Dear Community,

As I write this letter in the midst of a tumultuous first quarter of 2020—punctuated by the proliferation of COVID-19—I am grateful to present our Annual Report for 2019. During this year, The Hidden Genius Project tried many new things and dramatically expanded our capacity to reach more young people in more places.

In 2019, we stepped even farther outside our comfort zone, both literally and figuratively. Our Intensive Immersion Programs in Oakland and Richmond served 96 active Hidden Geniuses during the summer, our greatest number to date. Our newest OAK7 cohort (in Oakland) boasted 25 young men, our largest cohort to date. Finally, perhaps the most exciting development from our Immersion Programming was the proliferation of Alumni Youth Educators from previous cohorts working as interns to support and facilitate programming for the current cohorts. This dramatically enhanced our capacity to serve more students, which proved significant as we extended our programmatic reach.

We trained a greater number of Youth Educators to meet a greater demand. In addition to our Intensive Immersion Programming, our alumni facilitated Community Partner programming at local youth community centers, independent schools, a large youth sports and recreation facility, and a host of public housing developments. Our young people taught students across all racial/ethnic and gender identities from Pre-K to college age, as well as some pockets of elders within our communities. In 2019, it was clear that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” The energy and resources we pour into our black male youth has a resounding ripple effect on society at large. They learn, apply the knowledge, then pass it on. This might be one of our proudest achievements as an organization. As always, we continue to be grateful to East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC) for their partnership in offering training on effective lesson planning and instructional practices to our young alumni.

Our work in 2019 also brought us to new places, including Baltimore, MD, Cleveland, OH, and Johannesburg, South Africa, in addition to a host of cities across the country and globe where we had already built valuable relationships. We were able to take our own Hidden Geniuses to make new connections with young people of all shades across three different continents. Through these various events and program offerings, we were able to serve over 2,000 young people last year. In addition to our willingness to innovate and try new things, we largely owe these accomplishments to our vast array of partnerships and friendships. We are immensely appreciative of all our collaborators who empower us to do what we do.

We welcomed Abraham, our new Innovation Educator, to form our Richmond super team. Thanks to our partners at Destination College Advising Corps (DCAC)-UC Berkeley, we also were able to add Arnold as a full-time college advising fellow. Finally, we were fortunate to onboard Kacie as our newest Master’s in Social Work (MSW) intern. All of these additions have been invaluable in strengthening our ability to mentor and serve our young men more holistically and effectively.

In 2019, as in every year, we are immensely grateful for our young people, their families, and all who show up to pour into them. Thank you for driving us to reveal Genius every day.

With gratitude,
Brandon

Brandon Nicholson, Ph.D.
Founding Executive Director
The Hidden Genius Project