CEO Update July

Centering Our Kings. Cultivating Their Genius. Building the Future.

Greetings Community,

As we move through the heart of summer, I am reminded that our work has never been solely about creating programs. Programs make promises, but people keep them. It is the love, consistency, belief, and collective commitment of caring adults, families, mentors, educators, and community partners that create the conditions in which Black boys and young men can recognize, develop, and fully express the beauty, brilliance, creativity, and innate greatness that already live within them.  

The urgency of this moment calls us to remain deeply connected, to one another, to our shared purpose, and to the young people we serve. It requires collective energy, shared responsibility, and what my beloved brother, Baba Ron Walker, so powerfully describes as a “conspiracy of care” surrounding our young people. Our partners at BLACspace, along with leaders and organizations across the broader community, continue to remind us that this moment demands more than concern or good intentions. It requires coordinated, courageous, and sustained action.

That is why we remain committed to centering Black boys as the brilliant, creative, and powerful young people they are, ensuring their gifts are recognized, their voices are elevated, their identities are affirmed, and their innate greatness is cultivated and invested in.

Celebrating a Season of Growth and Possibility

This summer, we have witnessed that mission come alive across our programs.

We recently celebrated the graduation of Cohort 2 of The Fellowship Initiative. These young Kings have spent years strengthening their academic and life skills, preparing for college, career and community, developing financial literacy, exploring wellness, building brotherhood, and learning how to lead with purpose.

Their graduation represents more than the completion of a program. It represents the power of sustained investment, trusted relationships, high expectations, cultural affirmation, and unconditional love.

Each graduate carries forward a deeper understanding of who he is, where he comes from, and what he is capable of becoming. We celebrate our Kings, their families, their mentors, our staff, and our partners who walked alongside them throughout this journey.

At KOO Labs, our summer programming has continued to create spaces where young people can experiment, imagine, and bring their stories to life. Through music, animation, fashion, film, podcasting, and video storytelling, our Kings are learning that creativity is not an extracurricular activity. It is a pathway to healing, identity development, economic opportunity, leadership, and narrative power.

When young people are given access to tools, mentors, technology, and culturally affirming spaces, they do more than consume media. They become producers, artists, designers, entrepreneurs, cultural strategists, and architects of the future.

Our Sankofa Kings program has also invited young people to explore the relationship between Ancestral Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence. Through this work, our Kings are examining how rapidly emerging technologies influence identity, education, creativity, employment, relationships, and community life.

Sankofa teaches us that we must reach back to retrieve the knowledge necessary to move forward. As artificial intelligence continues to reshape our world, our young people must be equipped not only to use new technologies, but to question them, shape them, and ensure they remain connected to humanity, culture, ethics, and collective well-being.

These programs may appear distinct, but they are deeply connected. Each one is part of our long-term commitment to working with Black boys and young men to develop the confidence, cultural grounding, skills, relationships, and opportunities necessary to thrive.

Expanding Our Reach and Deepening Our Impact

We are also excited to share that Kingmakers of Oakland has secured new partnerships that will deepen our capacity to champion racial equity and empower our Kings over the next two years.

While we are not yet ready to share all the details, we look forward to making a major announcement this September.

This new support will strengthen our ability to expand opportunities for young people, deepen our programming, and continue building a more equitable future for Black boys and their communities.

We are also preparing to extend the reach of our culturally responsive Crowns Curriculum into additional schools and districts. The expansion of this work is another important step toward ensuring Black boys encounter learning environments where their history is honored, their voices are valued, their identities are affirmed, and their genius is expected.

Remembering, Resisting, and Reimagining

As July comes to a close, we also prepare to enter Black August, a season of remembrance, resistance, political education, discipline, and recommitment.

Black August calls us to honor those who struggled for freedom before us while examining what liberation requires from us today. It asks us to connect memory with movement and remembrance with responsibility.

For Kingmakers of Oakland, this means ensuring that our young people know the histories that shaped them while also possessing the tools to imagine and construct a different future.

We remember so that we can move forward with greater clarity.We resist the narratives and systems that diminish our Black boys and men.We reimagine schools, communities, industries, and institutions that recognize their full humanity.And we build spaces where Black boys can experience joy, belonging, healing, creativity, and hope.

Looking Ahead to Fall

This fall, our KOO Labs Academies will return with opportunities for young people to deepen their skills in music, animation, fashion, media production, and storytelling.

Sankofa Kings will also continue, supporting youth and young adults as they explore the intersection of culture, ancestral wisdom, technology, creativity, and community leadership.

Our Jegna Literacy Ambassador Program will also continue preparing aspiring African American male early elementary school educators to serve as trusted literacy champions who nurture a love of reading, affirm cultural identity, and strengthen the foundational literacy skills of our youngest Kings in PreK through 2nd grade.

We invite families, educators, community partners, artists, mentors, funders, and supporters to remain connected. Share these opportunities with a young person. Partner with us. Invest in our programs. Volunteer your expertise. Help us amplify the voices and visions of our Kings.

The future is not something our young people should have to wait to inherit. It is something they deserve the opportunity to design right now.

Thank you for continuing to believe in our Kings and for standing with Kingmakers of Oakland as we build a global renaissance rooted in Black love, imagination, collective will, and liberation.

Peace, Love, Happiness and Good Health,

Chris “Baba C” Chatmon

Founder and CEO

Kingmakers of Oakland