The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

Join Leadership Talks on Friday, September 29 at 1 pm EST for a live, online interview with Khary Lazarre-White and Cidra Sebastien from The Brotherhood/ Sister Sol (The BHSS), 2005 Leadership for a Changing World awardees. Khary and Cidra will discuss The Brotherhood/Sister Sol's practices that provide alternatives for disadvantaged youth.

Read the transcript from September 29, 2006 Leadership Talks Archive

Jason Warwin, Khary Lazarre-White, and Cidra Sebastien, who together, direct The BHSS, a youth development organization, grew up in New York City. "We do this work because we have been influenced and inspired by activists and social-change makers who came before us," they write. The group focuses on young people, they say, because "society is failing our children. In the city of New York, children are allowed to attend failing schools, to be surrounded by drugs and violence, and allowed to have no real opportunity because they are black and brown and economically poor." According to Santiago Taveras, Local Instructional Superintendent, New York City, "This dynamic leadership team has made a profound impact on this community through their work with youth."

The students of The BHSS join chapters composed of 10 to 18 young men or women in seventh, eighth or ninth grade, and remain in their chapters until they graduate from high school. The curriculum fosters critical thinking, practical skills for negotiating modern life, and leadership competence. Subjects include Pan-African and Latino history, sexism, and conflict resolution. Participating youth have year-round access to guidance and mentoring. Some receive opportunities to study abroad, and all are encouraged to undertake service projects in the community.

The BHSS prides itself on a leadership style that represents their values. They created an organizational structure called the Directors Circle that is deliberately egalitarian and consensus-driven. The three leaders rotate tasks, including arranging meetings and communicating with staff. That structure, directors believe, echoes the underlying values of the organization: community, collaboration, and equity. For example, teaching that women are equal to men is easier when equality is a visible feature of the organization. Leaders believe that The BHSS' internal structure "provides an effective example for youth to see how people can work together to accomplish complex goals by combining their energy and talents."

The collaborative nature of The BHSS' leadership is also designed to give Warwin, Lazarre-White, and Sebastien direct involvement with youth in the chapters, which "ensures that leadership decisions are made with the best interest of the programs and the youth, and not based purely on administrative ideals," according to The BHSS leaders.

Michael Gillespie, Dean, Borough of Manhattan Community College states,"They truly do represent role models as young men and women who can go into their communities and make positive change. Their story is one that needs to be promulgated so that others in other cities will believe that they can do the same kind of things."

For more information

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol Leadership for a Changing World profile