April 17, 2024

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MILWAUKEE — Marquette University and Milwaukee Public Schools are co-hosting the third annual ​BLMA Mental Health Awareness Symposium, a half-day event for Black and Latino young men, on Monday, April 22, from 9:45 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Alumni Memorial Union.

This event is a partnership between Marquette’s Black and Latino/a Ecosystem and Support Transition (BLEST) Hub, which is based out of the Center for Urban Research, Teaching and Outreach (CURTO), and MPS’ Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement (BLMA). The event will welcome to campus approximately 200 young Black and Latino men from 12 MPS high schools and include a keynote address, workshops led by community partners, and lunch and a dialogue session. The event aims to break down stigmas and support resilience, coping, and well-being among Black and Latino young men.

Media interested in covering the event or speaking with organizers should contact Kevin Conway, associate director of university communication at Marquette, at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.

Harry Evans, founder of Milwaukee-based mental health organization Heal Black Man, will deliver the keynote during the first session of the day. Heal Black Man is a space created for Black men to seek healing, self-discovery, brotherhood, resources and healthy coping mechanisms. Its mission is to exercise the power of numbers and build a community of strong Black men willing to pull the next man up with him.

MPS’ BLMA creates systems, structures and spaces that guarantee success for all Black and Latino boys and young men through support for schools and students. It creates a vision that sees all boys with an affirmed sense of identity, dignity and self-confidence with tools to navigate college, career and life.

The mission of the BLEST Hub is to build an understanding of the ecosystem of supports for Black and Latino/a students in Milwaukee from middle school through post-secondary completion and fulfilling, stable employment, as well as to lay the foundation for providing logistical, informational, and catalytic support to these students and the organizations and institutions serving them. CURTO positions itself as an intellectual axis and key convener of programs that address issues central to affirming human rights and human dignity. Building from a network of local community experts and stakeholders, CURTO projects and initiatives share several core features that are rooted in its mission and guiding values. While each project takes on its own life and identity in these university-community collaborations, CURTO projects and initiatives are aligned in that they are all deeply interdisciplinary, they center stakeholders in all phases of project development, undergraduate and graduate students play an active leadership role in project management, and they are at the intersection of three pillars of research, teaching, and outreach.

About Marquette University

Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.

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About Kevin Conway

Kevin is the associate director for university communication in the Office of University Relations. Contact Kevin at (414) 288-4745 or kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu.