Ten activists from Philadelphia were named winners of the Black Male Engagement (BME) Leadership Award.

The award was created to honor Black men who step up to lead the community.

The BME Leadership Award is led by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in partnership with the Open Society Foundations’ Campaign for Black Male Achievement.

“The award shines a light on a truth about Philadelphia that we need to remember: there are thousands of Black men in this city who choose to make it a stronger and better place to live for all of us,” said Trabian Shorters, one of the leaders behind the BME Challenge, which sponsors the award.

“Perhaps if we tell their stories, and others decide to support their efforts, you will see more and more Black men and boys willing to follow their example.”

BME is an ongoing initiative that seeks to recognize, reinforce and reward Black males from all walks of life who engage others in making communities stronger. BME also operates in Detroit.

“There is no cavalry coming to save the day for Black communities in America. The answers we’re looking for reside right within the hearts, hands and heads of community residents,” said Shawn Dove, campaign manager of CBMA.

“BME recognizes Black men and boys as assets to the community, not as problems to be solved, and we’re thrilled to be a partner in this strategy.”

Earlier this year, BME asked local Black men and boys to share their stories of what they do to make their communities stronger. More than 1,000 in Philadelphia gave personal video and written testimonials viewable at bmechallenge.org. Those who shared their stories were then eligible to apply for funding through the BME Leadership Award.

The BME Challenge offered a combined $208,000 to the Philadelphia winners to reward their work and inspire others to step forward in their communities. The funding will be used for projects such as helping veterans find services, providing therapy for autistic children and exploring the experience of Black men through a theater performance.

The following are the BME Award recipients:

• Greg Corbin is the founder of the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement and a teacher who integrates hip-hop, spoken word and poetry into his classroom to better reach students. Corbin will launch The Legacy Project, which will explore the multi-layered experience of Black men through a one-man theatrical performance and community workshops.

• Tyree Dumas is the founder of DollarBoyz, a youth entertainment company, and CEO of Youth Now On Top (Y-Not). Dumas will lead Y-Not Youth, an after-school program that offers a safe haven, dance instruction and homework help.

• Russell Hicks, owner of Ebony Suns Enterprises, a consulting business that provides social media training for youth and social entrepreneurship programming to schools and nonprofits. Hicks will lead FLASH MOB, where young Black men will learn how to create — and then implement — a business-branding campaign via social media.

• Brandon Jones, who was formerly incarcerated, now works to reduce the frequency of shootings in North Philadelphia by mentoring high-risk youth and mobilizing the community. Jones will create a curriculum that helps prevent youth from going to prison, and returning citizens from going back to jail.

• While serving a 15-year-prison sentence, Reuben Jones fought for and won custody of his son. After his release, he founded Frontline Dads to help others in similar situations deal with custody and child support issues. The group also conducts a mentoring program for at-risk youth. Jones will launch the Frontline Dads Comprehensive Transformation Initiative, a mentoring/intervention program that fosters critical thinking skills, conflict resolution, creative expression and counseling.

• Solomon Jones is an author, an awarded-winning columnist and a professor at Temple University. Jones will expand Words on the Street literacy program, which aims to increase the literacy of more than 600 students through role modeling, workshops and the opportunity to write a story that will be published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

• Ari Merretazon is a Vietnam veteran who shared his life story in an anthology on Black veterans and has since worked to help those returning from war. The movie “Dead Presidents” was loosely based on his life. Merretazon will expand Pointman Soldiers Heart Ministry, a group of Vietnam and Desert Storm veterans, to help returning veterans from the Middle East find counseling, job services and benefits.

• Alex Peay is the founder of mentoring program Rising Sons, where he helps Black males achieve their goal, dreams and ambitions. Peay will strengthen Rising Sons, an after school program where recent college graduates and college students 18–25 mentor boys at three Philadelphia public high schools, and also train them to mentor boys at two local elementary schools.

• Eric D. Williams is founder of Project Elijah Empowering Autism, an after-school program for middle-spectrum autistic students ages 8–14. Williams will expand Project Elijah Empowering Autism, an after-school program for middle-spectrum autistic students ages 8–14. The group will open a new facility in Philadelphia in 2012, and will use the funding to offer speech, gross motor skills, recreation, music and life skills therapies.

• Shawn White is a recording artist/producer and the project director for the University of Pennsylvania’s “Shape Up: Barbers Building Better Brothers program,” which conducts HIV/AIDS and violence prevention through barbers and their clients.

White will launch Phreman Audio Studio Academy, which will teach audio recording and mixing to young people while promoting HIV/AIDS prevention and anti-violence strategies.

This spring BME will be looking for local partnerships to encourage more Black males to be positively engaged in communities. This summer BME will conduct another call for stories to be followed in the fall by a new round of applications for the BME Leadership Award.

Contact staff writer Ayana Jones at (215) 893-5747 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Many of Philadelphia’s young Black males live in a world of despair and desperation — anxious for opportunities for financial success but without access to legal resources that might make such success possible. As a result, many turn to crime — drug-dealing and robbery. Some get killed, others go to prison. Brandon T. Jones, a young outreach worker with Philadelphia Ceasefire, said it’s his mission to help at-risk young males to make smarter decisions.

