The Utica City School District has received a $49,450 grant from the State Board of Regents and the State Education Department to improve outcomes for male minority students.

Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi says the district is receiving the funding as part of the state's "My Brother's Keeper" initiative.

Brindisi says the MBK Challenge Grant Program supports programs helping boys and young men of color to reach their full academic potential.

“This program will provide support to the Utica School District to develop strategies that help academic and social achievement by male minority students.  The program encourages involvement by families, literally from cradle to college, with a goal of improving the outcomes for these students after they leave public school.  This program will help not only the students involved, but the entire region, as many of these students will hopefully become community leaders in the future,” Brindisi said.

In 2014, President Obama established the My Brother’s Keeper Task Force at the federal level.   With the approval of the 2016-2017 New York State budget, New York became the first state to enact the MBK Initiative into law.

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