in the inVision Project will receive a success kit upon completion of the program in May. We invite you to consider giving the gift of success this holiday season to our student participants and purchasing an item from the Visible Men Wish List at amazon.com.

I recently watched the Waiting for “Superman” documentary film, and I walked away with an even greater resolve to make a difference in the lives of young people across our nation.

This documentary presents the story of children and families pursuing a quality education despite the many challenges they face in their communities. Waiting for “Superman” has garnered a lot of attention since its release, and at the 2010 Sundance Film festival, the movie received the Audience Award for best documentary. Quite simply, it’s heartbreaking to see real life stories of children and parents picking a lottery number from a barrel to see if their child is lucky enough to attend a healthy and thriving school.

Here’s a preview of the film, which I encourage you to see, analyze, and discuss with friends and leaders in your community.

In my opinion, education reform must be about what kids need most, which is a safe place to learn, explore, and develop. It should be a school building that they’re proud of, teachers that inspire them, classmates that are achieving, and administrators who are expecting success for every child, despite challenges and differences.

But education reform as its top priority should not be about adults protecting jobs, tenures, or salaries. Although these are important issues that are worthy of reform, they should not overshadow the primary casualties in our education crisis, which are children.

Improving our schools must emerge as a primary domestic crisis. This issue affects all of us. If we continue to be a country that does not place the education of our youth as a top priority, we will continue to see the manifestation of social problems, personal under-achievements, and societal economic consequences. In the African-American community, the crisis is even more severe. Black male students consistently are over-represented in high school dropout rates, lower test score outcomes, lower college admissions levels, and higher involvement with the juvenile justice system. Young black boys in our schools are screaming for help.

Fortunately, when we think about education in our nation, it’s not all doom and gloom. Just a few weeks ago, Newark (N.J.) Mayor Cory Booker and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million donation to the Newark City Public School System. These kinds of donations and challenge grants are opportunities to invest in creative approaches to making school systems more effective in teaching our kids. I believe we are going to see more of this kind of public/private collaboration in education reform, and I applaud Mayor Cory Booker, Mark Zuckerberg, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for leading such a bold initiative.

“We are talking about a bold new paradigm…if we as a nation keep pulling left and right, we will never move forward, and most of us understand that,” Mayor Booker said during a September appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

My hope is that individuals, organizations, and companies across the nation will rise to the occasion to invest resources in our schools. Our children are the next generation and deserve nothing less than our very best. Visible Men is pleased to be receiving support and interest from the private, public, and corporate sector in an effort to improve the lives and educational outcomes of young African-American boys.

As we celebrate the holiday season, I invite you to consider supporting Visible Men in a variety of gift opportunities.

Neil Phillips is Founder and Executive Director of Visible Men. He and his wife Shannon live in Bethesda, Maryland, with their two young sons.

My 5½-year-old son has proclaimed on several occasions that he has “the best kindergarten teacher in the world.” Since the very first day of school he has told us that “Ms. Merrit is so nice, and she’s funny too.” My wife and I are pleased that she is nurturing and has been able to get to know our child and the unique strengths and challenges he’s had in the classroom and beyond. Ms. Merrit has a kind and gentle voice, total command over her kindergarten classroom, and a reputation for putting literacy and reading as a top priority for her students (as evidenced by the weekly homework assignments!). This warms our heart and is validated every day when we see our son skipping out the doors of his school at 3:20 p.m. We are grateful that our child has a school that is safe, beautiful, well resourced, full of involved parents, educators and administrators who are devoted to our children. The expectation at our son’s elementary school is that these children will be successful learners every single day above all else. The community expects these children to thrive and the children get this message reinforced to them on a daily basis. Gratitude.

Sadly, far too many parents across America, and a disproportionate number of parents in the African American community, would not describe their children’s schooling as I just did.

For me, the way to honor the gratitude I have for my children’s school experience is to work hard so that more children and families can have an enriching and positive educational journey. It’s both heart wrenching and unimaginable to me that as a nation we have children who are scared to death of school, who are uninspired and disconnected from their school, who don’t have adequate books, staff, facilities, security and safety at their school. There are too many capable children who have given up on education far too early. Let’s not let them down.

