BCT Partners and Frontline Solutions announced today that they have been awarded $1.2 million to provide advisory services and national technical assistance on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $9.5 million Forward Promise initiative. Forward Promise aims to vastly expand the potential for boys and young men of color to grow up healthy, obtain a good education, and find meaningful employment.Frontline Solutions Senior Partner Marcus Littles believes growing national efforts to invest in and support men of color largely result from groundwork laid by BCT Partners and Frontline Solutions. “Since 2005, BCT and Frontline have coordinated with our philanthropic and public-sector partners to increase opportunities for males of color,” says Littles. “Managing these initiatives is a tremendous responsibility for us, and we’re excited to build on this momentum by supporting Forward Promise.”
BCT’s Chairman and CEO Dr. Randal D. Pinkett agrees. “As minority-owned companies, we take pride in the fact that we can lend our expertise and services to empower males of color. We look forward to continuing to build our growing practice for children, families, and communities throughout the country.”
As partners in the Forward Promise initiative, Frontline and BCT will support 15 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) grantees over 30 months to help bring their projects to scale, and possibly replicate them in other cities. Frontline is helping RWJF to manage the initiative and serve as a thought partner, while BCT Partners is responsible for assessing the grantees’ needs, coordinating the provision of technical assistance, and creating a community of practice that will allow the grantees to share ideas and models of success with one another.
BCT, which is currently supporting several national demonstration programs, and Frontline previously received a $500,000 investment to serve as the national implementation partner for the Black Male Engagement (“BMe”) initiative, which represents a growing network of inspired and engaged black men from all walks of life and their friends who do their part to strengthen communities. As implementation partners of the BMe initiative, Frontline and BCT have led the expansion of the vibrant network from two to four cities (Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh). BMe is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and the Heinz Endowments.
In response to the overwhelming statistics on boys and men of color struggling around employment, education, and health, this past April, more than two dozen foundation and nonprofit leaders including RWJF pledged to take collective action on these issues. Convened and facilitated by Frontline and supported by BCT Partners, the alliance agreed to evaluate promising approaches, advocate for effective public policy and systems change, and invest in these young men as assets for America’s future. RWJF’s Forward Promise investments complement commitments from this growing network of funders working to secure healthy and successful lives for the nation’s boys and young men of color.
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