Seattle CARES Mentoring Movement is helping implement the program

Our Best: Black Male Achievement Mentoring Campaign

Our Best is the City of Seattle’s first ever initiative focusing specifically on improving life outcomes for young Black men.

In mid May 2017, the City of Seattle authorized $300,000 to support the launch of the  Our Best  initiative. The Seattle CARES Mentoring Movement (SCMM) was chosen to help implement the program. Seattle CARES is the intermediary agency working in partnership with several mentoring agencies in Seattle.

With the launch of Our Best , the City is committing to a robust new mentoring recruiting and training campaign for black men.

In Seattle, there are not enough black men mentors, leaving many mentor programs ill-equipped to support young black men in culturally responsive ways. Seattle Cares’ goal with this new commitment of the Our Best program is to increase the number of black men mentors.

Ensuring that all Seattle residents have access to opportunity requires focused approaches to dismantling racial disparities, removing barriers and transforming systems that have hurt our most marginalized communities. Learn more about our  partnership.

Anthony Shoecraft, Special Advisor to the Mayor on Black Male Achievement, is the genius behind this first time ever campaign.

Others from the City, including Dwayne Chappelle, have made this possible. The campaign is housed in the Department of Education and Early Learning.

Donald Cameron, Executive Director for SCMM says, “our goal is to strengthen our communities by recruiting Black mentors and provide on-going training.”

Seattle CARES received the funding to work in partnership with of the following agencies: