
Promoting the health of boys & young men
of color
Forward Promise is a national program that seeks to build and strengthen the villages that raise and empower boys and young men of color to heal, grow and thrive.
The Way Forward: A Webcast Series
This five-part series confirms the concept of dehumanization as the foundation for systemic racism and racial trauma. Experts discuss what dehumanization looks like and how we can disrupt it for boys and young men of color.
Healing Work
Healing Work: An Action Guide to Equitable Grantmaking Supporting Youth of Color outlines an intentional equity approach that helps grant makers make their work more equitable.

About Forward Promise
If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to strengthen, stimulate and create healthy villages? The Forward Promise National Program Office works to support the networks and relationships that surround boys and young men of color (BYMOC) and counter the effects of historical and contemporary trauma in America.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, having invested five years in building the Forward Promise model, now charges the Forward Promise National Program Office (NPO) with the responsibility of building a culture of health model for BYMOC, as an independent initiative, in collaboration with many other leaders in the field. The NPO will facilitate grants to non-profits, provide technical assistance and field-building support and disseminate timely research to those seeking to positively impact the lives of boys and young men of color.
Ask a young child what they want to be when they grow up and they will likely give you a list. Their dreams are boundless and they derive genuine excitement from planning their future. They believe they have a future of their own choosing.
As boys and young men of color (BYMOC) get older, many lose the sense of the possible. The dehumanization they and their villages face make hoping frivolous when survival becomes the goal.
Blog



Join the Forward Promise Village
If you share our vision of healthy villages that support boys and young men of color to heal, grow and thrive, join us!