Catching Up With Antiwan
Antiwan Tate is the founder and executive director of My Brother’s Keeper-Spartanburg. He is the 2024 recipient of the Dr. George Newby, Jr. Health Equity Leadership Award and we recently had the opportunity to catch up with him.
The Spartanburg chapter of the organization was established in 2015 to work to close opportunity gaps and outcomes in education, career exploration, community engagement, and to improve social-emotional wellness for young men of color in Spartanburg. The organization creates a safe and supportive environment centered around BELONGING through:
- policy reform,
- advocacy,
- programming, and
- community engagement.
According to Antiwan, “the most significant health inequities facing young men of color in our community are centered around their social-emotional well-being and learning. Access to quality culturally competent services and mental health practitioners are significant needs in Black and Brown communities.” Schools and afterschool programs (where the organization hosts most of their programs) are in a unique position to implement racially and culturally affirming ethos and equitable practices which can have profound effects on developmental outcomes for young men of color.
Antiwan’s advice to others working on equity issues?
- Be prepared to stand alone and oftentimes hold an unpopular or unsupported position if it challenges current policies, practices, authorities, or institutions.
- Firmly align the purpose, mission, and expectations of your advocacy to a focus on equity.
- Always seek out youth voice and perspectives. Learn from their lived realities and experiences.
About My Brother's Keeper
President Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) program in February 2014. MBK, through a national strategy, utilizes a cradle to career framework through six core milestones to achieve population-level systems change for Young Men of Color (YMOC). The MBK initiative addresses the persistent opportunity gaps boys and YMOC face and to ensure all young people can reach their full potential. In April 2015, the MBK-Spartanburg chapter was established to close opportunity gaps and outcomes in education, career exploration, community engagement, and social emotional wellness for boys and YMOC in Spartanburg.
