100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge is making a difference in the community by broadening diversity initiatives through its Greater Baton Rouge Brotherhood & Sisterhood program.  Creating interactions at an early age that continue through adulthood can have a major impact on diversity issues and opinions, and that’s just what the organization did recently by distributing proceeds from its 2009 Brotherhood Sisterhood Awards Dinner.

At this year’s dinner Thursday evening, September 2, at the Shaw Center, 100 Black Men recognized six East Baton Rouge Parish School System schools and one organization that are helping advance diversity initiatives through the acceptance of racial, socioeconomic, ethnic and religious ideas throughout the community.

The following won awards of $1,000 each to continue their efforts:
• Broadmoor Elementary School, Principal - Larry Harris
• Broadmoor Middle School, Principal - Dr. Denise Charbonnet
First photo, left to right:  Charbonnet, eighth grader Lilal Dennis, seventh grader Pybrielle Hill, teacher and Brotherhood Sisterhood Program school moderator Rena London and seventh grader Ashley Johnson.
• Glasgow Middle School, Principal - Judy Odell
• La Belle Aire Elementary School, Principal - Da'Anne Lipscomb
Second photo, left to right:  front row – students Nereyda Quirino, Toby Caris; second row -- students Maciah Walton, Jesus Sanchez, Samuel Jackson; third row  -- Lipscomb and students Cindy Do, Ainsley Sanders, Bryan Castillo and Assistant Principal Erica Aguillard; back row – guidance counselor Daniella Letelier.
• Northdale Academy, Principal - LeRoy Helire
• Scotlandville High School, Principal - Ernest Morris
• Forum 35, Diversity Committee

The annual Brotherhood Sisterhood Award Dinner recognizes individuals in the Greater Baton Rouge community who have devoted their professional, philanthropic, and volunteer capacities to humanitarian service. In advancing the mission of joining hands across racial, socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious lines, the honorees of the Brotherhood Sisterhood Award have worked to break down the barriers that divide our community and prevent us from working and living together in harmony.