Mentorship, Financial Literacy, and Youth STEAM

0:00 Speaker 1 9-11 weekend. So many things are going on. Well, with us today is Eric Leighton, the executive director from 100 Black Men. And, well, this is a special weekend. This is the 25th anniversary of 9-11 in New York, and this is the 250th anniversary of America. You represent 100 Black Men organizations, one of the best organizations in America.

0:28 Tell us how you... How you guys are feeling?

0:32 Speaker 2 Well, you know, I got to tell you, being a New Yorker, having been here when 9-11 took place, it always reminds me of how important it is for Americans to bond together around causes, around issues. We live in the greatest country in the world, and I certainly appreciate that.

0:49 And as executive director for 100 Black Men, you know, we talk about these sorts of things in the way that we mentor and we work with the young people that we work with all around the city. I often like to talk about the different programs that we do around mentorship. We offer a life skills program where we

1:08 teach young men, principally young men, how to shake hands, how to tie ties. They go through etiquette sessions so that they are prepared when they walk out of their classroom and walk into college or into the boardroom. They’re prepared to, you know, exchange greetings with folks properly. And we also are interested in what they do around their economics.

1:30 We enroll these kids in what we call a stock market game. So they are given, you know, fake money to invest in what the stigma game, where they actually are able to kind of pick stocks, follow stocks, and learn how the stock market works. Again, a methodology to kind of prepare them for their futures. And then finally,

1:51 we have another component of our Junior 100, which is called our STEAM Camp, where kids are taught about science, technology, economics, and mathematics for those who are interested in those areas. And then once a year, we take them on an international trip. which I think Mr. Castamatiz, as we talked about before, these kids went to Spain for a week.

2:12 And while they did do all the science, technology, engineering, math, all that, they had an opportunity to have some international exposure, which allowed them to recognize what goes on around the world. So all of those things are particularly exciting for us.

2:25 We showcase those things at our gala, which this year will be March 17th at Gotham Hall. And we are happy that you’ve agreed to come and speak today. at our gala this year sir you know we appreciate all the support that you’ve given us over the years that you support our scholarships that you support the education of

2:44 our young people and we recognize that college isn’t for everybody but the opportunity for kids to learn a skill set to you know find a place to get the hands dirty and make a good living is also super important so you know all of these things.

3:00 Speaker 1 Well I worry about Eric what I worry about is that the kids, because after we went through COVID in the last five years, that the kids are not getting the education and that we’re falling short on giving our kids the education that they would normally be getting.

3:20 Speaker 2 That’s probably true. I think that education is always an issue for children in our country. You know, I worry about that as well, which is why we spend so much time mentoring. Because what happens in the classroom, we can’t really control. But what we can do is we can fortify the opportunities that they see in the classroom

3:43 outside of the classroom. We can take them to science fairs. We can talk to them about English. We can teach them mathematics. All the sorts of things that we can do in a group setting in our Junior 100 program.

3:56 So I agree with you. We have to be thoughtful about what’s going on in the classroom because we want to be an intelligent nation. And the only way that we remain an intelligent nation is to make sure that we’re thinking about the education processes for our children across the board.

4:13 Speaker 1 I agree with you 100%. And we’ve got to educate our kids because education is the way we used to talk about it, is the way out of Harlem. Because I came out of Harlem and Those kids, and I’m chairman of the Police Athletic League, and we have 25,000 kids, a lot of black kids, and we worry about them,

4:37 and we want them to sort of get out of Harlem.

4:42 Speaker 2 And that’s exactly why exposure is such an important part of our curriculum. We want our kids to love and appreciate what Harlem has to offer as an anchor, but we also want them to recognize that there are plenty of opportunities around the world. around the United States and around the world for them. That’s the exposure piece that

5:02 we talked about. I think the Police Athletic League is a wonderful doorway for young people to kind of recognize other opportunities in the world, very similar to what we do in our Junior 100 program. As I said, you know, we take bodies of kids every year and introduce them to corporate entities. We have our kids at Enterprise Mobility.

5:21 We have our kids at United Airlines. We have our kids at a number of corporate entities that Deloitte, so on and so forth. So these kids can see that there are opportunities outside of what they see in the neighborhood to go on to become not only, you know, physicians and accountants and doctors, but all of the stuff

5:39 that’s in between. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you. And, you know, hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to have some of our kids intern, you know, in the Red Opera Group. I mean, you know, I grew up, you know, having Gristini’s you know, and going to the supermarket. And, you know, it’s a wonderful industry, but kids don’t understand the opportunities

5:56 that are there. So exposure is the other part of this. You’ve got to expose kids to stuff so they know that their opportunities are available to them.

6:05 Speaker 1 I agree 100%. Thank you for coming on this, you know, I guess this Labor Day weekend and this 9-11 weekend. Yeah. We have to make sure those kids get a better education and have a chance in all becoming millionaires. Thank you so much.

6:26 Speaker 2 I think so. Thank you, sir. And we look forward to seeing you on March 17th. All right, my friend. Have a good day. Bye for now.