I created Visible Men on the notion that young black boys are in crisis. I could not ignore the statistics and the cries for help any longer. As an educator, a Black Man and a father, I could no longer stay silent. African American boys are dropping out of school in record numbers, they are under-performing on far too many local and national tests, they are underachieving, and they need our help.

For me, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on my many blessings, and I hope you do the same. I also hope that upon reflection, you are inspired to join the many citizens and advocates who are committed to action. Giving comes in many forms: volunteering, mentoring, donating and most importantly, in acts of kindness towards one another.

We invite you to learn more about our Visible Men Fundraising Initiatives.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Teaching wasn’t Kofi Frempong’s dream job as a kid, but the moment he began spending time around middle school students, he had discovered his passion and his destiny.

“I don’t know if I could do anything else other than teach,” he says. “There are moments when I think I should find something else, but it comes back around and I realize this is why I do what I do. It’s important, I enjoy it, and part of the thrill of teaching and working with kids is that everything changes every single day. That creates so much of the energy in teaching.”

Kofi is part of a small crowd , only 2 percent of the nation’s 4.8 million teachers are black men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While education might not be the best path for every black man, he says classrooms and students would benefit from having more black men as teachers.

“I think you need a variety of individuals and personalities in education, because kids come from such a wide range of backgrounds,” he says. “In my personal experience, the number of black men teaching in middle schools and high schools seems low. I have a lot of black male friends and buddies who are in the business sector, and I wonder if black men see teaching as something valuable. They know it’s meaningful, but do they find it valuable in terms of income and opportunity?

“Boys and specifically black boys need role models. In general, boys in middle school tend to struggle the most with this need , and when you look at black boys, that need is even greater.”

Kofi’s pursuit of an education career took shape during his junior year at the University of Maryland. He had been a pre-med major with an eye for medical school ,until he realized how many years of schooling were required. By the middle of his sophomore year, he had begun looking at other career options, and the next year, he enrolled in a class that required students to spend time working in a middle school classroom.

“I really enjoy working with middle school kids, as opposed to high school or primary students,” said Kofi, who has taught English for more than a decade. “Middle school students don’t ignore everything you say, like some high school students might, but they’re also old enough that you can have more meaningful conversations with them than you might have with elementary kids.”

Attending college was never a question for the Maryland native, who did his graduate work at Trinity University in Washington, D.C. His parents instilled in Kofi that a college education was the expected, natural step after finishing high school. His dad attended community college but didn’t attend a four-year college because he didn’t have the time while raising Kofi and his younger sister.

Kofi finds inspiration from the students with their desire to learn and know more. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the kid with the most or the least, the happiest kid or the least happy kid , when they start to get something or they’re working on something that’s difficult and they keep pushing harder and further, that’s inspiring,” he says.

Keeping young teenagers focused on literature and grammar has never been easy. Generations of English teachers can attest to that truth. Today’s educators face an even more difficult task in convincing media-obsessed young people that such writers as Shakespeare, Twain, and Dickinson have something relevant and meaningful to say — and that seeing the film isn’t the same as reading the book.

In his first teaching job, at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Md., Kofi ran a program similar to Visible Men’s inVision Project. When he began teaching at Sligo Middle School in Silver Spring, Md., in 2008, he met Visible Men Founder and Executive Director Neil Phillips, and the two men discussed the vision for Visible Men. Kofi saw the inVision Project as “another opportunity to do what I was doing at my former school, carrying on that commitment to investing in boys’ lives.”

The inVision Project provides a voluntary setting for black boys between grades 6 and 8 to learn more about accomplished black men through cutting-edge media. Along the way, the boys explore such success principles as character development; personal presence; dreaming and future mapping; health; achievement attitude; work ethic/motivation; citizenship; spiritual development; and leadership.

“Even though I can connect with kids during class, the after-school program is an opportunity to meet with kids in a different setting,” Kofi says. “Adults and students see each other in a different light, and that translates to the classroom experience for me and for other teachers.”

