In a significant milestone for advancing equity in higher education, the African American Male Education Network & Development (A2MEND) headquartered in California, has announced its first out of state student charters at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota; and Green River College in Washington State.
Founded in 2006, A2MEND is a nonprofit organization led by African American male educators dedicated to fostering institutional change and improving educational outcomes for African American men in community colleges. 
The leadership of the the African American Male Education Network & Development.
The Minnesota charters were officially onboarded last month, and Green River College in Washington was notified of their selection on Dec 5, extending A2MEND’s reach beyond California and advancing its mission to empower African American male students in community colleges.
The addition of the charters brings A2MEND’s total to 51 active charters nationwide, up from the 48 exclusively established in California. The expansion demonstrates the growing national influence of the program and its commitment to Black males in higher education.
“I’m excited about the expansion of the A²MEND Student Charters to Minnesota. This is a testament to their support of student success and investing in intentional, strategic, and impactful programming,” said Dr. Scott Thayer, President of Cypress College. “I graduated from Normandale Community College, and it was instrumental in my success. This is a full circle moment for me, and this is really special. I am a founding member of A2MEND and this is why we started this organization, to create a lasting impact.”
Dr. Erin Vines, the executive director of A²MEND, told Diverse that the issues Black males face in higher education spans across the country and that being able to extend their efforts nationwide has always been the goal, but funding hindered those efforts.
“We’ve been getting interest for a number of years about our programming from schools from all over and fortunately we were successful in writing a grant to be able to fund us to expand our reach,” said Vines. “These three schools were selected based on their application, college readiness and support.”
