Brothers@Bard Receives Major Grant in NBA Foundation’s Largest Round of Funding to Date

Brothers@ has been named as one of 38 recipients in the NBA Foundation’s announcement of new grants totaling $11 million—the most-awarded grant round to-date—to help create employment opportunities, further career advancement, and drive greater economic empowerment for Black youth. The recipients were selected as part of the NBA Foundation’s fourth grant round during the league’s Season of Giving (Nov 22-Dec 25), a five-week celebration during the holiday season when the NBA family gives back by supporting and uplifting youth, families, and organizations across the country. Created in August 2020 with a 10-year, $300 million commitment by the 30 NBA team governors, the NBA Foundation is the league’s first-ever charitable foundation.

“Over seven years ago, my brothers and I created Brothers@ when we were just 18- and 19-year-old college freshmen, with the intention of supporting ourselves and other young men of color (YMOC) through high school and college . . . to lift as we climb. Today, Brothers@ works with 200 YMOC across New York State and New York City, and the funds and support we’ll receive from this partnership with the NBA Foundation will propel our organization’s state-wide expansion efforts. Supporting our young people matters now more than ever, and the NBA Foundation is making it possible for us to scale our work and our impact to even more YMOC. Creating a truly just and equitable world is a collective endeavor that requires all of us to do our part—and Brothers@ looks forward to continuing this fight alongside the NBA Foundation,” said Dariel Vasquez ’17, Executive Director of Brothers@.

Cofounded by Bard alums Dariel Vazquez ’17 and Harry Johnson ’17 as a student initiative, Brothers@ is a dual-beneficiary high-school retention and college persistence organization with the mission of improving the academic and social-emotional outcomes of young men of color (YMOC) in both secondary and post-secondary education. The NBA grant will support Brothers@ in their New York State expansion efforts and the launch of their consortium.

“As we near the conclusion of the NBA Foundation’s first year of grant-making, we’re excited to announce our latest round of awards to 38 new, deserving non-profit organizations,” said Greg Taylor, NBA Foundation Executive Director. “We are confident that our support will create short- and long-term advancement opportunities for these organizations and the communities that they serve.” 

The grants will help enhance the impactful work of these national and local organizations in alignment with the NBA Foundation’s mission to provide skills training, mentorship, coaching and pipeline development for high school, college-aged, job-ready and mid-career individuals, focusing in team markets throughout the United States and Canada. The full list of the 38 grantees and their efforts can be viewed at: nbafoundation.nba.com/nba-foundation-fourth-grant-round-recipients/.
  About the NBA Foundation
To date, the Foundation has awarded 78 grants, totaling $22 million to non-profit organizations. The NBA Foundation, created by the 30 NBA teams, works in partnership with the teams’ affiliated charitable organizations and the NBPA to support national and local organizations with a specific focus on team markets, utilizing the collective $30 million annual commitment from the NBA Board of Governors as well as additional funding sources. To learn more about the NBA Foundation or apply for a grant, please visit www.nbafoundation.com or follow @NBAFoundation.

About Brothers@
Since 2014, Brothers@ has grown from a student-led pilot program (Brothers@Bard) and institutional initiative, to a state-wide scalable model focused on expanding to college campuses and local communities across NY State and all 5-boroughs of NYC. The organization serves as a platform for hope, self-empowerment, and engagement—pressing needs among low-income and underrepresented students in secondary and higher education. 

Today, Brothers@ works with nearly 200 young men of color annually—recruiting, training and hiring collegiate men of color to become mentors and positive male role-models to YMOC in high school through our weekly programming during the academic school year—ultimately providing access to meaningful opportunities, and creating pathways to full-time employment on college campuses, local communities, high schools, and youth serving nonprofits and organizations. 

Through cross-sector collaborations and partnerships with public and private institutions, corporations and nonprofits, Brothers@ is a blueprint for addressing the ever-growing opportunity gaps YMOC face, and challenging historically exclusive and predominately white institutions to become inclusive spaces for young people. To learn more, please visit brothersat.org or follow @Brothers_ on Twitter and @Brothersat_ on Instagram.

This event was last updated on 12-14-2021

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