KIDS CORNER

Building Minds of Leaders

For the past fourteen years the Black Men of Labor (BMOL) has successfully served the people of Louisiana in the area of Arts & Culture and Housing. As part of our service to the community, we developed The Building Minds of Leaders Program in 2005. This program provides African American males ages 8 – 18 with training in Traditional Jazz Music in conjunction with career development and mentoring.

Over the past fifteen months the BMOL has been recognize for its services provided to the displaced male youth survivors of Hurricane Katrina with providing career development and training in an attempt to help curve the juvenile crime in New Orleans. The BMOL has toured the state of Louisiana and other cities such as Jackson , Ms., Atlanta , Ga. , Mobile , Al., Houston and Dallas TX ., in bringing a cultured experience through music and mentoring.

The BMOL has reached out to over 5,000 youth both male and female in mentoring and educating them about there worth and the importance to which African-American have contributed to building of New Orleans as well as America. The BMOL has continued to provide services to the expatriates and ambassadors of New Orleans Culture, Cuisine and Music by providing the following:

* Career Development and Training
* Youth Empowerment

The Building Minds of Leaders program is a Saturday Music academy for youth 8 -18 years of age living in the Metro New Orleans area. The program has successfully impacted 50 youth over the past fifteen months who have participated and been trained in the area of Traditional Jazz Music and have been rewarded with a performance at the this year 2007 Jazz in Heritage Festival and 2007 Satchmo Festival. The youth spend an hour and a half with professional local musician and another hour with a mentor addressing:

* Self Esteem (building confidence and behavioral management)
* Social Skills ( anger management, conflict resolution and life coaching)