Supporting Black and Latino boys in school: A call to action

In 2014, Pres Barack Obama introduced the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Initiative, an effort to highlight and respond to the various individual and institutional challenges faced in the US by boys and men who are Black, Latino, Native American, or Asian American Pacific Islander. Since then, more than $1 billion from private and public foundations, corporations, and city and state entities have been invested in related projects. In 2016, for example, New York's state legislature became the first in the country to pass a My Brother's Keeper law, allocating $20 million for K-12 school-based programs and postsecondary education opportunities for boys and men of color. In Las Vegas NV, the city government created an MBK task force to focus on educational equity law enforcement, and community engagement. Just like other young people, then, Black and Latino boys deserve effective counseling that can help them translate their ambitions into concrete plans.