National CARES Mentoring Movement
Our Guiding Philosophy
Our Guiding Philosophy
A New Way Forward: Healing What’s Hurting Black America
Our guiding philosophy is captured in the manual, A New Way Forward: Healing What’s Hurting Black America (ANWF), a meticulous and comprehensive healing curriculum developed by a brain trust of more than 60 of the finest minds in the academic, wellness and advocacy fields. Its goal is to instill in us adults the principles and practices that lead to personal wellness, inner peace, prosperity and mutual love. At the same time, ANWF aims to revitalize Black America, to help Black people heal our deep hurts, depression and self-denial—rarely recognized or discussed but internalized over generations and evident today in the disproportionately high levels of stress and illnesses impact-ing the lives and the joy of African Americans—no matter our social status or net worth. Black Americans are more likely than any other Americans to die of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Twice as many Black people than Whites die from asthma, and our death rate from cancer is 25 percent higher. The A New Way Forward manual was brought to life in 2010 through a series of weekend trainings that were launched in Oakland and led by our Oakland Bay Area CARES Affiliate. The ANWF principles and practices unearth the secret places where our pain bridles our hope. The life-transforming wisdom and training shine the light on self-love and create pathways to total well-being. It was best captured in what our brain trust elder, Harry Belafonte, so beautifully and perfectly put into words when he said, “We will never be able to fix what most affects our children until we fix what most affects us.”
Our Guiding Philosophy
Our guiding philosophy is captured in the manual, A New Way Forward: Healing What’s Hurting Black America (ANWF), a meticulous and comprehensive healing curriculum developed by a brain trust of more than 60 of the finest minds in the academic, wellness and advocacy fields. Its goal is to instill in us adults the principles and practices that lead to personal wellness, inner peace, prosperity and mutual love.
At the same time, ANWF aims to revitalize Black America, to help Black people heal our deep hurts, depression and self-denial—rarely recognized or discussed but internalized over generations and evident today in the disproportionately high levels of stress and illnesses impact-ing the lives and the joy of African Americans—no matter our social status or net worth. Black Americans are more likely than any other Americans to die of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Twice as many Black people than Whites die from asthma, and our death rate from cancer is 25 percent higher.
The A New Way Forward manual was brought to life in 2010 through a series of weekend trainings that were launched in Oakland and led by our Oakland Bay Area CARES Affiliate. The ANWF principles and practices unearth the secret places where our pain bridles our hope. The life-transforming wisdom and training shine the light on self-love and create pathways to total well-being. It was best captured in what our brain trust elder, Harry Belafonte, so beautifully and perfectly put into words when he said, “We will never be able to fix what most affects our children until we fix what most affects us.”
The Practice: Wellness Mentoring Circles
Our group-mentoring efforts come alive most compellingly in our Wellness Mentoring Circles (WMCs), which are curriculum-based, single-gender gatherings led by trained facilitators and a support team of men-tors. The WMCs offer young people a consistent and a safe place to share their thoughts as well as to seek guidance. These gatherings, which for our youngsters are offered in schools, provide methods that allow students to address and resolve their personal challenges, freeing them to fully embrace their academics. In addition, WMCs are offered for our mentors and leaders, where they not only receive training in the CARES method and framework, but they can also share and work through their challenges in life and in mentoring. With this approach, temporary upsets that typically drive mentors away from the work instead give them a way to be supported. The Wellness Mentoring Circles are culture-comfortable gatherings where our shared language, customs, spiritual beliefs, histories and humor facilitate easy communication and trust.