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About the 100The idea of 100 Black Men was born in New York City in 1963. A body of successful men from the fields of business, industry, public affairs, government and the professions decided to pool their skills, experiences and resources to improve the quality of life for Blacks and other minorities. Among those early founders were David Dinkins, Livingston Wingate and Andrew Hatcher.In the 1970's, the concept of developing individual, independent chapters in other cities took hold and in 1976, Dr. William Hayling and others formed the second chapter, 100 Black Men of New Jersey. After New Jersey came Los Angeles, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area, Nassau/Suffolk and Sacramento. In 1986 these nine successful chapters resolved to create "100 Black Men of America, Inc." as a national confederation with Dr. Hayling as the founding president. The first conference was held in Atlanta, Georgia on May 27, 1987, where the alliance was introduced to the nation. Since then the group has met in Los Angeles (1988), Indianapolis (1989), New Jersey (1990), St. Louis (1991), San Francisco (1992), Atlanta (1993) middle Tennessee (1994), Jackson, Mississippi (1995), Miami, Florida (1996), Atlanta, Georgia (1997), New Orleans, Louisiana (1998), and Detroit, Michigan (1999). In 1986 the Alton Chapter was incorporated under the laws of the state of Illinois and in 1988 became a tax exempt non-profit 501 (C) (3) organization under the Internal Revenue Code. The 100 Black Men of Alton thus became the tenth chapter to be officially recognized by the national at an executive meeting held at the National Convention in Indianapolis in June of 1989. This enabled the Alton Chapter to articulate its concepts and contributions on a national level. As of June 1999, there are 80 chapters in 48 states, with membership of over 10,000 with development activities underway in many other communities. PURPOSE The national organization, 100 Black Men of America, Inc., a confederation of all existing "100 Black Men" chapters, was formed in 1986 to marshal a force of outstanding men whose collective training, skills and experiences could achieve meaningful gains for the African American Community. To realize our goals, our confederation focuses considerable time and resources on:
These and other issues are the essence of activities for all affiliates as we seek a better way of life for the residents of our respective communities and endeavor to uniformly and seriously address the myriad concerns affecting us all. The binding force of the "100 Movement" is the diversity of our members and programs. "100 Black Men" chapters throughout the country are uniform in our charge to improve the chances of success for African American men and women by encouraging the attainment of higher levels of education through greater exposure to career and societal opportunities.
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