Statements
Mission
To nurture and enhance the growth, development and opportunities for young Black males of Middle Tennessee.
Background
The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc. is a member-based organization comprised of local business and industry leaders who invest both time and financial resources to accomplish its mission. The organization was chartered in 1991 as an affiliate of the 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
Impact
Established in 1991, The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc. (The 100) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing resources to further the academic and social development of black male students in Nashville and surrounding Middle Tennessee. The 100 is an affiliate of The 100 Black Men of America, Inc., a service organization chartered in 1986 with a commitment to improve the academic and social proficiency of inner-city black youth. Our mission is "to nurture and enhance the growth, development and opportunities for young black males of Middle Tennessee."
In 2024, our 100 Kings program kicked off the year with a higher enrollment rate of 154 vs. 80 in the previous year. Our 5th-8th grade students represent 51 middle schools in and around Nashville while our 9th-12th graders represent 37 high schools. Our training sessions are held at Belmont University bi-monthly on Saturdays during the Fall and Spring Metro-school semester. During the summer, students report Monday-Thursday for six (6) consecutive weeks.
The 100 Kings were exposed to a mix of educational and experiential learning throughout the year. This included:
- How to identify and use their strengths using Strengths Quest and Strengths Explorer
- Aptitude Assessments to help with identifying natural talents and the careers they best align with. This also helps to identify the best college programs based on the results
- Understand social and emotional wellness from a series called "Love in a Big World." It also included open and candid dialogue on issues facing Black men
- Report writing and presentation competition on African leaders across all disciplines
- Partnering with AMEND Together to help end violence against women and girls
- Exposure to various art forms
- Project-based competitions
- College preparation
- Career exploration
- T-CAP prep for middle schoolers using IXL.com
- ACT prep facilitated by Tutor Doctor Franklin
- Experiential field trips included Nashville Soccer Club, Adventure Science Center, Lipscomb University Health Sciences, National Museum of African American Music, EBARS, Pivot Tech,
and Belmont University Audio Engineering Studio
On June 1st, we held our 33rd Annual Black-Tie Dinner Gala at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. This event provides the KINGS the opportunity to practice their communication and presentation skills in front of an audience of approximately 850 attendees. The six graduating senior KINGS were presented and honored with their graduation stoles and will be the recipients of the Samuel H. Howard Scholarship as they pursue their college education.
The 100 Black Men of Middle TN, Inc. also support and partner with the Collegiate 100 chapters located on Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee State University. These chapters not only support our 100 Kings program as mentors, panelists, and facilitators, they also focus on community service activities around the campus such as adopting an elementary or middle school to help with tutoring and special activities and support environmental and social justice issues.
Needs
The organization's top needs are as follows:
- Annual funding of $500,000 to support year-long programming for both middle school and high school youth. Although we have training partners, there are still expenses the organization
must absorb to ensure the level of quality in training and resources provided such as ACT and T-CAP prep. Travel accommodations for in and out of town trips for museums and college tours.
We provide snacks and lunches for our Saturday and Summer sessions. Some students have requests for clothing
- Scholarship funding to help the College Kings cover the cost of books, tuition, and related expenses and ideally graduate debt-free
- Technology access
- Client Relationship Management (CRM) and project management system to improve our ability to track activity and student impact
- Volunteer management platform to solicit, collect, and report on volunteer activities
- Increase social media presence
- Enhance current website
CEO Statement
Ever since we were chartered in 1991 as the 13th affiliate chapter of the 100 Black Men of America, the 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee has been working to increase the quality of life for young, Black males. Helping these young men to dream bigger and begin setting short- and long-term personal and professional goals.
With the impact of COVID and access to technology on their cell phones and tablets, it's easy for them to be influenced, peer pressured, addicted, and even angry about what's going on around them. It's impacting their social and emotional wellness and physical health. 100 Black Men of Middle TN seeks to educate and develop by exposing them regularly to other young men who want to be more certain and hopeful about their future. We also surround them with The 100 Members who are highly, influential Black men in the Nashville community. It let's them know that success is achievable. We also need our corporate partners to expose them to varying career fields, mentorship, and training.
It does take a community especially when you look at the negative statistics that face Black men like racism, negative net worth, declining grades, increasing attrition in colleges, and major health concerns and even death before reaching 50 years of age. The more we can provide exposure, access, and resources the greater probability of success in developing global community leaders.
Board Chair Statement
Welcome to our 33rd year of Nurturing and Enhancing the Growth, Development, and Opportunities. for young Black males in Middle Tennessee. We are thankful that you and many before have chosen The 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee as a vessel to impact and create thousands of future leaders, husbands, fathers and community members in Middle Tennessee and across the world by investing your philanthropic dollars and resources. Because of that decision we have been able to award over $1,000,000.00 in scholarships, but more importantly, we have been able to provide nearly $10,000,000 in academic enrichment, programming and experiential learning opportunities. This includes numerous field trips, college tours and leadership development. All of this has been made possible because of people like you and all of our members who are responsible for a minimum of $3000 each annually.
As I think about the Founders vision for the Middle Tennessee Chapter, I smile. as I remember attending my first gala as a guest of Dr Geroge Butler 30 years ago and hearing Business Tycoons Dr. TB Boyd, Roland Jones, Sam Howard and others talk about the need to spend time with our boys and make sure they learned how to read. The first program was code named "007" for the year they would graduate from college. It started with a group of approximately 20 kindergarten boys at Ross Elementary School in East Nashville. The school was chosen because it had the worse academic standing in the city and the founders knew that if they didn't learn how to read and comprehend by 3rd grade there was a high probability they would wind up in prison or worse. My smile comes from the fact that as I run into them and others that have graduated from the program, they approach me with more hair on their faces than me and deep voices introducing me to their families and telling me the major impact the 100 had on their lives. Today we have over 200 boys & young men in our programs: the 100 Kings, Collegiate 100, and of course our College Kings who are alums of the Kings program and in college.
Thank you for supporting our mission. As you can see the dividends are priceless.
Lee O Molette II Board Chair
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Youth Development - Youth Development Programs |
| Secondary Category: | Education - Scholarships & Student Financial Aid |
| Tertiary Category: | Science & Technology - Engineering & Technology |
Areas Served
Nashville and surrounding communities of Middle Tennessee
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Wilson |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Maury |
