UPDATE: We announced the 2012 Black Male Achievement Fellows on June 7th. Meet them here.

In December, Echoing Green and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) called for emerging social entrepreneurs dedicated to improving the life outcomes of black men and boys in the U.S. to apply for the newly created Black Male Achievement (BMA) Fellowship. This new Fellowship represents a partnership between OSF’s Campaign for Black Male Achievement, which is focused on the issues areas of education, family, and work; and Echoing Green, which has been in the forefront of identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs with bold ideas for social change.

We were seeking visionary leaders who are generating new ideas for black male achievement in the areas such as fatherhood, mentoring, college preparatory programs, community-building, supportive wage work opportunities, communications, and philanthropic leadership. We were encouraged when more than1,000 individuals heeded this call and applied. We remain inspired by the vision of our applicants; riled by the statistics they shared, and even shed tears reading the stories embedded in these applications.

Today, we are proud to announce 16 Finalists for the BMA Fellowship. They represent nine U.S. states, with ideas ranging from transforming the child welfare system using online technology to creating meaningful job opportunities for high school students through urban farming. They will join us in New York for a selection event on May 15.

Please join Echoing Green and OSF in congratulating these pioneers on Facebook and Twitter:
Congrats to the Finalists for the #BMAFellowship! http://ht.ly/axIsD Spread the word! #socent #socialchange

Meet the 2012 BMA Finalists:

African Immigrant Diaspora Alliance (AÏDA)

Program Area: Civil & Human Rights
Location of Impact: New York, NY

B.E.T.T. (Brothers Empowered to Teach) Initiative

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: New Orleans, LA

BlackCode

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: Los Angeles, CA

BlocPower

Program Area: Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development
Location of Impact: National

Brown Boi Project

Program Area: Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development
Location of Impact: National

Coaching for Change, Inc.

Program Area: Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development
Location of Impact: Brockton, MA

Fight For Light, Inc.

Program Area: Environment
Location of Impact: Atlanta, GA

First-to-Finish

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: New Orleans, LA

Green-Collar Communities Clinic (GC3)

Program Area: Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development
Location of Impact: Bay Area, California

Grow Dat Youth Farm

Program Area: Food & Agriculture
Location of Impact: New Orleans, Louisiana

Hip-Hop Education Center (H2ED)

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: New York, NY

iFoster

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: National

NBA Math Hoops

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: National

The Scholarship Academy, Inc.

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: Atlanta, GA

Visible Men Inc.

Program Area: Education
Location of Impact: National

Young Black Mens Success (YBS)

Program Area: Poverty Alleviation & Economic Development
Location of Impact: National