This weekend, more than 1,000 young men took to the streets for a peace march ahead of the summer.
Now, the movement is growing into something much bigger.
"I didn't want to be the next stereotype<' Brendyn Shields, life coach, said. "I didn't want to be the next black man to be lying on the pavement."
Shields was in the eighth grade when his best friend died by suicide. That loss was one of many hardships he faced as a kid.
"Everything was kind of a flight or fight for me," Shields said. "I was fortunate, and that's what made me realize like this is not the life I have to live."
He found his way to a brotherhood known for its pink ties and bigger purpose.
"I was one of those, like, man, we gotta wear a pink necktie," Shields said.
He put the tie on anyway and now he's helping to train the next generation to see their own potential, too.
"Goal was to bring 1,000 Black and Brown boys together for a positive message," I Am A Gentleman founder Jermaine Anderson said.
What started as a collaborative effort between I Am A Gentlemen founder Jermaine Anderson and seven organizations to get Black and Brown boys to march for positive change has now become the My Brother's Keeper Alliance.
The mission: prepare young people for careers, education, and leadership - while interrupting the cycles of violence too many grow up around.
"We made a pact with each other," Anderson said. "We said this work would always be in collaboration with each other and never in competition."
With the backing of the Obama Foundation and the new presidential center on the South Side, more kids will be reached.
"There are youth in Philadelphia, there are youth in Dallas, there are youth in Detroit, Michigan that deserves this experience," Anderson said.
So they too, can put on the tie, look in the mirror, and realize the hope and possibilities, their futures hold.
"I'm stepping in rooms I was told I could never enter into," Shields said. "We're here to stay, we're here to fight, we're here to lead, we're here to be an example."
My Brother's Keeper stands as a living reflection of its purpose, not simply preserving a legacy, but investing in the next generation of leaders. The Obama Presidential Center opens this Friday to the public.