Neighborhood Institute Sponsor Spotlight: Black Male Engagement

Rodney Foxworth is the Baltimore Manager at BMe. He helps make Baltimore a more caring and prosperous city by identifying and funding dozens of inspired black men, connecting them to each other and to outstanding business and community partners.

Tell us a bit about BMe and the work that you are doing?

BMe’s mission is to build more caring and prosperous communities of inspired by black men. We welcome people of all backgrounds, but emphasize African American men and boys because our society typically views black men and boys as threats and detriments to prosperity.  We engage people as assets—not as liabilities or objects that need to be fixed.

How can people get involved with BMe and its programs?

The best way to become involved with BMe is to visit our website (http://www.bmecommunity.org/) and join our community. There are multiple channels to receive valuable information on the website, and discover how you would like to become involved. It is a simple as that!

Why was it important to BMe to support GHCC and the Neighborhood Institute.

GHCC and the Neighborhood Institute are directly aligned with our mission. We desire to empower community members to do great things and uplift the positive impact they make in their neighborhoods. We’re thrilled to support GHCC’s resident engagement and community building work.

How is your work changing communities?

We believe that people are assets—and then we try to increase the assets of people, including their wealth, health, know-how, and networks. We emphasize black men and boys because they’re typically seen as threats to our collective future—but in fact, they are a valuable resource to building prosperous cities. This is especially important to our work because BMe is based in Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia- all cities with a large percentage of African American residents. We believe that for cities to achieve their potential, we must engage black men as leaders of positive action and catalysts for prosperity.

What’s one thing we should look for from BMe this summer?

Every year, BMe recognizes ten men in Baltimore through our BMe Leadership Award, which includes a $10,000 grant to help carry out the great work they are doing to benefit the community. We will announce the winners in June (with a definitive date pending) and will host a recognition event for the winners later in the month. This is a great event for people to come out to get a sense of the work BMe is doing in the community. Keep an eye on www.bmecommunity.org for our announcement of the 2014 winners.