On Monday, April 25, 2011 Deutsche Bank and the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation hosted an informational session and cocktail reception in honor of the Black Male Donor Collaborative. This was the first in a series of financial and corporate sector engagement events to inform these potential and vital partners on the mission and work of the BMDC and its grantee partners.

Attendees, which included representatives from Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets, Sullivan & Cromwell, Goldman Sachs, and other NYC financial institutions, were treated to a powerful research briefing by renowned urban education expert Dr. Pedro Noguera of New York University. Dr. Noguera presented findings from his recent study, Understanding the Educational Trajectories of Young Black Men In New York City, co-authored by Dr. Ronald Mincy of Columbia University’s School of Social Work and commissioned by the BMDC.

Guests heard powerful testimonials from two grantee partners of the BMDC: students, teachers and participants of both NYU-Polytechnic University’s Central Brooklyn STEM Initiative and Groundwork, Inc. They also heard from the institutional donor members of the BMDC, such as Roger Blissett of RBC Capital Markets and Dr. John Jackson of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, as to why their institutions have made such strong and targeted investments in improving the academic achievement of NYC’s most at-risk youth.

Lastly, the BMDC was presented with a generous donation of $50,000 from representatives of Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP, who, along with Goldman Sachs, founded the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative in 2006. The Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative is an effort initiated by legal and corporate leaders to improve life outcomes among Black males and increase their representation in the pipeline to higher education and professional endeavors. The Black Male Donor Collaborative (BMDC) is a core component of the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative.

The staff, members, partners, and grantee partners of the Black Male Donor Collaborative would like to thank Deutsche Bank, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, and all of those that came out to learn more about this difficult, yet inspiring and promising work to improve the educational and career trajectories of New York City’s K-12 Black male population.