Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading, and Succeeding

Ben Jealous · Trabian Shorters

Feb 2015 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

A timely and important compilation of first-person accounts by black men—including some famous like Russell Simmons, Rev. Al Sharpton, John Legend, along with community leaders known primarily in their respective neighborhoods—this New York Times bestseller describes a defining moment in each of these black men’s lives which motivated them to give back.

Reach includes forty first-person accounts from well-known men like the Rev. Al Sharpton, John Legend, Isiah Thomas, Bill T. Jones, Louis Gossett, Jr., and Talib Kweli, alongside influential community organizers, businessmen, religious leaders, philanthropists, and educators. These remarkable individuals are living proof that black men are as committed as ever to ensuring a better world for themselves and for others.

Powerful and indispensable to our ongoing cultural dialogue, Reach explodes myths about black men by providing rare, candid, and deeply personal insights into their lives. It’s a blueprint for better community engagement. It’s an essential resource for communities everywhere.

Proceeds from the sale of Reach will go to BMe Community, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building caring and prosperous communities inspired by black men. Reach is also a Project of the Kapor Center for Social Impact, one of the founding supporters of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative.

About the author

Ben Jealous is the former President and CEO of the NAACP and a renowned public figure with a broad national audience. He is also a partner at Kapor Capital, an Oakland-based firm that leverages the tech sector to create progressive social change. A Rhodes Scholar, Jealous has been on the “40 Under 40” lists of both Forbes and Time. In 2013 The Washington Post referred to him as “one of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders.”

Trabian Shorters is a social entrepreneur with over twenty years of experience in diverse fields including national service, technology, nonprofit, and philanthropy. An expert on using asset framing to address social problems, Trabian is best known for applying it to black male issues. In winter 2011, he launched BMe Community while serving as Vice President at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.