Concerned Black Men of Richmond Kicked off 2023 with Career Choices Activity & Black History Museum Visit

March 3,2023

Greetings all!

The Concerned Black Men of Richmond kicked off 2023 with our “Career Choices” activity.  This event is conducted each year and was held on January 21^st at Franklin Military Academy.

There were 5 fields represented in this year’s activity: an engineer, a scientist, an entrepreneur, a firefighter and an auto mechanic.  The presenters were Lamont Benjamin, a civil engineer with the City of Richmond Public Works, Sid Cannon, a CMT (Construction Materials Testing) Laboratory Manager for Froehling & Robertson Inc., Everett Rivers, CEO & founder of Professional Security LLC, Earl Dyer, Battalion Chief / Fire Marshall for the City of Richmond and Darrell Coates, Auto Technician at Whitten Brothers Chrysler/Jeep/Ram/Dodge/Mazda.

Lamont Benjamin, Sid Cannon, Everett Rivers, Earl Dyer & Darrell Coates

Each of them shared their individual stories and the requirements of the fields that were represented.  The young men had a great time interacting with the presenters and learned a lot about how and why they chose their professions.  

The Concerned Black Men of Richmond celebrated Black History Month with a visit to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.  The activity was held on Saturday, February 11^th.  We were given a guided tour by Mary Lauderdale tour loaded with inspirational stories that are often untold and or forgotten. 

The Concerned Black Men of Richmond are working diligently to provide impactful activities for the youth in our community.

Thanks to each of the mentors and each of you for your interest and assistance in providing quality programs for the young men in our community. It means the world to our community and the youth we serve.

Sincerely,
Timothy Mallory,
President CBM-RVA

Click Here to learn more about The Concerned Black Men of Richmond, Inc.
Click Here to learn more about becoming a Mentor.
Click Here to see how you can support our efforts to continue to care for our youth.

Concerned Black Men of Richmond has a Successful 1st Half of their 22-23 Session

December 26, 2022

 

Greetings all!

The  Concerned Black Men of Richmond have had a very productive 1^st half of our 2022-23 session!

We kicked off the session with our orientation on 9/13^th.  There were 13 applications submitted for the program.

The first in-person activity was a rap session at Franklin Military Academy on October 15th.  This was an introduction of the mentees to the mentors where we discussed our program objectives, strategies to improve grades and addressed gun violence. We also got suggestions from them on what they would like to see.  There were 7 mentees in attendance at this activity.

The Concerned Black Men of America held the 47^th Annual Awards Dinner on Thursday November 10^th.

The event took place at The Hotel Arundel Preserve and Alex Taylor (one of our founding members) was the representative from the Richmond Chapter.  

The Honorees:

Founders Awards: US Capitol Police Officers, Harry Dunn and Eugene Goodman; Retired, US Capitol Police Sgt, Aguillino Gonell and Retired, DC Metropolitan Police Officer, Michael Fanone

Phoenix Award for Justice: Attorney Benjamin Crump, Esq., Attorney, Daryl Jones, Esq, Transformative Justice Coalition and Bishop Tavis Grant, National Executive Director, Rainbow Push Coalition

Phoenix Award for Entrepreneurship: Jas Leverette Chairman’s Award: Marcus Arbery and the Arbery Family

President’s Award: Ms. Ruby Bridges, Civil Rights Activist, Atty, Anita Hill, Esq., Women’s Rights Activist

Corporate Award, Social Responsibility: Bruce Jackson, Esq., Microsoft (Pending); Shamika Hoyt, SunLife Insurance Co.

Posthumous Awards: Entertainer and Activist, Dick Gregory; Trailblazer and NBA Legend, Bill Russell Education &Public Service; Dr. Emmett Dennis Sr.

 

Our 2^nd in-person activity was held on November 19^th at Franklin Military Academy.  The movie “Courageous” was shown.  This is a movie about fatherhood and the consequences of choices good and bad.  There were 6 boys in attendance and it was well received by all.

 On December 10^th, we held annual Christmas Breakfast at the Golden Corral in Glen Allen.  There were 9 mentees with their parents or guardian in attendance.  Each of the mentees were given $100 for their participation.

We would also like to congratulate to of our past mentees Ramone Jeffers and Jonathan Minor. Ramone Jeffers received a B.S, in Kinesiology from North Carolina Central University.  Jonathan Minor received an Associate’s degree in Computer Science from J Sargeant Reynolds Community College.  Jonathan will continue his education at Norfolk State University.

As we adjust to the post pandemic way of operating; rest assured that the Concerned Black Men of Richmond will continue providing impactful activities for the young men in our communities.  Special thanks to Principal, David Hudson for granting access to Franklin Military Academy for our activities and to Thomas Williams for providing the money for the mentees at the Christmas Breakfast!

Thanks to each of the mentors and each of you for your interest and assistance in providing quality programs for the young men in our community. It means the world to our community and the youth we serve.

Sincerely,
Timothy Mallory,
President CBM-RVA

Click Here to learn more about The Concerned Black Men of Richmond, Inc.
Click Here to learn more about becoming a Mentor.
Click Here to see how you can support our efforts to continue to care for our youth.

Concerned Black Men of Richmond Conducted ‘What To Do When Stopped by the Police’ Activity with Youth

March 30, 2020

Greetings,

The Concerned Black Men of Richmond conducted an activity we called “What To Do When Stopped by the Police”.  This event was organized by William Friday, Deputy Chief of Business Services and CBMRVA mentor. It was held at the Richmond Police Academy on March 7^th on the campus of Virginia Union University.

The activity started with a check-in and a brief history of the facility. The group was then shown a wall of portraits of all police officers that were killed in the line of duty.

We then proceeded to a classroom where the officers elaborated on the police’s role in protecting the citizens while enforcing state laws.  Officer El Amin explained how he became a policeman and told of his experiences getting through the academy. He turned on his radio and explained how they handle calls and shared a few anecdotal stories from his past experiences. 

Captain Hall and Officer El Amin shared some interesting statistics regarding police interactions with citizens and how they differ from the public’s perception.

They showed many of the tools that they use in the field and discussed how they deal with various situations that present themselves during daily patrols.

Next, it was time for role play.  Several mentees were presented with a situation where they were pulled over as suspects with a gun in the car. The officers explained how they approach the vehicle and the proper reaction that the passengers should exhibit.

This was a great exercise for the youth to be a part of and they all took some priceless life instruction from it. 

They also got an opportunity to put on a bullet proof vest and try their hand at being a police officer.  The officers loaded the simulator and armed them with pepper spray and a Taser to approach different perpetrators in a couple of scenarios. 

The mentees got an inside look into the work that our policemen do daily to protect our lives, their lives and to preserve order in today’s society.

This activity is exactly the type of information that the Concerned Black Men of RVA is attempting to arm our young men with so they may be better able to navigate the many pitfalls that today’s society will present.

I would like to thank William Friday, Captain John Hall and Officer Farrhard El Amin for putting together such an impactful event!

Thanks to each of you for your support of the Concerned Black Men of RVA!  We are looking forward to continuing our work with the youth as soon as the concern over the pandemic subsides.  It is truly making a difference in their development.

Be safe!

 

Sincerely,
Tim Mallory,
President CBM-RVA

Click Here to learn more about The Concerned Black Men of Richmond, Inc.
Click Here to learn more about becoming a Mentor.
Click Here to see how you can support our efforts to continue to care for our youth.

 

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