Breaking Barriers: A Qualitative Examination of the Long-Term Benefits of a My Brothers Keeper Program

Background: After President Barack Obama introduced the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative in 2014, many community based agencies around the country took up the charge to focus on Black male socialization in the form of mentoring programs with an emphasis on school and college readiness and job training. However, very few of these programs have been evaluated with regard to how the young men themselves receive the services provided by such programming. There is limited research on the impact of such programs. The purpose of this study is to explore through narrative, the benefits of participating in a My Brothers Keeper Mentoring program. Specifically, through the voices of the young men, what characteristics of the program did they view as the most beneficial to them.

Method: Stakeholders for the program were specifically interested in the experiences of those participants who engaged with the program for at least three years or more. Stakeholders provided a list of participants who met the tenure criteria and made them aware that they would receive an e-mail from the research team introducing them to the study formally and requesting an interview. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 program participants. Interviews elicited the participants life narrative, how they entered the program, and from their perspective, how the program impacted them if at all. All but two of the interviews were conducted in person and were audio-recorded and transcribed and interviews were analyzed using Atlas TI software.

Results: Interviews with program participants generated three themes by which the My Brother Keeper program contributed to their development. They include 1) providing space to exist, 2) the development of social capital and personal development 3) Networking/bonding and 4) connective programming.

Conclusion: The results provide testimony for how young men involved in long-term, My Brothers Keeper programming view their experience and describes specific characteristics of the program that the male participants found particularly impactful. Implications for the discourse around MBK programs are discussed as well as the sort of outcomes, both short-term and long-term programs should be seeking.