WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is expected to lay out more specifics on his My Brother's Keeper initiative on Saturday, BuzzFeed News has learned.
The speech, which will be given to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 44th Annual Legislative Conference, comes as the administration is juggling a number of foreign policy situations and Thursday's announcement that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will step down from his position.
Obama formally introduced the program in an impassioned, 35-minute speech at the White House in February. My Brother's Keeper will seek to stem the tide of challenges faced by boys and young men of color by implementing programs with support from both the private and public sector.
In May, a special task force released a 61-page report to the president, outlining a broad set of recommendations the initiative should seek to solve on behalf of boys and young men of color. "Some of the proposals will begin a long process toward tearing down structural barriers," the report said, addressing President Obama. "But this report is just the beginning. The challenges described in this report will not vanish overnight. And, as you have noted, the government cannot play the only—or even the primary—role in these efforts."
Critics questioned both why the president had waited five years into his time in office to address disproportionate challenges obstacles that boys and young men of color face — and also why the administration didn't offer more specifics.