Youth are impressionable. Images can influence their behavior, and often serve as a mirror to their future. James Burroughs II, Director of Minneapolis Public Schools Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, and staff, are deliberate in presenting positive images of education and professionalism to students of color in their district. 100 Strong Who Care: Building Bridges for the Next Generation, is a series of events hosted by Minneapolis Public Schools, that brings 100 business professionals into one school to meet with students, talk about their careers and work with students on service-learning projects.Students make a tangiable connection with professionals leading successful careers in marketing, science, law, human resources, computer technology, and other industries. Four events will take place at Minneapolis Public Schools in partnership with professional organizations.
On February 8 and 9, Lucy Craft Laney School will partner with Multicultural, Multi-Faith based institutions; February 16 and 17, Olson Upper Academy, will partner with Twin Cities Black Employees Network; February 24, Elizabeth Hall International Elementary School will partner with Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers and General Mills Black Champions Network; and the last event of the year will take place at South High School, April 22 and April 23, in partnership with the National Pan Hellenic Fraternities and Sororities.
A typical event day lasts two hours and includes a mini networking session with students and professionals; greetings from Superintendent William Green; students and professionals paired in individual classrooms; presentations by professionals; a Q & A session for students to engage professionals; and students and professionals working on a service-learning project focused on careers and education.
Within Minneapolis Public Schools there are 34,000 students and 70% are students of color. When the events began in February 2009 there was an intentionality of giving these students opportunity to meet business professionals of the same ethnicity, leading successful lives. Burroughs said, “The e-mail initially that I sent out to folks even before 100 Strong got formulated was: ‘is there the next Barack Obama?’ I believe that if we don’t do a better job of educating our young people, especially our young kids of color, there will not be a next Barack Obama because of the low high school graduation rates or the low attainment rates on test scores of kids of color. And it got the motivation of folks I e-mailed to say, ‘okay well what do we do?’, ‘how do we improve that?’And one way of doing it is getting kids the inspirational models of seeing people who look like them who have been successful so they can envision themselves being successful.”
The e-mail dialogue morphed into positive action steps when Minneapolis Public Schools Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity started 100 Strong Who Care in February 2009. Burroughs said, “So we started 100 Strong Who Care at Cityvew Performing Arts Magnet in North Minneapolis and over a two day period in February we brought in 106 volunteers from the African American business community to talk to the kids about their careers and the importance of education.”
Additionally, on other days volunteers from the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, Minnesota Corporate Asian Network, and other professionals from the Asian business community, were paired with students at Hmong International Academy; and volunteers from Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter of Hispanic MBAS were paired with students from Andersen United Community School. This year professionals of all ethnic backgrounds are welcomed to volunteer with students. Volunteers can have blue collar or white collar careers, or individuals who have had careers that can offer expertise to youth.
Major successes of last year’s program are the measurable outcomes, including reciprocal benefits and sustaining relationships between students and professionals. “A lot of these volunteers will come back and volunteer in the classroom as reading tutors and math tutors and help close that achievement gap we talked so much about.”
Terry Austin, a sales executive and founder of Positive Image, a non-profit geared toward eliminating health disparities in communities of color, served as a volunteer last year at Cityview Performing Arts Magnet and is currently working with young African American males at North High School, helping them achieve academic success. The inspired collaboration stemming from the 100 Strong Who Care events didn’t stop there.
Target Corporation’s Asian American Business Council invited students from Hmong International Academy to a Career Day at Target Corporation Headquarters, and continue to work with the school for future opportunities. National Hispanic MBA Association is in preliminary stages of developing a 100 Strong Who Care Business Competition with Minneapolis Public Schools. Seven high schools in the district will select students to participate in a competition between the schools focused on marketing, and kids who participate will receive scholarship dollars and winners will receive increased scholarship dollars.
Miguel Ramos, Emerging Markets Manager with the Minnesota Twins, served as a volunteer at Andersen United Community School, and received a student named Miguel Rodriguez as his mentee. Since that day Ramos challenged Miguel to get good grades in exchange for Minnesota Twins tickets and other incentives.
The events were a gift for school administrators who work with students on a daily basis. Chai Lee at Hmong International Academy said the 100 Strong Who Care event was, “very important because many of our students don’t have the knowledge or support to show them what working culture is like. So having those employees from different agencies show students exactly what they do opened the students eyes to different career paths and I think that motivated students to study hard.”
Burroughs and staff aim to build bridges between professionals and youth, because “the next Barack Obama, whoever he or she may be, will hopefully come out of the 100 Strong.”
For more information on 100 Strong Who Care, contact Adebisi A. Wilson, Minneapolis Public Schools Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, at (612) 668-0018 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