Black Youth Can Achieve

Success and achievement have been an important part of William Singleton’s journey. A graduate of Clemson University with an MBA from Vanderbilt, education and achievement were instilled in William from an early age. He’s one of the few, no matter the race, who landed a great job out of college with a company who’s been his only employer to date, giving him the opportunity to excel and earn a great income. The son of educators, William has parents who taught him and his siblings to achieve academically and instilled in them a solid work ethic. Growing up, William heard people say that African-Americans had to work twice as hard as white people to succeed and achieve, and his parents made sure that all of their kids were given the best advantage and chance for success that they could possibly give them.

African American Success

A few years ago, William’s employer was relocating its Los Angeles offices to Nashville, and William decided to do some interviews at other companies to help him decide whether to relocate. William was surprised when he walked into the office of a vice president with a Fortune 100 company and saw an African-American man behind the desk. This was a profound moment for him: He realized he had become conditioned to NOT seeing black men in such roles. That moment changed his perspective: Not only were black men capable of achieving, they were finding success. If this man could do it, William knew he could do it, too.

Black Male Achievement

“I started looking more into myself to see what that means,” he says. “I didn’t realize how much I wasn’t believing in black male achievement until I saw it. And it isn’t just corporate America alone; it’s life in general. We sometimes don’t realize the absence of black male role models until we see one in a place we don’t expect it.”

Black Male Success

This introspection helped William to see black male success in more places, to believe that the kind of success he’d dreamed about was really possible for him.

“It’s the ‘Obama Effect.’ Kids see Barack Obama as an example of someone achieving a goal and leading in an important way,” he says. “And when you see it, you feel like it’s more of a possibility; that really resonates with kids.”

William’s parents taught him that dreams were worth pursuing, but it took that one moment in the halls of corporate America to teach him a new lesson: Change happens one person at a time, and one person can be the catalyst for a dramatic paradigm shift.

William knows he’s been fortunate. “My dad was a great role model for me. He worked very hard, he got up every morning and made sure we had grits in our stomach — every day from kindergarten to senior year of high school. He instilled a lot of hard work ethic in me. I didn’t understand it at the time,” he reveals. “We didn’t sit around and watch TV. We were around the house, doing work. He was giving me more opportunities than many of my friends had in their family dynamic. My father earned his master’s degree six months before me. He’s still getting his education. He’s the one that pushed me while I was dragging my feet about going back to get my graduate degree.” Says William, “ a strong work ethic is absolutely essential for success”

William has recently been promoted to a global innovation portfolio manager for the same company that hired him out of college, where he has passionately advocated for an inclusion and diversity initiative designed to spur innovation, a key component of his responsibilities.

“Any company should embrace diversity of thought, race, and perspective because it’s a business advantage. You want innovation within your workplace — you can charge a premium when you’re innovating. If you have everybody who thinks the same way, you can’t deliver those innovative goals and strategies and products,” William explains. “We want to deliver blockbuster propositions that meet the needs of a diverse customer base, and you can’t do that if you don’t have a diverse group of people who feel included, like their contribution matters. If the group is diverse but not inclusive, you going to struggle building an innovative culture.”

Creating Awareness of Black Male Success

Creating greater awareness of black male success is a fundamental principle for Visible Men that appeals to William and his commitment to investing in the next generation. “I feel like right now I’m in a critical point in my career; I still ache to do something for our community at large,” he says. “I want to give back, maximize every minute I can, and be involved in things with a high ROI — I want that return on my investment. And I see Visible Men as an opportunity to give back to my community.”

William’s faith that times are changing is inspiring, and his passion for creating space for everyone to contribute and make a difference is contagious. He leads by example, with humility and compassion. He reveals, “You can’t force anyone to change and see your viewpoint. You can show them your vision and hope they come along for the ride. You can’t force your ideas— they can’t be guilted into agreeing with you. When you have a new idea you’re trying to convey, it takes time. Think about Martin Luther King Jr.: How was he able to align so many people with his ideas? He capitalized on timing: People were struggling with integration and social change for decades, and he was able to unlock something.”

It’s a new day.