As a team, the 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City (aka The Running 100), raised $630 for the Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure” with race participation from: Jeffrey J. Davis, Roland Hemmings, Ottawa Williams, Larry Lester, Marcus Craig, Anthony Williams, Ariana Williams, and Stephon Ford.

The conference was held in sunny San Francisco, CA @ the Marriott Marquis Hotel located in downtown San Francisco. Known as the little city by the bay, it is 7 miles by 7 miles, being the only city in the world that forms a perfect square. Fresh seafood, lobster and crab, home of Ghirardelli chocolates, Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz. Wonderful sights, sounds and smells from Chinatown, little Italy, Nob Hill and the Fillmore (music Mecca).
The boys enjoyed their time in California, meeting other youth from different cities and states. They were able walk the streets of San Francisco and see diversity at its best. They ventured out to write their names in the sand; from watching Ledisi sing to being photographed with Keisha Cole, memories. The boys participated in the African American History Challenge and learned about attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. So much to see and do, over the course of these few days, the memories will last a lifetime.

Along with celebrating the success of many fathers, this year’s event will focus on efforts to create lasting impressions in our children’s lives. “The Father of the Year award gives kids a chance to put into words the positive influence their father has on their lives. We are excited to provide this opportunity to spread the word about the many excellent African-American fathers in our community,” said Anthony Williams, president of the 100 Black Men of KC. The importance of committed fathers cannot be taken for granted. Research shows that half of all children, and 80 percent of African-American children, can expect to spend at least part of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Yet, involved fathers benefit their child directly and the larger community. According to a report by the National Fathering Initiative, involved fathers reduce the risk for children to be poor, become teen parents, fail in school and come in contact with the criminal justice system. In addition, it lessens the estimated $100 billion cost in federal programs that support father-absent homes. “Being a father is the most important job any man can have, but it’s not just about being there for the big events in your child’s life,” said Tyrone Yarbrough, Kansas City Healthy Start community mobilizer.

Please plan on being in attendance on Sunday June 26 from 3pm to 6pm. A networking/reception will be held before the ceremony with the live band, catering from Concierge Catering, and a live performance by National Gospel Recording Artist Eric Ashby. The event will be hosted by Kansas City’s own Radio personality Sean Tyler. A key note from some Special guest will be preceded by the announcement of this years Father of the Year.

If you would like to submit your father or someone else’s father please go to the following link, http://100blackmenkc.org/events/father2011/, and submit the following: a picture for the nominee, 1 page essay on why they feel there father should be father of the year, and the nominee’s contact information.

The 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City is devoted to improving the quality of life for African-Americans, particularly young males in the Kansas City metropolitan area, through programs focusing on mentoring, education, health & wellness and economic empowerment.
Kansas City Healthy Start is a program of Mother & Child Health Coalition. Their Dedicated Dads program was developed to connect fathers and men to community resources that help them become better role models for their children and families.

100 Black Men Chapter (Kansas City) helps local students read

Slide Show- 100 Black Men Chapter (Kansas City) helps local students read

Mother of the 100 Black Men of KC mentees

February is a very unique month. It is the shortest month of the calendar year and has an unofficial holiday that retailers start preparing for the day after Christmas – Valentine’s Day. It is also the month designated as Black History Month.

When I was in high school and going through my rebel phase, I would ask anyone who would listen “Why are the black people given the shortest month of the year? Why do we only hear about the same old people like: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Fredrick Douglas? Now that I am older, and wiser, I look at the positive side of this wonderful gift called Black History Month. No other nationality or race is given an entire month to educate and provide self awareness to young black people and the world. As a mother and mentor, I feel privileged and honored to share my knowledge of unsung heroes that don’t get the popular recognition. I challenge my sons and other young men to research and uncover the Black people in our history that made a significant contribution to society that may not have gotten the notoriety of George Washington Carver and the like.

Barack Obama kicked down a door in 2008 that has been held closed for so many years. He gave young minorities the chance to see that with hard work, perseverance and dedication your dreams can come true. But, a little known fact is that he made history before 2008. On January 4th, 2005 when he was sworn in as a Senator he was the only one who was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Knowing and understanding where you come from should in turn encourage you to figure out where you are going. While I am out shopping for my husband’s Valentine’s Day gift and my sons’ traditional gift, that I give them every year on the unofficial holiday that is supposed to ignite feelings of romance and love, I will be making sure to promote self love for our culture, heritage and race.

When you visit California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) at Park Place on MLK Day 2011 and give them our flyer, they will donate 20% of your check to 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City.  These donations will help to fund programs that support our “Four Pillars” of Mentorship, Health & Wellness, Education and Economic Empowerment such as:

• Monthly mentoring sessions
• Reading Comprehension program at King/Weeks Elementary School
• Robotics Team
• College visits for high school students
• Habitat for Humanity home build
• Annual Father of the Year Celebration
• 100 Black Men of Greater Kansas City 5^th Anniversary Celebration
• Christmas Toy Drive & Fundraiser

Click here to download the flyer for this event.  Please note that this is a partnership with the CPK Restaurant located at 11655 Ash Street in Leawood, KS.

Your continued support of “The 100″ and our programs is sincerely appreciated by our Members and our Community Partners. You may also visit our page at CentralGiving.com and make an online donation.

Your support of these programs

Mr. Murphy is a Senior Account Executive and Community Relations Representative with the Kansas City Wizards, www.kcwizards.com, who recently moved to the Kansas City area from Washington, D.C. after working with the Washington Nationals baseball team.  Mr. Murphy is a former Navy shipman that possesses a degree in Finance and several years of experience working on Wall Street. 

Mr. Ross is owner of AthletixNation, a local sports media company – www.athletixnation.com .  He was born in Trinidad, Tobago where he played basketball for the Trinidad National Basketball Team.  He is a former NAIA basketball player and while in school, earned a degree in Computer Science from Benedictine College.  AthletixNation is his start up company; he was formerly an engineer with Sprint here in the Kansas City area.

The gentlemen introduced themselves to the mentees of the 100 and then gave a synopsis of their backgrounds, education and experience.  The workshop consisted of several questions ranging from, “How did you land a job on Wall Street?” to “What did you do to make the Trinidad national basketball team?”

After a spirited question and answer session, both speakers highlighted the following critical success factors:

1)       Vision/Attitude – knowing where you want to go and having the right attitude to get there

2)      Goals – need in order to plan for the future

3)      Academics – grades have a direct correlation to opportunities

4)      Network – people you associate with and surroundings

5)      Professionalism – how you represent yourself and values

6)      Execution – must follow thru to obtain goals and be successful.

Other key takeaways the speakers challenged the mentees to remember were:

• Sports are a form of entertainment that should not supersede the desire to obtain an education.
• Need to know your craft, show initiative to learn and better yourself
• Know your Grade Point Average (i.e. GPA); if you don’t know your GPA, how do you know if you are winning or losing as a student.
• Communication, time management and planning are critical factors to success.
• The little things count.
• Diversity breeds learning; be able to relate to others of different skills, background or ethnicity.
• Challenges and differences in opinion will occur but remember; everyone brings something to the table.
• And finally but not least of all, TO SUCCEED YOU MUST FOCUS AND SACRIFICE.