Tiaira Robinson was transitioning from her job as a Baltimore City public school teacher to nonprofit management when she joined CFUF’s Practitioners Leadership Institute back in 2019. The timing was perfect to launch her new career, providing her wisdom and guidance for the challenges she’d likely encounter, and connecting her with partners and mentors for the journey.
Her cohort was packed with others working in the same space serving boys and young men of color in Baltimore. As director of programs for I AM MENtality Youth Male Empowerment Project, she wanted to learn strategies for the role and expand her skills.
“We want them to become upstanding citizens and come back to Baltimore and do the same thing for someone else. Each one, teach one.”
“The PLI was instrumental in my growth,” Ms. Robinson said. “I made connections with influential leaders that I am still in communication with.”
I AM MENtality serves boys and young men of color, ages 7 to 18. Ms. Robinson said they provide mentoring, mental health support, financial literacy, and leadership development. Their goal is to serve the whole child, developing their confidence and eliminating whatever barriers get in the way of their success.
“The results drive me,” Ms. Robinson said. “Some of the boys and young men who come into our program say, ‘What is this? I didn’t ask for this.’ But they grow to understand, they are part of a brotherhood and know they have so many people who care about them.”
“It is hard work, but I stay grounded—and I pray a lot.”
When Ms. Robinson participated in the PLI, she was still working part time at I AM MENtality. The organization was working with one city school back then. Now, she said the nonprofit works with as many as 10 schools at a time and their roster of boys and young men has grown significantly alongside their partnerships.
A graduate of Coppin State University and the Baltimore County magnet high school, George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, Ms. Robinson said PLI filled in the gaps her formal education didn’t offer. They covered topics such as community impact and board governance.
Like other nonprofits in Baltimore’s community development ecosystem, I AM MENtality collaborates with other organizations serving city families. Ms. Robinson said she continues to work closely with CFUF, serving the children of their members and referring young men from their program to CFUF for services such as responsible fatherhood and workforce development.
Together, she said, these alliances form the sort of wraparound supports that are necessary to counter forces at work in underserved communities.
“We want them to become upstanding citizens and come back to Baltimore and do the same thing for someone else,” Ms. Robinson said. “Each one, teach one.”