Creating and Expanding Ladders of Opportunity for Boys and Young Men of Color, 12923-12926 [2014-05073]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 45 (Friday, March 7, 2014)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 12923-12926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-05073]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 45 / Friday, March 7, 2014 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 12923]]

                Memorandum of February 27, 2014

                
Creating and Expanding Ladders of Opportunity for 
                Boys and Young Men of Color

                Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
                Agencies

                Over the course of my Administration, we have made 
                consistent progress on important goals such as reducing 
                high school dropout rates and lowering unemployment and 
                crime. Yet as the Congress, State and local 
                governments, research institutions, and leading 
                private-sector organizations have all recognized, 
                persistent gaps in employment, educational outcomes, 
                and career skills remain for many boys and young men of 
                color throughout their lives.

                Many boys and young men of color will arrive at 
                kindergarten less prepared than their peers in early 
                language and literacy skills, leaving them less likely 
                to finish school. Labor-force participation rates for 
                young men of color have dropped, and far too many lack 
                the skills they need to succeed. The disproportionate 
                number of African American and Hispanic young men who 
                are unemployed or involved in the criminal justice 
                system undermines family and community stability and is 
                a drag on State and Federal budgets. And, young men of 
                color are far more likely to be victims of murder than 
                their white peers, accounting for almost half of the 
                country's murder victims each year. These outcomes are 
                troubling, and they represent only a portion of the 
                social and economic cost to our Nation when the full 
                potential of so many boys and young men is left 
                unrealized.

                By focusing on the critical challenges, risk factors, 
                and opportunities for boys and young men of color at 
                key life stages, we can improve their long-term 
                outcomes and ability to contribute to the Nation's 
                competiveness, economic mobility and growth, and civil 
                society. Unlocking their full potential will benefit 
                not only them, but all Americans.

                Therefore, I am establishing the My Brother's Keeper 
                initiative, an interagency effort to improve measurably 
                the expected educational and life outcomes for and 
                address the persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys 
                and young men of color. The initiative will help us 
                determine the public and private efforts that are 
                working and how to expand upon them, how the Federal 
                Government's own policies and programs can better 
                support these efforts, and how to better involve State 
                and local officials, the private sector, and the 
                philanthropic community.

                By the authority vested in me as President by the 
                Constitution and the laws of the United States of 
                America, I hereby direct the following:

                Section 1. My Brother's Keeper Task Force. (a) There is 
                established a My Brother's Keeper Task Force (Task 
                Force) to develop a coordinated Federal effort to 
                improve significantly the expected life outcomes for 
                boys and young men of color (including African 
                Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans) 
                and their contributions to U.S. prosperity. The Task 
                Force shall be chaired by the Assistant to the 
                President and Cabinet Secretary. In addition to the 
                Chair, the Task Force shall consist of the following 
                members:

(i) the Attorney General;

(ii) the Secretary of Agriculture;

(iii) the Secretary of Commerce;

[[Page 12924]]

(iv) the Secretary of Defense;

(v) the Secretary of Education;

(vi) the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

(vii) the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development;

(viii) the Secretary of the Interior;

(ix) the Secretary of Labor;

(x) the Secretary of Transportation;

(xi) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(xii) the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers;

(xiii) the Director of the Office of Personnel Management;

(xiv) the Administrator of the Small Business Administration;

(xv) the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and 
Community Service;

(xvi) the Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and 
Public Engagement;

(xvii) the Director of the Domestic Policy Council;

(xviii) the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

(xix) the Director of the National Economic Council; and

(xx) the heads of such other executive departments, agencies, and offices 
as the Chair may, from time to time, designate.

