Organizational History
The Black Man's Think Tank, Inc. (BMTT) was incorporated on February 11, 2008 and is a tax-exempt, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization. The idea for its conception arose out of discussions that were had at the Black Man's Think Tank Conference at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH. Since 2000, we have illuminated issues pertaining to the Black community and Black men in particular. It was evident that we needed to involve ourselves in the community on an on-going basis in order to facilitate growth and development on all levels especially in the areas of education and economic development. To that end, the BMTT was founded.
We owe our sincere gratitude to Omar Powell for his leadership in originating the BMTT conference in Dayton and in his tireless efforts to educate, inform, and inspire us to excel.
Mission
Our mission is to develop and support industry among Black organizations and professionals.
Our mission priorities focus on educational attainment, economic development, health care solutions, and violence and recidivism prevention.
Vision
We will develop and strengthen educational, economic, health care, violence and recidivism prevention activities of predominately Black institutions because we believe that they have the greatest potential to allay negative environmental factors that disproportionately affect Black people. We believe that they have the greatest potential to ensure prosperity for them via greater employment, greater access to health care, and greater access to educational opportunities. Ultimately, we work with them so that together they become more organized, more productive, more resourceful, more interdependent, and more responsive to the needs of Black people at home and abroad.
We aim to affect our mission and vision by the systematic use of research, strategic alliances, solid business practices, and the pragmatic use of technology.
Values
We value team work, collaboration, integrity, strategic planning, and professionalism in all our organizational activities.
Objectives
1. To address disparate health care issues by advocating for effective policies, supporting research, helping to create health care solutions, and helping to institute best practice health care models in disadvantaged communities.
2. To support Black businesses by supporting them with business support services and expertise and by developing strategic alliances among them.
3. To reduce violence and recidivism among at-risk Black male youth and young adults by supporting comprehensive services and programs aimed at addressing impediments to social advancement.
4. To partner with institutions that target the Black community and complement our programming by establishing strategic alliances with them.
5. To increase the educational output of the Black community by advocating for more rigorous course work for K-12 students; promoting HBCU; and creating knowledge sharing, research, and mentoring opportunities for Black students and educators.
6. To develop, support, and provide access to financial and technology infrastructures that support predominately Black institutions by marshaling committed, talented institutions and individuals that have expertise and access to resources.
7. To measure our progress by documenting and reporting our successes and failures using quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
BMTT Initiatives
Health Care Initiative—Easy, affordable access to health care facilities and services improves the health status of Black communities. Many institutions work to improve the health care status of uninsured, low-income individuals and families especially in Black communities. Many times Black individuals and institutions are not involved in research, strategic planning, or leadership roles. Our health care initiative helps to change these inequalities by supporting causal and participatory research and galvanizing both public and private institutions to implement best practice health care models. Bringing affordable health care to impoverished communities and insuring the participation of Black health care professionals are the ultimate goals of this initiative.
Educational Initiative— Successful educational development is a priority in most advanced societies, which ensures the prosperity of future generations. We establish and support relationships with historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), local school districts, educational service providers, professional associations, etc. and work in coordination with them to increase the educational output of the Black community. We advocate for more rigorous coursework among K-12 students such as participation in advanced placement (AP) courses, SAT and ACT preparation and testing, and college coursework; we partner with HBCU to promote scientific research and to promote their recruitment efforts especially the recruitment of Black males; and we help to organize students, faculty, staff, and administrators to provide them with mentoring, knowledge sharing, training, and networking opportunities.
Violence and Recidivism Prevention Initiative—Research shows that lack of educational attainment more than anything else limits job opportunities for Black youth especially males. This lack of knowledge, skills, and abilities leads to crime, which ultimately leads to violence. We prevent violence by collaborating with other institutions to support best practice programs targeted at youth and young adults. Individuals and agencies that have or would like to have direct contact with Black males are instrumental in this endeavor.
Economic Development Initiative—Businesses are the driving force behind any advanced society. In fact, productive industry is what separates advanced societies from non-advanced societies. They drive society more than any other entity. Negative factors like poverty, lack of educational attainment, criminality, high unemployment, poor healthcare, etc. can be correlated to nonproductive industry. For these reasons, we proactively support Black businesses by providing resources and facilitating cooperative marketing arrangements. We further support Black businesses by encouraging strategic alliances among them as a means to offer value-added services to their customers and to become more competitive within their respective industries. We will work with business leaders that have a vision to grow their workforces, enter into new industries, and who are willing to join alliances with complementary businesses.
Black Man’s Think Tank Conference—is an annual conference that provides workshops, panel discussions, lectures, and vendor activities of interest to Black men.
The success or failure of our initiatives and programs will hinge on our ability to execute our strategic plans in coordination with other institutions; our ability to support them with financial resources, information technology resources, and other resources; our ability to understand and utilize best practices; and more importantly, our ability to win the hearts and minds of the public.
On the last point—to win the hearts and minds of the public—our organization will be transparent by providing consistent media and public relations campaigns that provide information on our operations and programs.
Board of Directors
Marlon Aldridge
Alison Austin
Dr. Bobby Beavers
Parris Carter
Herbert Marshall
Craig Powell
Cheryl Scroggins
Sampson Wright
Message from the Founding President
Contemporary Black thought focuses on solving societal level problems within Black communities by making appeals to personal responsibility and demanding public and private assistance from large institutions. Despite the myriad of research, funding, and different programs, systemic problems within our communities such as lack of educational attainment, criminality, high unemployment, and poor health care still persist and worsen. This mindset must change because it has not worked. Therefore, the BMTT resolves to affect societal level problems with more appropriate solutions based on reasoning, creativity, organization, and cooperation among like-minded institutions. For us, this means transforming all our social institutions so that they are better informed, interdependent, and highly organized to address these problems.
We are not disillusioned or unrealistic and know that our work will be tough and at times disappointing, but we also know that if we do not adapt in an optimal way, the situation will only worsen. Can anyone deny that this is not the case?
If you believe as we do, we would love to have you work with us to affect progress within our communities.
Marlon R. Aldridge, Sr.
President & CEO