100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA: “What we’re doing is mentoring across a lifetime.”

The work of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. has been widely publicized for decades. As an organization, it is arguably one of the nation’s top mentoring programs led by African Americans. However, the agenda and the mission of the group—which includes educating and empowering youth—crosses the boundaries of both racial and gender lines.

More than ever, the minds of today’s young men and women need to be cultured and informed, and central Georgia’s local chapter of the organization is aiming to do just that through an initiative called, “Sleeves Up, Violence Out.” The leadership of 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA includes Bruce Reggins (president), Larry Curtis (vice president) and Joseph Lawson (administrator). It was Lawson who sat down with Houston Home Journal to share greater insight on the mission of the organization’s latest challenge.

“100 Black Men is involved in a lot of things educationally, but right now, what’s front and center is violence and this COVID business,” Lawson expressed. “We are running a national campaign wherein we’ve partnered with the Red Cross, and we’re trying to encourage people to give blood during the holidays while also trying to tap down some of this extracurricular business that’s going on and happening every day in the community.”

While the project is two-fold, the ultimate goal is clearly the same – to save lives. There is an ongoing blood shortage across the globe, and medical professionals have repeatedly stressed that getting the COVID vaccine dramatically lowers the risk of contracting and spreading the deadly virus that causes COVID-19 and its variants. Lawson shared that the 100 Black Men launched the mission in October of this year, and it will run through the end of 2021 and even continue on into 2022.

“The purpose is to encourage people to donate blood, get the COVID vaccination, and while we’re doing that, we also hope to help decrease violent and criminal activity in our community.

Several blood drives, Lawson informed, have already been held in Warner Robins at the Curtis Event Center (2050 Watson Boulevard) and also at locations in Macon. “As a matter of fact, our next upcoming thing is to get with some of our community partners in Macon at the Douglass Theatre,” he shared. “We’ve had several other events at various churches in Macon, but our next one will take place on Christmas Eve at the Douglass Theatre (355 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.). Shortly after the New Year,” Lawson added, “we will be back at 2050 Watson Boulevard.”

In addition to the efforts to increase COVID vaccinations and blood donations, the 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA have an ongoing program with Scouts of America. The chapter has its own troop—Troop 100—that was founded in 2016, and it has partnered with a couple of organizations.

“The one here in Houston County is called Closing the Gap,” Lawson said, adding, “We will be running a drone program through Troop 100, Closing the Gap, and the 100 Black Men. That’s going to be in connection with the Warner Robins Learning Center. They are into coding and robotics,” he further explained, “and it is all a part of the STEM program and trying to enlighten our youth to get more involved with STEM activities.

It has long been believed that the more education young people receive the less likely they are to turn to violent behavior. Information shared on criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com, under their “Education as Crime Prevention” heading, says, “One of the most dominant ideas under the umbrella concept of education’s impact on crime is the belief that a reduction in crime can most often be achieved by increased crime prevention, and the most effective form of crime prevention is achieved through education.”

Lawson said, “What we are trying to do is reach those 8th and 9th graders and prep them for their future careers and/or college aspirations. We have a branch in Troop 100 called the Collegiate 100, which will be starting shortly in Fort Valley, as well as the Emerging 100, which is already up and running.”

According to the 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA website, “The Collegiate 100® is a campus-based student organization with its programmatic initiatives that support the development of social, emotional, and educational needs of youth who need positive role models in the communities in which they live.” Additionally, it informs that, “The Emerging 100® is the official young professional auxiliary of the 100 Black Men of America, Inc. The Emerging 100® is a stellar group of young professionals that expand the reach, capacity and impact of the sponsoring 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle Georgia chapter and of the 100 Black Men of America, Inc.”

With three programs in place—Troop 100, Collegiate 100 and Emerging 100, the 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA are on a mission to do their part to cover all the bases.

“We call that mentoring across a lifetime,” said Lawson. “The upshot of that is preparing youth—and not just African American youth—for future challenges. We just successfully concluded a college and career fest, which happened November 16, 2021. Part 2 of that,” he added, “will be February 5, 2022, where we will be encouraging the kids to prepare themselves for college and/or careers with that STEM component being first and foremost.

To learn more about 100 Black Men of Macon-Middle GA, visit 100blackmenmmg.org. While registration is not required in order to play an active role in their upcoming blood drives and COVID vaccination campaigns, it is requested due to COVID health and safety restrictions.

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