Young men and boys of color are BRILLIANT and deserve every opportunity to succeed in their professional endeavors and personal lives. While there are millions of them thriving and succeeding, the loudest narrative is one that focuses on the myriad of dismal statistics regarding their life outcomes and school success. The stubbornly persistent narrative has been: 

Low graduation rates

High dropout rates

High incarceration rates (School-To-Prison Pipeline)

Low college attrition

Disproportionally high suspension and expulsion rates

 

The Sims-Fayola Foundation was launched in 2014 as a 501(c)(3) to help change this narrative.  We boldly accept the challenge to improve the lives of young men and boys of color by addressing the obstacles (educational and societal) that directly affect their life outcomes. We use original programming, awareness campaigns, and partner with other community foundations, organizations, and individual schools and districts to address these stubbornly persistent issues. Our programs, services, mission, and values are driven by three pillars: 1. Building Awareness, 2. Building Equity by Design 3. Building Capacity. Our desired outcome is to provide direction, education, guidance, resources, direct support, and ultimately relief in these areas so the futures of these young men look like their dreams.

 

OUR WHY

Despite a long history of inequity, the United States education system’s treatment of students of color has remained relatively unmoved as repeated protests calling for change continue to be undervalued and overwhelmingly ignored. The challenges facing young men of color are startling and widespread. From their earliest years through adulthood, they are disproportionately disadvantaged and at-risk regardless of socioeconomic status. Challenges stem from individual encounters to massive, seemingly insurmountable systemic barriers that are ingrained in our social norms, attitudes and behaviors, institutions, and policies. For boys of color, challenges become increasingly apparent in school systems, where significant disparities exist at various levels. There is significant consensus among researchers that these rates are directly correlated to the school-to-prison pipeline, which leads boys of color to be pushed out of school and into prisons, resulting in the overrepresentation of young men of color, particularly African-American males, in juvenile detention centers and the prison system.

 

OUR APPROACH

SFF acknowledges that the challenges boys and young men of color face are created and upheld by systemic, community, and individual forces; rather than taking a siloed approach, through its various avenues of engagement, SFF challenges norms and builds individual, family, school, and community capacity to improve the lives of boys and young men of color through a transformative approach. The transformative aspect, an internal shift in ideas, beliefs, and values necessary to bring about sustainable change, should be addressed instead of external shifts, changes in actions, and strategies only. SFF’s work lies at the precipice of the need to create transformative change from the inside out. SFF offers programs, workshops, and services to stakeholders who impact the lives of young men and boys of color and works directly with the young men and boys themselves. SFF also provides educators, youth service professionals, and parents with the tools, resources, the information needed to facilitate, support, and encourage positive outcomes for young men and boys of color. Finally, as the backbone organization for My Brother’s Keeper Denver, SFF serves as a convener and active participant of a collaborative-action collective that’s committed to improving the life outcomes of young men and boys of color from cradle to career. Through this comprehensive approach, SFF seeks to change the more extensive narrative misrepresenting young men and boys of color by influencing public opinion, public policy, and broad societal norms and ideas. 

 

OUR MISSION

To improve the life outcomes and experiences of young men and boys of color and increase the capacity of the youth service professionals who work with them to provide their services through an equity and gender lens.

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OUR OBJECTIVES/GOALS

• Improve access and opportunity from cradle to career for young men and boys of color.

• Decrease truancy rates, suspensions, and expulsions.

• Increase young men and boys of color’s participation in leadership and school activities.

• Increase young men and boys of color’s self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

• Increase young men and boys of color’s capacity to make choices aligned with their ambitions.

• Increase exposure, access, and experiences of young men and boys of color with careers that people of color underrepresent.

• Decrease the incarceration and engagement of young men, men, and boys of color in the justice system.

• Increase the capacity of youth service professionals to serve young men of color.