That’s not an easy task, Jones said. When you’re out on the street, trying to reach these young men and engage them in one-on-one interaction, you sometimes find suspicion and mistrust. He said it all depends on the local environment and the people themselves.

“You can’t just roll up on these young men if they’re involved in, let’s say, a crap game. You have to be aware of what’s going on. I do believe we can reach them with a life-changing message, but it has got to be on their level and with people they can relate to,” Jones said. “We can’t just keep throwing money at their problems with this program and that program. That’s not going to really work — not unless we bring them to the planning table and find out from them what their opinions are and what their issues are, you know what I mean?”

Jones, 26, has been working with Philadelphia Ceasefire for several months, having been released from prison after serving four years and 11 months for shooting a rival in an illegal drug-related situation. Now, a year out of prison, he’s continuing what he started while in prison — reaching out to at-risk, young Black males.

“I think what’s needed is a credible message that they will hear and relate to,” Jones said. “It can’t just be what it’s always been, because our generation is a ‘now’ generation — not long-term planning — because there are multiple issues they’re dealing with. If the people who are planning the programs aren’t in the streets, in the same environment as these young men, then we won’t see a change. We hear a lot of people saying jobs are needed, and that’s true. But a lot of these young men aren’t prepared to hold a job — they’re in a world outside the mainstream. They’re financially illiterate; they don’t know how to handle money. Then there’s the females — these young men aren’t ready for relationships, and neither are the females.”

Jones said at-risk young Black males are filled with hopelessness — and they are desperate. He repeatedly said that if city officials want to solve the problem of violence, the young men themselves must be brought to the table and then listened to, carefully, for what they have to say.

Jones’ descent into the subculture of the streets started when he was arrested at age 13 for stealing a car — actually, receiving stolen property, he said. His descent into that street world is a story that is reflected in the lives of so many young Black males, not just in Philadelphia but coast to coast. They get caught up in an environment that is difficult to avoid, even for those from stable families.

“I didn’t come from a broken home, I had a good family — father and mother, and they were there for me. But I wanted to fit in within the world I saw outside my door. I now call it being a part of the ‘in crowd’ because you either end up incarcerated or in an early grave. I didn’t want to take the slow way to success, I wanted it ‘now.’ Those negative influences led me to making bad decisions. At age 18, I graduated out of a juvenile facility; three weeks later I was arrested for drugs. At age 18 I thought I knew it all. What happened was that my parents ended up using the money they had put aside for my education for bail and lawyers — $12,000 for bail.”

Eventually, Jones said, he was involved in shooting someone who tried to take his drugs, and that incident in 2006 led to almost five years in prison. He was incarcerated at Montgomery County Correctional Facility, then moved around to Camp Hill and Graterford.

“It was a drug supply thing,” he said. “I shot him because the way I was taught; if you have a gun, wear it. If you wear it and your life is threatened, you use it. When I was in prison, I realized I had to be an example to others. What helped save me was first, my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Second, I had a supportive family, and third was my son. I wanted to be a good father to my son. When I was incarcerated, someone said something to me that stayed with me; he said prison could either be a fool’s playground or a wise man’s university. I resolved to make it a university. While inside, I connected with Michael Tabone, aka O.G.-Law. He was already speaking to the young kids, and we decided to continue with that once we got out. We weren’t concerned about how we were going to do that — basically, we used money out of our own pockets.”

Tabone has gained some notoriety in Philadelphia for his public demonstrations against violence using a makeshift prison cell. Last year, the spoken-word artist and community activist, along with several friends, including Jones, erected a mock jail right next to a full-size wall mural he had painted near 19th and Hunting Park Avenue. The mural is dedicated to young people slain by street violence. Tabone remained in the open-air mock jail for the month of February, in the cold with minimal comforts, to call attention to the devastating impact of Black-on-Black homicide.

“Eventually, what I was doing got the attention of Philadelphia Ceasefire. I’ve been with them for almost a year,” said Jones.

Philadelphia Ceasefire is part of a nationwide, evidence-based violence intervention program which has been proven to decrease instances of gun violence. The Philadelphia connection is attached to Temple University’s School of Medicine and based at the school’s Center for Bioethics. In 2008, the Department of Justice issued a report on Ceasefire’s effectiveness and found a reduction of up to 73 percent in the number of shootings and killings in areas of Chicago where Ceasefire was active.

Philadelphia Ceasefire seeks to reduce the number of homicides and shootings in North Philadelphia using five core components: community outreach, community mobilization, public education, faith-based involvement and criminal justice participation.

“Mike and I are using the energy we used in negative ways to be part of the solution,” Jones said. “We don’t sugarcoat it; we might be at a funeral where some young brother got killed or at a school. We’re in their faces with it. We don’t carry guns, we don’t carry badges. We’re out there with God’s help, fighting death. That’s what we’re doing, fighting death.”