From big sisters to reading mentors: Obama Foundation youth programs change lives

Herbert Toler III, MBK Ambassador

Newark, New Jersey

Herbert Toler III wasn’t much of a reader before becoming an MBK ambassador.

Now, he’s leading Newark’s fight to close the literacy gap and practicing what he preaches. He’s currently reading “Down These Mean Streets,” a memoir by Piri Thomas.

“If I’m going to be telling kids to read, there is no reason that I shouldn’t be doing the same thing,” said Toler, a senior at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, studying economics with minors in urban studies and English. 

The MBK Ambassador program engages 18 young men of color from across the country as mentors, advocates, and community leaders, driving local change and advancing My Brother’s Keeper’s mission to help boys and young men of color thrive.

“ I knew that I wanted to have an impact on a community.”

–Herbert Toler III

Toler’s journey to MBK began with persistence. After reaching out repeatedly to the Newark Opportunity Youth Network during his sophomore year of high school, he secured a summer role that transformed into an ambassadorship. 

“I knew that I wanted to have an impact on a community. I knew that I wanted to learn the most from an organization that was having impact,” Toler recalled.

Working closely with his mentor, Toler learned a fundamental truth: “Everything happens at the speed of relationships.” That principle now guides his approach to community work.

He’s tackling Newark’s literacy crisis through a three-pronged strategy examining public safety, education and housing sectors. The work connects to lessons learned from his grandfather, Herbert Toler I, a man who “created so much opportunity for a lot of my family” through his investment in future generations.

“Whenever I think of this quote, I think of him immediately,” Toler said. “It’s something like, being a man is planting trees of which you’ll never see the fruits of. His kind of foresight to invest so much… He has given me such a perspective that I can’t only invest in myself but those who come after me.”

Toler graduates this spring with a commitment to making excellent education accessible to all children, starting by making reading fun and “gamified” for the next generation.