100 Black Men of South Florida and Miami Dade Public School presents Sixth Annual 2016 College & Career Expo

100 Black Men of South Florida and Miami Dade Public School presents Sixth Annual 2016 College & Career Expo

By Hyacynthia Leonce

      On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016 I attended the 100 Black Men of South Florida and Miami Dade Public Schools College and Career Expo.  Now at this stage in my life I sure don’t need or want to go back to college.  However, I figure since I seem to be a career job seeker why not attend and maybe land a job. This event was held at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition Center.

I was introduced to “THE” man, who was the organizer of the even, Jonathan L. Dotson and the VP of Operations for the South Florida Chapter. I enjoyed the time I spent with Mr. Dodson, he was warm and friendly. He took time out of the business of the day to show me around and answer my questions.  Although I had heard the name somewhere I wondered what is 100 Black men? Dotson explains their commitment as “100 men serving the community and doing positive things in the community, not bad, speaking life in the lives of males and females.”

Per their website, “The 100 began in 1963 in New York City when a group of concerned African American men began to meet to explore ways of improving conditions in their community. These visionaries included businessmen and industry leaders such as David Dinkins, Robert Mangum, Dr. William Hayling, Nathaniel Goldston III, Livingston Win-gate Andrew Hatcher, and Jackie Robinson.  Since inception, the vision has materialized to be shared by more than 10,000 members reaching over 125,000 underserved, underepresented minority youth annually.”

Mentoring is a big part of their program. Per their website, it is the “cornerstone of 100 Black Men of America, Inc.” The group is certain that mentoring helps youths, pre-dominantly African American males, with emotional, cultural and social aspects of a youth’s life. The group has found the mentoring program to be “an effective, evidenced-based and strategic intervention that helps youth reach their full potential and become contributing members of society.”  The mentoring pro-gram encompasses four areas:  Education, Economic Empowerment, Health & Well-ness, and Leadership Development.

This event seemed to be a success.  There appeared to be several hundred students there and they appear to be from every culture and nationality.  Not only were there guys but there were plenty of gals also wondering the college and job tables. Aaah, the future leaders and professionals of tomorrow.