JUne 27, 2011: Brandon Royce-Diop, as the MMEP Advocacy Fellow 2011, will be providing the African American Males in Education advisory committee of MMEP with the following critical support: providing leadership with AAMEA in designing and organizing a strategic network of diverse stakeholders that can drive policy and practice to increase the academic outcomes of African American male students in Minnesota, developing opportunities for public discussions around literature, briefs, and collective action with collaborative partners, developing a communications strategy around the public will to address key issues related to African American male students in Minnesota, and assisting with the collection of and website posting of evidence-based research related to African American male student achievement.     

Brandon also works as a Student Services Specialist for Minnesota Virtual High School (MVHS) and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Education and Teaching Licensure Program at the University of St. Thomas. He has a BA from Saint John’s University where he was on the Dean’s List. His experience also includes mentoring, outreach and public speaking in the community.

He has also taught at Inver Hills Community College, Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the University of Minnesota. Health disparities among African Americans have been a core focus of his research and past speaking engagements. Mason has presented in Minnesota, Illinois, New York and Washington D.C.

Mason graduated from Morris Brown College with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. He received his PhD in cognitive and biological psychology from the University of Minnesota.

As a policy fellow, Mason will assist in the data collection, policy analysis, research and writing of the “State of African American Males in Education in Minnesota” policy brief. He will work closely with members of the organization’s AMMEA initiative.

Carlos Mariani, executive director, commented, “MMEP is pleased to work with Dr. Jesse Mason in developing a policy brief on the state of education success with Minnesota’s African American men. We are profoundly concerned that our failed delivery of K-12 education to this community of learners is resulting in bypassing the deep potential existing among this community of learners. We plan to describe the realities of African American males from an assets perspective as opposed to the pervasive ‘deficits’ models used by many in the past and that has reinforced negative stereotypes of young Black men.”

Dr. Mason’s work is supported in part thanks to financial support from General Mills Foundation’s Communities of Color fund.

July 12, 2010: Shabaka McKey has resigned his position on the AAMEA initiative because he has accepted an opportunity out-of-state. According to Shabaka this move will allow him, “…to grow personally and professionally as well as provide me with leadership opportunities.”  Shabaka served as the PTLW Engineering Coordinator and science teacher at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis, Minn. He will be greatly missed.