100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette empowers, mentors local youth

Trahan told News 10 he knows Black History Month is an opportunity to highlight a lot of things that are going on in the African American community, but the chapter’s purpose is to recognize the work that is being done all year.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY)-- 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette is a local chapter of the 100 Black Men of America, which is an organization that mentors youth, particularly those in disadvantaged neighborhoods or areas throughout the whole community. The chapter was founded in 2009 and has been in operation ever since.

“I was one of the founding members," Alton Trahan, the president of 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette, said. "We started in 2008, meeting with other leaders within the community, and decided to charter an organization here because we felt there was a need for mentoring, number one, and the work of the 100, which also falls into education, health, wellness, and economic empowerment. Working under these four pillars allows us to impact young kids' lives as well as their families. With that in mind, we've impacted a lot of young kids who are growing up to be adults as well as their families through our mentoring programs and just partnering with other organizations. So then our whole thing is making an impact.”

Melvin Caesar who was the very first president of the chapter reflected on the early years and recalled a lot of work it took to get to where they are today.

“We’re not a social organization," Caesar said. "We are a civic organization. We are here to work. We're not out there with our chest out. We just try to stay busy helping a lot of the young men to become older men and by mentoring and we've been working hard at that and that is our mission to get good men out of men that are in trouble right now."

“As an organization for it to thrive we as older members sometimes have to step out of the way, let the young members run the organization, and just support and that's what we do," he added.

Trahan told News 10 he knows Black History Month is an opportunity to highlight a lot of things that are going on in the African American community, but the chapter’s purpose is to recognize the work that is being done all year.

“To make sure that particularly young African-American males and females understand the magnitude of the impact within the Black community,” Trahan said. “Fortunately for us, we've been able to work with so many great organizations in Lafayette, nonprofits, and our civic organization just to continue to make a positive impact and that's largely our role. We know we can't do it all by ourselves. So with the assistance of other organizations, we've known that we're making an impact. We just wanted to continue that.”

Furthermore, construction is coming where there will be a center at the Pershing and Marne. Trahan said they worked with Habitat and Republic Services to land a $200,000 grant.

“It was the targeted area within the grant," Trahan said. "When we looked at what Habitat was doing from a housing standpoint and the role we played in mentoring health and wellness financial literacy aspect, that we could build the community center as well to bring in programs, but bring the community to a central location to provide those services and I think that's part of the revitalization effort that many people are on board to do."

As the chapter continues to work in the community, they are also looking for new members.

“The school system itself has 31,000 students," Trahan said. "If we can get not only members in our organization but also other organizations to mentor young kids, that's a huge impact. From  not only scouting but just from taking them out of fishing, doing things of that nature."

“Every aspect in the community, no matter where you work, whatever field industry you're in, you know, you can mentor a kid and that's the 100th mission, particularly in 2024 and throughout February, is to encourage individuals to be mentors,” he concluded.

Membership information can be found here.

Latest Posts