100 Black Men of Greater Washington Dc Inc

The 100 Black Men of Greater Washington, D.C., (“The 100”) was formed as an outgrowth of the Million Man March. “The 100”, is a 501(c )(3) organization founded in 1995. Today, "the 100," has more than a decade and half of experience in helping young men and women in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. The organization has positively affected the lives of thousands of young people and families. Our members are committed to exposing young people to theater, music, business and higher education, so they may one day take their place as future leaders of the region. Our organization is 100 percent volunteer driven.

Doing the work of the 100 Black Men of Greater Washington, DC it is very easy to be captured in the daily grind of completing a program, navigating events or, juggling request from parents and students in need. Our heads are figuratively and sometimes psychically down trying to fulfill the requests from all of those around us. Our inspiration takes the form of small moments, like parents of our mentees relaying a story about how their children are putting lessons and conversations into practice during the week.  Sometimes however inspiration takes a broader form and the rock that we are continuous pushing onward and upward seems lighter.  This year a few of our formers mentees provided us with such inspiration. The Williams brothers; Frank, Joseph and Michael spent part of the summer in South America, building homes in impoverished communities. Closer to home another former mentee Tristan co-founded the Collegiate 100 at Morgan State College in Maryland. It is inspiring to note that the lives we touch in Washington DC are making an impact in the region and internationally.

With the advent of technology in our everyday lives reaching out to our mentees and students involved in various programs has become easier. Nothing we hope will ever take the place of a face to face conversation, but sometimes we must meet them where they are even if it means texting. We have incorporated social networking into our everyday practices. We have a presence on FaceBook that former students use to stay in touch and relay some of their activities. We use a separate FaceBook page as a communication tool between our instructors and students in our financial literacy program.  The Financial Literacy program involves five different schools, nearly 60 students and more than 10 instructors. Face Book as an organizational tool for this small community is invaluable and is the perfect price for a nonprofit. Technology is also helping us to better communicate with our stakeholders, partners and supporters. We started a new STEM initiative this year with NIH and used Constant Contact to get the word out to people in the community. The response and exposure has been phenomenal. We are increasing the number of people on our distribution list and sphere of influence almost daily.

 For the last seven years the Greater Washington DC has incorporated the notion of financial literacy into it program fabric. It is something not only to teach but also learn, we have invited several financial professionals to speak to our members and provide counsel around building and securing their personal and professional finances.   Financial literacy is taught during of mentoring   sessions and parents and members are invited to attend and participate in those sessions. One of our growing legacy is the Dollars and Sense program. This year we have grown the program to include five schools and nearly 60 students. We have schedule a local competition between the schools with the winning team to compete as our representative at the national conference.

Last but not least “the 100” started  a program called Youth Movement nearly 4 years ago to educate students and their parents about the dangers of childhood obesity. Each year to bring the message from outside the schools to the general community we bring in 1968 Olympian Tommie Smith to host the annual Tommie Smith Youth Track Meet. We have nearly 1500 participants and spectators attend every year to cheer on the athletes as well as offer free health screenings from blood pressure to glaucoma and much more.   

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