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African-American Male Initiative
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The activities and programs in this department center on empowering African-American males to help reduce contact with the criminal justice system, increase physical health, and improve connections with children and families. |
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In recent years policy attention regarding the crisis of the African American male has focused on a variety of areas in which African American males have suffered disproportionately from social ills. These have included education, employment, violence, incarceration, housing and “fatherlessness,” among others.
On January 16, 2006, Mayor Michael B. Coleman and Councilman Kevin Boyce hosted an African American Male Summit that led to the creation of the African American Male Empowerment Commission (AAMEC). The impetus for this summit was the disproportionate homicide rates among Columbus’ young, African American men in 2005. Data from the Columbus Public Safety Department showed that 76% of the murder victims were African American males as were 72% of the suspects. 69% of these African American suspects were under the age of 30. The suspects used guns in 78% of the murders. While these statistics alone are quite alarming, it also led many to wonder what were the underlying issues concerning African American males that would lead these young men to believe that using guns to deal with conflict was acceptable and that they had so few choices.
While the initial call to action hosted by the Mayor and Councilman Boyce relied upon the efforts of volunteers, it became apparent 1 year later that the complexity of issues and crisis facing African American males necessitated a full time response. Mayor Coleman and the Columbus City Council appropriated the resources necessary to fund a new initiative and set up a contract with the Columbus Urban League. |
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Strategic Overview
- Create an advisory board (*AAMI Advisory Board) to coordinate the efforts to improve outcomes for African-American males. *PDF File
- Initiate a public awareness campaign to raise the awareness of the important roles and contributions African American males make as fathers, & citizens.
- Promote, advocate, and redefine public policy that ensures that African American males receive fair treatment with social services, criminal justice, affordable housing, & employment endeavors.
- Support and strengthen efforts to keep African American male youth in school. These efforts will include innovative after-school programs and recreation that enrich students’ lives and keep them out of trouble.
- Educate the public of the importance of Hip-Hop culture to capture the daily context and concerns of our African American male youth. This will be done by the use of workshops & seminars.
- Create partnerships to provide training and employment opportunities for young African American men, especially those with low skills, education, training, &/or convictions.
- Promote and assist African-American males in enrolling in and completing post-secondary educational programs. |
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Program Name |
Major Goal |
Target Audience |
# To Be Served |
| Fatherhood Program |
To help, support and encourage African-American men in their roles as father. |
African-American males |
100 |
| Young Warriors Program |
To help reduce the involvement of young men in criminal activity. |
African-American youth in middle and high school. |
40 |
| Media Literacy and Digital Story Telling |
To empower young men to interpret, understand and avoid negative messages of some popular media. |
African-American youth in middle and high school. |
50 |
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| Programs & Services |
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| Father 2 Father |
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Promoting responsible fatherhood |
| Street Soldiers |
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Youth violence prevention and mentoring |
| Future Film Makers |
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Digital story-telling through media literacy |
| Hip-Hop-Ology |
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Cultural understanding workshops |
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