BROTHERHOOD OF ELDERS NETWORK
PO Box 70913 640, Oakland, CA 94612

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The Brotherhood of Elders Network is an intergenerational network of men of African ancestry who foster environments where Black boys and young men are empowered to flourish.We advocate for males of African ancestry from infancy to adulthood.We leverage our resources and relationships to benefit Black boys.We maintain cultural connections to our African heritage.We advance and preserve the health and wellness of our families and communities.

1) During Year One of this grant cycle, we convened our General Monthly meeting which on average involved 40 participants for three hours on the first Saturday of each month. Those meetings included ceremonial openings in honor of ancestors; a relationship building opportunity that allowed members to get to know each other more deeply; a substantive presentation and conversation (for example, mens roles and responsibilities in the #metoo movement; prostate and hearth health; financial literacy); committee meetings; and age-circle check ins. We used the opportunity to raise donations for our unhoused relatives in Oakland as well as general support for the BOEN. We held our 10th annual free intergenerational health and wellness retreat in the Fall of 2019 at the Marconi Center. There were 37 participants who attended the 2-day event where we focused on self-care, culturally based healing practices with music, movement, nature walks and other activities. 100% of participants reported that the retreat helped improve their overall quality of life. In September 2019, we co-hosted the 3rd annual BOEN and NCN Health and Wellness Retreat for 35 Black and Brown men in Jolon, Cailfornia. We held circle for 1.5 days with a culminating traditional sweat lodge. We were joined by members of TCE staff, the Presidents Youth Council and NCN female staff members. We provided over 1,500 volunteer hours in service to the Bay Area community by advocating for systems change, mentoring black boys and young men, training and supporting Black adults to show up better for young people, and by directly funding projects of smaller grassroots organizations to magnify impact. For example, in August we partnered with Urban Peace Movement to host a screening and discussion of a film called Tent City, which focused on the issues of the unhoused/ homelessness and mental health in Oakland. Over 500 people attended the event held at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland. 2) The first cohort of the Ubuntu Leadership Institute completed their first year in the Art of Being a Black Man program. 10 young men were selected from t Accompanied by 5 adult mentors, the group traveled to South Africa for a 10-day experience where they learned about the history of the country, were exposed to local youth and leaders, and learned more about their own identities. It was a good pilot that allowed us to learn more about how to serve young men coming from a wide range of experiences growing up in Oakland. A few weeks after their return, we conducted listening sessions with youth development field leaders as well as the participants parents for the purpose of gaining more insights and wisdom on how to proceed in building the program for a sustainable future. wo BOEN partner organizations, five from the Oakland Unified Schools District Office of African American Male Achievement and five from the Positive Communication Practices Rites of Passage Program. Our trainers facilitated 12 life skills workshops for the cohort during that same period. 3) During this period, we worked to identify a lead trainer for developing the training modules and approach to use in workshops for youth development workers who would be prepared to use our curriculum with young people who they work with in various community settings. Jason Seals, a professor at Merritt College agreed to accept this role. In addition, we have protected the proprietary rights associated with the registration of copyrights for the materials and consulted with our partners at the National Compadres Network on how to effectively roll this out with trainees.4) BOEN has consistently hosted monthly meeting since its inception. This year was no exception. Those gatherings average attendance is between 35-50 participants. We held our annual Kwanzaa event which was attended by 150 members of the broader community. We continued to build our relationship with members of the Latino/Native community with the African American Latino Alliance. With our partners, we have convened exploratory meetings to discuss the idea of helping launch a public bank in the Bay Area. Additionally, we worked with representatives from the community and City of Oakland government to help create the framework for the new Department of Violence Prevention. After its establishment, we helped with the search process for its first director, Guillermo CespedesChief of Violence Prevention.(Mr. Cespedes is a seasoned expert in domestic and international violence prevention. His early career began in Oakland, where for 18 years he worked with families at Eden Childrens Center in San Leandro, the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation in Fruitvale, Oakland Childrens Hospital, and Vista Community College. In 2000, Mr. Cespedes moved to Los Angeles where he co-founded Summer of Success (SOS), a gang violence reduction strategy in South Los Angeles. SOS was implemented for two consecutive summers, resulting in an 82% reduction in homicides the first summer, and 34% the second.) After his hire, we initiated a set of ongoing discussions with the new Chief, the first of which was a meeting with our entire group at a monthly general meeting. In the last quarter of 2019, we initiated a gathering of women leaders who committed to re-establishing a womens group (tentatively, the Sisterhood of Elders Network), to begin planning and building a parallel group which we hope will work with us on mutual goals for our community while providing supports to members. 4) BOEN has consistently hosted monthly meeting since its inception. This year was no exception. Those gatherings average attendance is between 35-50 participants. We held our annual Kwanzaa event which was attended by 150 members of the broader community. We continued to build our relationship with members of the Latino/Native community with the African American Latino Alliance. With our partners, we have convened exploratory meetings to discuss the idea of helping launch a public bank in the Bay Area. Additionally, we worked with representatives from the community and City of Oakland government to help create the framework for the new Department of Violence Prevention. After its establishment, we helped with the search process for its first director, Guillermo CespedesChief of Violence Prevention.(Mr. Cespedes is a seasoned expert in domestic and international violence prevention. His early career began in Oakland, where for 18 years he worked with families at Eden Childrens Center in San Leandro, the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation in Fruitvale, Oakland Childrens Hospital, and Vista Community College. In 2000, Mr. Cespedes moved to Los Angeles where he co-founded Summer of Success (SOS), a gang violence reduction strategy in South Los Angeles. SOS was implemented for two consecutive summers, resulting in an 82% reduction in homicides the first summer, and 34% the second.) After his hire, we initiated a set of ongoing discussions with the new Chief, the first of which was a meeting with our entire group at a monthly general meeting. In the last quarter of 2019, we initiated a gathering of women leaders who committed to re-establishing a womens group (tentatively, the Sisterhood of Elders Network), to begin planning and building a parallel group which we hope will work with us on mutual goals for our community while providing supports to members. 5) Our consultant team now numbers six professionals, who support the BOEN in a variety of ways. We help design and facilitate meetings, work with our partners like NCN; provide supports to the Leadership Council (our board of directors) with information to help with their decision making. (We added 3 new members to that body in early 2020.) Included in this group is our finance support manager, Stephanie Daniels. Under the management of David Malone, we upgraded our web site, provided participants with meeting notifications, continued our monthly newsletter and provided an easy way for network members to sign in at monthly meetings and track volunteer hours.We will conduct a donor cultivation workshop with the Council during March 2020 as one of our two board trainings for the grant period. We have received financial support from TCE, the San Francisco Foundation, EACH Foundation and anticipate support in fiscal year 2020 from the WKKellogg Foundation, as well as a number of individual donors.In addition, we engaged with Network for Good to support our donor fundraising efforts. That infrastructure has already yielded fruit with financial contributions beginning to come into our account.

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