The United Way
African American Initiative

Last year, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago brought together African American community leaders and health and human service providers from across our region to discuss the greatest challenges facing their community. The group overwhelmingly agreed that helping young, African American males make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood is one of the community's most urgent yet difficult challenges. For perspective:

  • Nearly 70% of African American fourth graders cannot read at grade level, compared to 29% of their white counterparts.
  • Only 41% of low-income African American males graduate from high school.
  • One in three African American men between the ages of 20 and 29 are in jail, prison or on parole.

    • "United Way is striving to instill in boys...the value of education and to get them on the right path to employment." —Chicago Sun-Times

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    The group agreed that no one agency or program will be able to address this challenge alone. Helping our youth beat the odds will require a collaborative approach—one in which the whole community is involved in nurturing and re-enforcing young African American boys as they become healthy and successful young men. United Way of Metropolitan Chicago has launched the United Way African American Initiative to provide that essential holistic, community-wide support.

    The initiative targets at-risk African American males, ages 10 to 16, in five Chicago communities. Throughout 2006, each community—Lawndale, Englewood, Roseland, Greater Grand Boulevard and Rogers Park—convened churches, schools, neighborhood businesses, government officials, law enforcement and the youth themselves to develop new, sustainable approaches that will improve the future of at-risk African American young men and, ultimately, their communities. Those plan are being launched throughout 2007.

    BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, an extraordinary corporate citizen, has generously agreed to sponsor a 2007 Challenge Grant that will match, 2-to-1, all new and increased* Leadership and Tocqueville level contributions to this exciting initiative.

    *The grant will match all new gifts as well as the amount of increase on gifts that are increased to the next giving level over last year. Please see the Initiative Challenge Grant section of this website to see examples how the contribution matching works.

     
    A Young Man