                    (b) A member of the Task Force may designate a 
                senior-level official who is from the member's 
                department, agency, or office, and is a full-time 
                officer or employee of the Federal Government, to 
                perform the day-to-day Task Force functions of the 
                member. At the direction of the Chair, the Task Force 
                may establish subgroups consisting exclusively of Task 
                Force members or their designees under this subsection, 
                as appropriate.
                    (c) The Deputy Secretary of Education shall serve 
                as Executive Director of the Task Force, determine its 
                agenda, convene regular meetings of the Task Force, and 
                supervise its work under the direction of the Chair. 
                The Department of Education shall provide funding and 
                administrative support for the Task Force to the extent 
                permitted by law and within existing appropriations. 
                Each executive department or agency shall bear its own 
                expenses for participating in the Task Force.

                Sec. 2. Mission and Function of the Task Force. (a) The 
                Task Force shall, consistent with applicable law, work 
                across executive departments and agencies to:

(i) develop a comprehensive public Web site, to be maintained by the 
Department of Education, that will assess, on an ongoing basis, critical 
indicators of life outcomes for boys and young men of color (and other 
ethnic, income, and relevant subgroups) in absolute and relative terms;

(ii) assess the impact of Federal policies, regulations, and programs of 
general applicability on boys and young men of color, so as to develop 
proposals that will enhance positive outcomes and eliminate or reduce 
negative ones;

(iii) create an Administration-wide, online public portal to identify and 
disseminate successful programs and practices that improve outcomes for 
boys and young men of color;

(iv) recommend, where appropriate, incentives for the broad adoption by 
national, State, and local public and private decisionmakers of effective 
and innovative strategies and practices for providing opportunities to and 
improving outcomes for boys and young men of color;

(v) consistent with applicable privacy laws and regulations, provide 
relevant Federal data assets and expertise to public and private efforts to

[[Page 12925]]

increase opportunities and improve life outcomes for boys and young men of 
color, and explore ways to coordinate with State and local governments and 
non-governmental actors with useful data and expertise;

(vi) ensure coordination with other Federal interagency groups and relevant 
public-private initiatives;

(vii) work with external stakeholders to highlight the opportunities, 
challenges, and efforts affecting boys and young men of color; and

(viii) recommend to the President means of ensuring sustained efforts 
within the Federal Government and continued partnership with the private 
sector and philanthropic community as set forth in this memorandum.

                    (b) The Task Force shall focus on evidence-based 
                intervention points and issues facing boys and young 
                men of color up to the age of 25, with a particular 
                focus on issues important to young men under the age of 
                15. Specifically, the Task Force shall focus on the 
                following issues, among others: access to early 
                childhood supports; grade school literacy; pathways to 
                college and a career, including issues arising from 
                school disciplinary action; access to mentoring 
                services and support networks; and interactions with 
                the criminal justice system and violent crime.
                    (c) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                each member of the Task Force shall provide recommended 
                indicators of life outcomes for the public Web site 
                described in subsection (a)(i) of this section, and a 
                plan for providing data on such indicators.
                    (d) Within 45 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                each member of the Task Force shall identify any 
                relevant programs and data-driven assessments within 
                the member's department or agency for consideration in 
                the portal described in subsection (a)(iii) of this 
                section.
                    (e) Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, 
                the Task Force shall provide the President with a 
                report on its progress and recommendations with respect 
                to the functions set forth in subsection (a) of this 
                section. Additionally, the Task Force shall provide, 
                within 1 year of the date of this memorandum, a status 
                report to the President regarding the implementation of 
                this memorandum.

                Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this 
                memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise 
                affect:

(i) the authority granted by law or Executive Order to an agency, or the 
head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

                    (b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent 
                with applicable law and subject to the availability of 
                appropriations.

[[Page 12926]]

                    (c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does 
                not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 
                procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any 
                party against the United States, its departments, 
                agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or 
                agents, or any other person.
                    (d) The Secretary of Education is hereby authorized 
                and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal 
                Register.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                    Washington, February 27, 2014

[FR Doc. 2014-05073
Filed 3-6-14; 8:45 am]
Billing code 4000-01