Yesterday, our district had the incredible honor of hosting a cohort of education leaders and representatives from Chicago Public Schools, New York City, and the Obama Foundation. The delegation traveled to Schenectady to study our highly successful implementation of the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative and its vital sister program, Shades of Sisterhood (SOS), looking to us as a blueprint for their own school systems.
The national My Brother’s Keeper initiative was originally launched by President Barack Obama in 2014 to address opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color. Built upon six national milestones, the program challenges communities to ensure all youth enter school ready to learn, read at grade level by third grade, graduate high school, complete post-secondary training, secure employment, and remain safe from violent crime.
Here in Schenectady, we have taken that national call to action and built a thriving community pipeline:
2018 - 2025 (Foundation): Pioneered by our original coordinator, Brian Ledbetter, the program established its roots through cross-school events, symposiums, HBCU tours, tutoring, and small-group "lunch bunches."
2022 (Relaunch): The initiative was revitalized and scaled in collaboration with our newly developed Innovation, Equity, and Engagement (IEE) Department.
2025 - 2026 (Large-Scale Collaboration): This school year marks an era of massive expansion, including Union College mentorships, extensive college trips, and the strengthening of our crucial alliance with Shades of Sisterhood.
Mentorship That Mirrors Our Students' Lives
Schenectady's MBK program pairs male students with dedicated mentors who look like them and have walked in their shoes, providing direct, holistic support for their needs from the moment they join until graduation. Crucially, our guests also got to experience the invaluable work of MBK’s sister program, Shades of Sisterhood (SOS). SOS provides parallel, powerful mentorship designed to support, motivate, and empower young women across our district, directly mirroring the impactful framework we built for our male students.
A Model for Systemic Success
Because the visiting representatives from New York City and Chicago are in the beginning stages of implementing these initiatives in their own schools, they spent the day studying how Schenectady turned vision into reality. True programmatic alignment requires deep engagement from Executive Leadership Team (ELT) members, strategic budget alignment, and a rigorous implementation plan.
During their tour, the delegation met with our IEE administrators and traveled across the district to engage directly with our Schenectady MBK and SOS students, hearing firsthand what they find most rewarding about the programs.
We are incredibly proud of all our students, staff, and administrators involved in MBK and SOS for their hard work and for serving as a guiding light for school systems across the United States.
A huge thank you to the Obama Foundation, MBK Alliance members from NYC, and our peers from Chicago for traveling near and far to learn from our Schenectady community! #SchenectadyRising