Latest news with #BroSis
Malaysian Reserve
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malaysian Reserve
The Brotherhood Sister Sol Celebrates Three Decades of Empowering Youth with Voices Gala Honoring Gap President and CEO, Mark Breitbard
NEW YORK, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — WHAT: In celebration of 30 years of groundbreaking work educating, training, and organizing Black and Latinx youth in New York City, The Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis) will host its annual Voices Gala – an event at the intersection of fashion, corporate social responsibility, and youth empowerment. The evening will honor Mark Breitbard, President and CEO of Gap, for his leadership in advancing equity, empowering youth, and building long-term partnerships that drive systemic change. This year's Gala underscores the powerful impact of cross-sector collaboration and highlights how BroSis continues to transform lives through mentorship, education, the arts, and community organizing. Special Guests: Gap President and CEO, Mark Breitbard; Dapper Dan, The Brooklyn Circus founder Ouigi Theodore, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, James Beard Award–winning chef Alexander Smalls, Founder of Harlem's Fashion Row, Brandice Daniel, media personality Bevy Smith, Jazz Legend Ron Carter, Author and DJ Beverly Bond, Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights CEO Damon Hewitt, former Director of White House Office of Science and Technology in President Biden administration Dr. Alondra Nelson, award winning author Farah Jasmine Griffin, President of New America Paul Butler, President and CEO of Moviefone Media Rahsan Lindsay, award winning author Elizabeth Acevedo, Sony Music Group EVP CDIO Tiffany Warren, James Beard Award winning author Hawa Hassan, Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, former New York City Deputy Mayor Anne Williams Isom, NYC Council Members Rita Joseph and Gale Brewer, and Executive Director of The Brotherhood Sister Sol Khary Lazarre-White. WHY COVER THIS: Fashion Meets Philanthropy, Exclusive Access to Industry Icons & Change-Makers/ Exclusive Interviews Available Upon Request: This Gala brings together the worlds of fashion, corporate leadership, and grassroots activism, offering a rare, visually rich look at how culture and community intersect to create real change. This Gala brings together the worlds of fashion, corporate leadership, and grassroots activism, offering a rare, visually rich look at how culture and community intersect to create real change. Timely, Impact-Driven Storytelling: As corporations face growing calls for meaningful social investment, the partnership between BroSis and Gap is a standout model for equity-driven collaboration and community reinvestment. WHEN: May 8, 2025. Red carpet arrivals: 6:30PM, Program begins: 7:45PM WHERE: Ziegfeld Ballroom – 141 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019 ABOUT THE BROTHERHOOD SISTER SOL (BroSis):The Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis) is a leading youth and community development organization based in Harlem with a national reputation for excellence and impact. For 30 years, BroSis has provided supportive programming, mentorship, and educational opportunities that empower Black and Latinx young people to thrive and lead. Our work extends beyond individual youth to include community engagement, creative expression, and efforts that strengthen families and neighborhoods. Through innovative programs in the arts, environmental education, wellness, and leadership development, BroSis helps cultivate confident, committed young people who make a positive difference in their communities and beyond. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE The Brotherhood Sister Sol
New York Times
17-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Harlem Youth Center Still Thrives in an Uncertain Moment
A few years ago, Brotherhood Sister Sol, the West Harlem youth development organization, opened a $22 million headquarters that became a pilgrimage stop for New York design buffs. Its jagged glass facade, along a block of old tenements, resembled an upraised hand, leaning over the sidewalk. 'An architectural showpiece,' is how I described it back in 2022. I worried then whether the layout was functional. With 700 children romping through the quirky rooms and narrow halls, BroSis, as it's also known, was fated to endure a daily stress test that seemed to merit a second look. So I hopped a 1 train the other day to see how the place was holding up. It looked remarkably well-loved and spotless, a clear sign of pride. The building still comes as a visual jolt on West 143rd Street. Designed by Urban Architectural Initiatives, its message remains clear: this is not your tasteful corporate building. It speaks to a different audience and different goal. The afternoon I arrived, teens were making art in one of the classrooms and unloading piles of twigs and leaves into large wooden boxes of steaming compost in the community garden that BroSis oversees next door. Among other things, the building has allowed BroSis to add staff and beef up its environmental programs, installing new composting boxes, hundreds of them eventually, all across the city. Mental health services have also been expanded now that BroSis has room for more clinicians and social workers. So have art, dance and other after-school classes. The organization offers pro bono legal advice. In its old building, staff cooked for kids in a small home kitchen, and occasionally resorted to ordering pizza. The new building includes a professional kitchen that turns out 40,000 meals a year. And the results are encouraging. Across New York City high school graduation rates for Black and Latino students average 80 percent. At BroSis, according to Khary Lazarre-White, the organization's executive director and co-founder, the rate is 100 percent. Roughly one-third of Black and Latino high school graduates across the country enroll in college. At BroSis it's 94 percent. Nationwide, just 18 percent of first-generation Black and Latino college students end up earning bachelor's degrees within six years. At BroSis, which enrolls children as young as eight years old and continues to mentor graduates through college, that number hovers around 90 percent. fBut Lazarre-White says he wonders what's next. It's a question leaders of similar organizations are asking. BroSis's annual operating budget is $12 million. Various federal and local funding streams on which the organization depends are now in limbo or have vanished as President Trump seeks to cut and reshape the government. Corporate sponsors that proudly advertised their support for BroSis have declined to renew grants, telling Lazarre-White that they are reconsidering programs associated with diversity, equity and inclusion. Some companies are pulling back because they are fearful of the effect of tariffs — and some philanthropists may yet reduce their contributions as the stock market gyrates. It's a double whammy, Lazarre-White said: 'When the Trump administration cuts back on benefits, we have to provide more food. When they attack immigrants, we need to provide more legal support.' Fortunately, he added, private donors, other corporations and local foundations are so far stepping in and bridging the gap. So how does all this relate to architecture? Because architecture lives in the world. Its functions and fate shift with the changing fortunes and circumstances of those who interact with it. BroSis's home has become even more of a haven for the young people it serves. These days the suggestion of an upraised hand can bring to mind fortitude, a fist and a beacon. I wondered back in 2022 if all those rooms, which avoid straight angles, would be impractical. I realize now they speak to the values of imagination and play and thinking outside the box. It's a useful message at an uncertain moment.
