Dear Colleague

I am writing to enlist your help with identifying outstanding leaders that would be suitable for the position of Campaign Manager for OSI's new initiative to Advance Opportunities for African American Boys and Men.  The job description is attached.   Please encourage those individuals in your network who you think would made strong candidates to apply.  If you prefer, you could also send me the names of people you think we should reach out to with their email contact.  The deadline for applications is February 29 and we expect to have selected a finalist for the job by the end of March so we are on a fast track.

Background on the Campaign   

Opportunities for US Program's Engagement:  OSI is well situated to play a leading role in connecting and strengthening public policy efforts to boost opportunity for black boys and men. We have long supported a range of efforts to address inequality and injustice in poor communities of color and are currently engaged, through work supported by the Justice Fund and OSI-Baltimore, in school reform, youth development, racial justice, and criminal justice reform.  Building on this body of work, we propose that U.S. Programs develop a targeted three-year campaign to address and reverse the discrimination and isolation that African American boys and men face, with a particular focus on older youth aged 16 to 25.  While still in the development stage, we see the campaign focused in three areas:  

• Education Reform:  We must boost rates of high school graduation and college matriculation among black males, which more than any other factor predicts joblessness, criminal behavior, and incarceration.  We would explore strategies ranging from expanded summer learning programs to training and development for school administrators.

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• Economic Opportunities:  Reconnecting black men to legitimate, living wage employment is a high priority of this campaign.  This problem has a supply dimension (requiring efforts to create more jobs at decent wages), as well as a demand dimension (requiring efforts to incentivize work and increase the competitive position of black job seekers, including those with criminal convictions).  We see the potential for engagement in a number of areas including:  living wage advocacy, job development and training in emerging industries, expansion of the earned income tax credit to cover non-custodial fathers, and child support reform.

• A Public Health Framework for Intervention:  We will explore a public health framework for addressing black male isolation, engaging health and social marketing experts as well as the hip hop industry.  OSI would work with other funders to identify public education strategies that would promote and increase academic opportunities for black male youth and challenge the public's attitudes toward black males.  We would also support a new generation of black leaders who can speak boldly yet responsibly about the social and the economic dimensions of the problem.

OSI would support strategic networks and alliances among scholars, social justice organizations, the arts and culture industry, and funders.  Building on the expertise of the OSI-Baltimore office, we would also develop integrated models for place-based advocacy in one or more carefully chosen cities or regions.

Let me know if you have questions and thank you in advance for your help in getting the word out about this new campaign position.

Erlin