The Brotherhood Sister Sol.

For more than 25 years, The Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis) has been at the forefront of social justice, educating, organizing and training to challenge inequity and champion opportunity for all. 

Their Mission.

For more than 25 years, The Brotherhood Sister Sol (BroSis) has been at the forefront of social justice, educating, organizing, and training to challenge inequity and champion opportunity for all.  With a focus on Black and Latinx youth, BroSis is where young people claim the power of their history, identity, and community to build the future they want to see. Through unconditional love, around-the-clock support, and wraparound programming, we make space for Black and Latinx young people to examine their roots, define their stories, and awaken their agency. 

Program Summary.

We educate. Through our comprehensive educational programs, we’re helping young people develop a critical understanding of their history, identity, and role in society. 

  • For youth, ages 8-22, we offer four-to-six-year rites of passage programming, after-school care, counseling, summer camp, job training, college preparation, employment opportunities, activist training, community gardening, mental health support, intensive arts programming, and international study programs to Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. For our recent alumni members, we provide support to ensure they remain in college or employed and continue to make healthy and productive choices in their lives. 

We organize. Together with our members, alumni, and partners, we’re building on a legacy of youth-led activism to realize a more just and equitable future. 

  • Political education is at the heart of all our work at BroSis. Liberation permeates our organization, and all young people who participate in our programming grow a greater understanding of both the situation they are born into, as well as tools they can use to dismantle inequity and fight for justice. In this way, we are a model for the field of youth development.

We train. Through our innovative training models, we’re empowering educators and organizers to spark young agents of change across the nation. 

  • We have trained over 3,000 educators across the United States, from over 300 organizations, on our model. These educators work with over 25,000 young people. We are currently engaged in multi-year training efforts in Washington D.C. and Boston. 

In addition, The BroSis youth-led Farmers’ Market distributes over 5,000 pounds of fresh produce to over 2,000 community residents each year - 1/3 of the food is purchased using “Health Bucks.” During the height of COVID-19, every week for 2 years, we distributed food to our community – boxes of groceries and fresh produce, and provided over 1.1 million meals. We also distributed 10,000 masks, signed up hundreds for their vaccinations, and held and supported our community. We steward the most used community garden in the borough of Manhattan. We have a chapter of our organizations based outside of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. 

Founded, and headquartered in Harlem, BroSis offers far-reaching opportunities for young people across the country to transform their lives and communities. We have established a set of long-range goals for our members that include gaining a greater understanding of and appreciation for their cultural and historical legacy, developing a personal self-definition, a sense of self-worth, respect for others, and critical thinking skills. Through participation, our members learn to analyze personal and societal issues, find their creative voice, improve their academic performance, and develop a lifelong love of learning. BroSis is dedicated to developing youth into empowered critical thinkers and community leaders.

Demographics and Outcomes.

BroSis focuses on Black and Latinx youth.  95% of BroSis alumni have graduated from high school or earned a GED and the same percentage of alumni are working full-time or enrolled in college, After 28 years of implementing the BroSis program, no alumni are incarcerated. The teen pregnancy rate for BroSis youth is less than 2% (compared to 15% in Harlem),