Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness Program (MedCEEP) in partnership with the Deon J Williams Foundation Receives Grant Funding from the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance to Create Safe Spaces for Boys and Young Men of Color in Chicago

Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness Program (MedCEEP) announced Wednesday that it has received $15,000.00 in grant funding from My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation. The funding is part of the MBK Alliance’s Freedom Summer 2022 Fund.

MedCEEP’s mission is to address the problems of poor healthcare, low health literacy, violence, lack of access to quality healthcare providers, and systemic injustices that have plagued our communities for generations. MedCEEP focuses on empowering underrepresented minority youth to become trained in recognizing and responding to the most prevalent life-threatening emergency scenarios while being exposed to health-related careers, in hopes of increasing representation in the field of medicine. MedCEEP’s MBK Fund initiatives will provide events for young men of color to attend that will be social, constructive and engaging. These events will allow youth to explore careers in healthcare, emergency preparedness, conflict resolution, and character/ leadership development while providing a safe environment to participate in sporting events, get free healthcare (e.g., physicals), and group training with giveaways and awards for participation and effort.

The Freedom Summer 2022 Fund is part of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance’s broader Freedom Summer 2022 initiative, which launched in June. In an effort to deter youth violence, the MBK Alliance issued a national call to action for communities to create safe spaces for boys and young men of color this summer. Freedom Summer 2022 is an opportunity for individuals, community organizers, and organizations to develop creative ways to keep children engaged and safe this summer.

“We here at MedCEEP take pride in serving the most underserved communities in the South and West Side of Chicago through training the next generation of physicians and medical professionals,” said Abdullah Pratt, MD, an emergency room physician and associate professor at the University of Chicago Medicine who is the founder and chief program director of MedCEEP. “We are able to do this through supporting youth sports programs to make them safer and violence prevention initiatives through our TRAP Violence program. We are extremely honored to extend these underfunded programs through the MBK Freedom Summer 2022 Fund in hopes of reaching more young men who are at-risk of becoming victims to violence and the effects of violence in their communities every day.”

The efforts of community organizations are often stifled due to limited financial resources. In line with its mission, the MBK Alliance is committed to ensuring community-based organizations have tools and resources to create safe spaces for boys and young men of color to play, convene, and learn.

“I am so proud to support organizations committed to the safety and protection of our boys and young men of color,” said Dr. Adren Wilson, MBK Alliance Executive Director. “The Freedom Summer 2022 Fund will empower grant recipients to pour resources, opportunity, hope, and love into our young boys during a time when they need it most. The MBK Alliance will continue its longstanding commitment to working with community-based organizations to create a brighter, more promising future — not just for our boys and young men of color — but for our country.”