EVOLVE Mentoring partners with Saint Augustine's University to support local initiative

President Barack Obama launched the My Brother's Keeper initiative in 2014 to address opportunity gaps for young people of color and help them succeed — and that work continues today as the MBK, or My Brother's Keeper, Alliance, an initiative of the Obama Foundation.

In Wake County, EVOLVE Mentoring Inc. — a Triangle organization that offers mentorship, training and collaboration with the help of partners to aid youth in the area — has spearheaded the My Brother's & Sister's Keeper initiative, or MBSK. EVOLVE and the MBSK initiative is an affiliate of the MBK Alliance Network, a learning community and support system for MBK communities, leaders and diverse stakeholders.

Through the help of community partners, the EVOLVE and the MBSK initiative is building a collaborative community with the shared goal of making a positive impact on the lives of Black, Latinx and Native American boys and girls in Wake County.

"Adults graduating college may be trained to do a job, but not ready to manage finances, cook a healthy meal, be civically engaged — things of that nature that just have to do with managing ourselves. I started EVOLVE to focus on college students initially, things like financial literacy, professional development and personal health and fitness, then over time I expanded it to include younger age groups," said Tolulope Omokaiye, president and founder of EVOLVE Mentoring Inc. "There are a lot of nonprofits in the Triangle area that are doing a lot of great work, so we became an organization that helped other organizations, building on their work and connecting them with support."

Instead of coming up with new programs that were replicates of ones that already existed, EVOLVE instead works with these organizations, largely grassroots organizations led by people of color.

One of EVOLVE's newer partnerships is with Saint Augustine's University in collaboration with the My Brother's & Sister's Keeper initiative.

"We've been able to bring in interns from the university. Not only have they been able to gain experience working with an organization, they will also be loaned out as volunteers to support the other grassroots organizations that we're working with to build their capacity," said Omokaiye. "They're able to get a well-rounded experience, not just from EVOLVE, but also learn the landscape of service to underserved communities. On top of that, they also gain life-skills training. In addition to teaching them, we're also creating a program on campus at St. Augustine's University to teach life skills to the students as they prepare to graduate.

"It has become a full-circle moment for why we started this whole thing in the first place."

EVOLVE currently has three St. Augustine's University students serving as interns: Shawn Lane, a junior business major from Raleigh; Darriel Wright, a biology major from Nassau, Bahamas; and Dimargio Bethel, a computer information systems major, also from Nassau, Bahamas.

As part of their work, the EVOLVE student interns have been reaching out to fellow students at St. Augustine's, asking what skills they'd like to learn. From there, they'll be developing a calendar based on the feedback. In doing so, they're allowing the life skills curriculum to be student-driven.

Additionally, the interns are also collaborating with many of EVOLVE's partners to provide assistance and support for the MBSK initiative that helps youth participants living in low and moderate-income neighborhoods. On any given week, they can do anything from pack food and hygiene kits to mentor young men and women after school.

The EVOLVE Student Interns are also involved in event planning for the MBSK initiative. Events on the docket include voter education days for local high schools and an Advocacy Day.

"We're working to arrange for meetings to be held with different representatives during Advocacy Day depending on location. Students will meet with their representatives to talk about specific issues impacting youth and young adults of color. It's a chance to learn about plans and build support for improving graduation rates for youth of color," said Omokaiye. "All of our interns are assisting with the coordination, and they'll also be working on facilitating more Advocacy Days in the future. We want to emphasize different issues, such as understanding the electoral process, and especially how local politics impact their lives."

"Our goal is to get young people who will be turning 18 at the time of an election to register to vote now," she finished. "We're going to educate students, get them registered, give them a voting booth simulation and help them make plans to vote in the upcoming elections."

EVOLVE and the MBSK initiative have a number of other events happening throughout the year, including a family-oriented Community Day and an awards banquet to recognize youth achievements, community organizations and leaders.

By involving Saint Augustine's students in organizing, collaborating and advocating, Omokaiye sees EVOLVE's original mission being fulfilled, and she hopes to continue the partnership well into the future. Not only do the students benefit, but also the communities they're currently working with — and those they'll be involved with in their futures.

"Our overarching goal for our initiatives is to maintain youth engagement. A lot of what we do is supporting youth, even if it's through other organizations. We always want to make sure that we have the voice of the people we're looking to serve included in the process. On top of that, area youth also get life experience, life skills and financial literacy training, mental health development — things like that," said Omokaiye. "A lot of young people in college don't really understand what it's like in the real-world workforce. This gives them some of that real-world experience."

"We're preparing youth so when they graduate, they don't just have a theory of what life is going to be like, they actually would have practiced it."