NY first to enact Obama’s ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ program

New York has become the first state to enact a program touted by President Obama to help at-risk black and Hispanic boys and young men, state officials said.

Known as “My Brother’s Keeper,” the program is designed to keep young males of color out of prison by focusing on family and community engagement,

professional development and new school practices aimed at improving outcomes.

Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature included $20 million in the state budget enacted last week to create a state version of the program.

“I was born and raised in the Bronx and I have seen firsthand the challenges that so many boys and young men of color face every day,” Carl Heastie, New York’s first black Assembly speaker…READ MORE