The Black Male Initiative Georgia is a left-of-center Fairburn, Georgia-based advocacy group geared towards Black men in Georgia. The group has protested the creation of a police training center in Atlanta nicknamed “Cop City” by its opponents and helped gather signatures to try and force a referendum to block the center’s construction. ¹

The leading co-founder of the group is a long-time employee of the  Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ²

Background

The Black Male Initiative Georgia was founded in 2019 after the aftermath of the hotly contested 2018 elections in Georgia. The group began life in 2018 as a project of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. The group’s first programs were Black Youth the Vote! and a certified pretrial diversion program in the counties of Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton in metropolitan Atlanta. ³

The motivation for creating the group was that many Black men were concerned about the stereotypical narratives that surrounded Black men. The group was created to write a new narrative around black men in Georgia. ⁴

The group offers programs in five areas: civic engagement, criminal justice, education, Black mental health and wellness, and economic empowerment. The group uses canvassers to reach Black men directly by knocking on their doors to educate them about the group. Many of the canvassers are young Black men, some of whom are working their first job or are former felons. ⁵

The group is a sister group of the Black Male Initiative Fund. ⁶

Advocacy

Mass Transit

On February 2022, the Black Male Initiative Georgia joined a rally for higher mass transit spending on civil rights activist Rosa Parks’s birthday. The Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council organized the march. The group supported expanding public transportation to more suburban counties in metropolitan Atlanta. ⁷

Black Male Voting Habits

In December 2022, the Black Male Initiative Georgia’s director gave an interview to Rolling Stone magazine about why more Black men were voting Republican than in previous elections. He claimed it was because Black men had unrealistic expectations of Barack Obama’s presidency. ⁸

Police Training Complex

In 2023, the Black Male Initiative Georgia joined protests against a proposed Atlanta Police training complex opponents had nicknamed “Cop City.” The group helped collect more 116,000 signatures to try and force a referendum on the construction of the complex. ⁹

Leadership

The Black Male Initiative Georgia’s director is John Taylor III. Taylor is a long-time Service Employees International Union (SEIU) employee who last worked as a national field director of SEIU’s Property Services Division. Taylor is also co-chairperson of the Martin Luther King, Jr. March Committee. He also is the board chair for the Center for Third World Organizing and the SEIU Education Support Fund. ¹⁰

Lyndon Waller is the civic engagement pillar co-chair. He is the programs director for the Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda. ¹¹

State Representative El-Mahdi Holly (D-Stockbridge) is the education pillar co-chair. ¹²

Finances

According to the Black Male Initiative Georgia’s 2022 tax return, the group had $503,397 in revenue, $417,645 in expenses, and $321,495 in assets. ¹³

1. Cruz, Chamian. “‘cop City’ Organizers Hit with Legal Challenge after Collecting 116K Signatures in Favor of a Referendum.” WABE, September 11, 2023. https://www.wabe.org/cop-city-organizers-hit-with-legal-challenge-after-collecting-116k-signatures-in-favor-of-a-referendum/.
2. “Who We Are: Black Male Initiative Georgia.” BMI Georgia. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.bmigeorgia.org/who-we-are.
3. Sims, Sydney. “John Taylor III’s Mission Is to Help Black Men Unlock Their Full Potential.” Atlanta, December 27, 2022. https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/everyday-heroes-john-taylor/.
4. Sims, Sydney. “John Taylor III’s Mission Is to Help Black Men Unlock Their Full Potential.” Atlanta, December 27, 2022. https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/everyday-heroes-john-taylor/.
5. Sims, Sydney. “John Taylor III’s Mission Is to Help Black Men Unlock Their Full Potential.” Atlanta, December 27, 2022. https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/everyday-heroes-john-taylor/.
6. Sims, Sydney. “John Taylor III’s Mission Is to Help Black Men Unlock Their Full Potential.” Atlanta, December 27, 2022. https://atlanta.capitalbnews.org/everyday-heroes-john-taylor/.
7. Moffatt , Emil. “‘A Good, Fair Ride’: Residents Call for Transit Equity – in Atlanta and beyond the Perimeter.” WABE, February 6, 2022. https://www.wabe.org/a-good-fair-ride-residents-call-for-transit-equity-in-atlanta-and-beyond-the-perimeter/.
8. Dent, David J. “Why Are More Black Men Voting Republican?” Rolling Stone, December 4, 2022. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/black-men-voting-republican-obama-trump-romney-1234641210/.
9.  Cruz, Chamian. “‘cop City’ Organizers Hit with Legal Challenge after Collecting 116K Signatures in Favor of a Referendum.” WABE, September 11, 2023. https://www.wabe.org/cop-city-organizers-hit-with-legal-challenge-after-collecting-116k-signatures-in-favor-of-a-referendum/.
10. “Who We Are: Black Male Initiative Georgia.” BMI Georgia. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.bmigeorgia.org/who-we-are.
11. “Who We Are: Black Male Initiative Georgia.” BMI Georgia. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.bmigeorgia.org/who-we-are.
12. “Who We Are: Black Male Initiative Georgia.” BMI Georgia. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.bmigeorgia.org/who-we-are.
13. “Black Male Initiative Georgia Inc, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/833836585/202313199349330286/full.