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As the country witnesses the shuttering of multiple diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and as businesses retract their plans to intentionally diversify their employees and leaders, one college-based program in New York City, originally designed to support the education of young Black men, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with no signs of slowing.
The Black Male Initiative (BMI) officially began in 2005, when the New York City Council approved funding for BMI throughout the whole of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, 25 institutions in total. Since then, the program has spread to all but one CUNY campus. There are 31 different BMI programs, but each has the same overall goals: increase the enrollment and matriculation, retention, GPA, and graduation rate of underrepresented students.
Black and Brown students, particularly men, have historically struggled to enroll in higher education, and many that do fail to complete their degrees. A 2024 study from the American Council on Education showed that despite America’s overall diversity increasing, and more students of color enrolling in undergraduate education than ever before, completion rates for Black and Brown students have remained stagnant.
Innovation And Growth
The seeds of BMI were first planted in 2000 at Medgar Evers College, a CUNY institution in central Brooklyn. Its program, begun under the guidance of then-president Dr. Edison O. Jackson, was known as the Male Empowerment and Development Center. Through mentorship and lectures from key leaders in the city and state, the program supported its Black and Brown men to academic and career success.
It was through Medgar Evers’ early BMI program that Dr. Ian James got his start. James, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs at CUNY, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CUNY institutions, and when he attended Delaware Valley University for his doctoral degree, he wrote his thesis on the impact of CUNY BMI on Black males in higher education.
“[The program] was so impressive, it helped with retention and graduation,” says James. “As a student, [the program] did help. It created this brotherhood amongst ourselves. It was just a good, supportive program.”
James says he is proud to witness the way BMI has expanded to almost every single one of CUNY’s institutions and grown to address the myriad of social inequities and problems confronting young people of color. Many BMI programs do not focus on young men alone but have expanded to include young women of color as well.
“[The programs] focus on academic achievement, socio-emotional programming, including understanding the soft skills that come with being professional, getting a degree and having a career,” says James. “There is institutional commitment to looking at financial support for students unable to pay tuition.”
The programs have even created specific pipelines to address underrepresentation within certain career pathways, like medicine, law, and the justice system.
“BMI is not a one stop shop, it looks different at different campuses,” says Dr. Jonathan Quash, the executive director of BMI at the CUNY Central Office of Student Affairs. “John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a great example—we have three programs there. Some of the programming is for prelaw [students] only, some for traditional undergraduates in mentoring, and some for currently incarcerated students. Three different populations.”
The entirety of the BMI program was initially financially supported by the city. While city funding has never wavered, their budget failed to grow with the rate of inflation. When Quash became director of the initiative in 2023, he set out to engage with the state.
“Those members of city council who instituted this funding back in 2005 had moved on to positions in the state senate,” says Quash. “I reengaged with them, I said, ‘You supported us then, and you can support us now.’”
The state agreed and allowed for an inflow of a further $1.7 million into the program, increasing the total budget line for BMI to $3.4 million. Quash says he will continue to press for increases.
“Elected officials understand how their investment is going to be used. They know the program. It’s a historic program, the first in the country like it, the largest like it, and therefore, the history precedes us,” says Quash. “Very rarely do I have to go through and tell them the story.”
Quash says that he makes sure city and state officials know how BMI programs are continuing to grow and stay ahead of the curve. One innovation, he says, is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a programmatic recruitment tool. Students can receive text messages from BMI’s AI mascot, checking in on an upcoming test to see how prepared a student may or may not feel. It even assesses their sense of belonging on campus and in higher education. These conversations send up flags to BMI leaders, who then reach out to those students, moving from a digital to in-person connection.
“We’ve added close to 2,000 students in just a year-and-a-half, because we’re able to reach more at this point,” says Quash. “Now, we have over 8,000 students [in BMI programs.]”
Quash has also ensured that BMI programming addresses a student’s overall wellness, which includes food insecurity or economic challenges. He has added career development mentoring and counseling, partnering with businesses still committed to diversity to develop internship and fellowship programs, so BMI students can graduate with experience in their desired field of study.
“We offer several career fairs and biweekly sessions to help them engage in conversations about career goals, short-term and long-term, resume prep, interview skills and what to do at interviews,” says Quash. These programmatic additions have proved popular, he says. “I’ve had adults sitting in on these workshops, and they say they’ve learned a whole lot. Career goal and goal setting is a real, moving component.”
Quash and other BMI leaders say they hope to see these programs continue to expand, not just at other CUNY campuses or institutions outside of the city, but to their local K-12 system as well. James says early engagement can “create an impact, make an easy transition into college to be successful.”
“Programs like this work,” says James. Contrary to the growing national resentment toward DEI programs as a waste of tax-payer resources, James says BMIs “actually save the institution money.”
“It’s making people more successful and self-reliant, giving upward mobility. And they come back and contribute,” says James. “We’re not all born equal. Everyone needs support along the way. These students just need someone to say, ‘I got your back. Focus on your education, I will provide you with support to help you successfully do it.’ That’s all it takes.”
At Hunter College, one of the largest and best-known CUNY institutions, Dr. Marcia Cantarella is a consultant to the Hunter BMI program, Brothers for Excellence. While some BMI programs are open to all genders, Hunter’s has remained focused on its male students.
“Hunter used to be a women’s college. And so, paying attention to men is important anyway,” says Cantarella. “We recognized early, 20 years ago, it was clear that young women of color were doing well, and young men of color were really struggling. What could we do to help turn that around? And in my mind, part of the solution was to have them help turn it around, not us.”
She and fellow BMI program leader and dean for diversity and compliance at Hunter, John Rose, have focused on giving Hunter’s young men of color as much agency as they can, engaging them through empowerment.
“It’s important that students feel they have autonomy and that the grown-ups aren’t in charge, they are,” says Cantarella. “Hunter’s program gives the students a lot of latitude, and one of the most important things is our team leaders.”
Team leaders are BMI students as young as sophomores, who help lead the direction of the program and mentor other students. Team leaders, Cantarella adds, are required to demonstrate maturity and focus. While she and Rose offer advice and guidance, it’s “their show,” she says.
“They really give guidance for us in terms of what they hear from their fellow students, things that interest them, or their concerns, things that they would like to do or learn. They are the voice,” says Cantarella. “Our team leaders really have that leadership role. It has to be a student-driven program.”
One common issue her students have struggled with is time management, as many are not just attending school but also working full- or part-time jobs. So, Cantarella reached into her contacts, including team leaders, and asked them to write out their preferred solutions for time management.
“Each one had a different strategy,” she says. “I thought it was important for students to know there is not just one way of doing things. You have to find the one that works for you. And the students should feel good about owning it, assuming it’s working for them.”
Cantarella sees herself as an advocate for her students, following in the footsteps of her genealogical legacy. Her grandparents ran the Lincoln Institute in Kentucky, one of the first institutions dedicated to educating Black students in the state. Her father, Whitney M. Young Jr., was a prominent civil rights leader who served for many years as the executive director of the National Urban League, an organization long committed to fighting against racial discrimination in the workplace.
Sustaining Success Against The Tide
Cantarella has persevered in her advocacy mission, even when the COVID-19 pandemic swept much of her program’s established routines out from under. Even as the program regains its footing, Cantarella says she isn’t worried about whether or not BMI will continue at CUNY, despite the raging tide against DEI programming sweeping the nation. Part of the reason, she says, is simply the program’s longevity.
“It’s not like we sat up in the middle of the night and said, ‘Oh, we need a DEI program,’” says Cantarella. “So far, nobody’s come after us.”
While Quash and James agree that BMI is likely safe from termination, they understand how difficult it can be for some DEI programs to defend their value to detractors. Because BMI is so varied across CUNY’s institutions, good data can be difficult to collect. Some BMI programs require students to attend full-time and maintain a 3.5 GPA, which means those students are more likely to continue through to graduation and those students’ GPAs will be higher than the average.
Sometimes, understanding just how successful these programs are requires an inside point of view, says James.
“We try to invite elected officials and make them part of it,” says James. He and other BMI leaders have invited mayors, governors, and other prominent officials to attend events and conferences or speak at symposiums, “where they can see and hear directly from the students and see the work.”
“I see the impact this program is having,” James continues. “CUNY is a public university [system], and I’m a public servant. We’re here to support the public. Yes, things will happen along the way, so how do you help students navigate it, to come back and be successful, to know the importance of an education, to always have upward mobility and make a contribution?”
Quash recalls how many BMI graduates have given back to the city, becoming doctors, lawyers, some even returning to their BMI programs to mentor the next generation of students. Quash remembers a personal experience, being treated at an emergency room by a former BMI student who greeted him with a cheerful, “Hey, Dr. Quash!”
Quash is hopeful that the BMI programs CUNY has to offer can continue to expand and touch even more fields of study, including finance, accounting, and other areas where BMI students are not enrolled in large numbers. As many institutions fall to the whims of anti-DEI legislation, Quash is dedicated to seeing this program through for another 20 years and beyond.