The inaugural Determination to Succeed Community Mentoring Awards Banquet, honoring those in the community who have been great mentors in a variety of ways, will be held on April 11, 6-9 p.m. at the Goodman Community Center. Jamaal Eubanks, the host of the event, says it will be an “opportunity to give flowers to” all of the wonderful people doing the work of mentorship in the greater Madison community who have made an impact and a difference in young people’s lives.
“Sometimes those people in our community who have done such great work with mentorship don’t even get recognized until they pass away,” Eubanks tells Madison365. Eubanks is the founder of a variety of community organizations including Determination to Succeed. “So that’s why it’s important to me, and I want to make sure that those people get recognized while they’re still here. Mentoring, in general, saves lives. I’m not sure what paths many young people would go down without somebody taking an interest in them when they don’t have to.”
Before the Community Mentoring Awards Banquet can happen, Eubanks is asking for help from the community to nominate deserving individuals to be honored at the event. There are five different mentoring categories to nominate people for.: community auntie, community uncle, entrepreneur mentor, coach, and cross-generational mentor.
“We have the category of coach, which goes beyond the X’s and O’s, and are the ones that really pay attention and check in on kids well being who have gone above and beyond, taking a kid to and from practice, games, and tournaments, and checking in on their school. A person who maybe even has paid for kids to eat,” Eubanks says. “Another important category is the community aunt or the community uncle … those individuals that are showing up and supporting kids that aren’t even theirs.
“Then there’s the entrepreneur mentor. There are so many of us who have someone who has helped guide us along the way. Someone to bounce ideas off of or to help people to create a business for them,” Eubanks adds. 
The final category is cross-generational mentor. “That’s somebody that has probably helped me as an adult as well as my children, or helped me when I was a child, and now that I have children that are kind of going back and giving back and helping them as well … that could be anybody from a teacher or just maybe a community figure.”
Nominations are due by Monday, Feb. 17 when the first round of voting will close. Nominations should include the mentor’s name, the best way to contact them, and the reason why the nominator feels they’re deserving of the nomination. Nominations can be made here.
“I will narrow it down to the top three vote-getters in the five categories and we will have another round,” Eubanks says. “The community will vote on those three and the winner will be honored at the banquet.”
The Determination to Succeed Community Mentoring Awards Banquet will not only be an opportunity to honor those doing the work but will directly support another worthy cause, the 2nd annual Determination to Succeed Back2School Summit. Back in August of 2024, Eubanks hosted the inaugural Determination to Succeed Back to School Summit where many talented and brilliant young Black males were able to listen to and learn from some of Madison’s best and brightest professionals in a series of panels and workshops at an all-day event at Capital High School on Regent Street.
“The first summit was great. There was a good turnout for students and parents were happy that their kids were involved and they have shared with them stories about how impactful and powerful it was,” Eubanks says. “So they wanted to do it again, and hopefully any funding that is left over from funding the summit will be used to create a cohort of students that will be a part of the mentoring program for the academic school year.
“This will be our second Summit, which we are planning for August again. It’s an event that is important to me because community and mentoring have been huge for me and an important part of my life,” he adds.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Determination to Succeed Community Mentoring Awards Banquet will have a cocktail hour for networking followed by the banquet and then music and socializing. The master of ceremonies will be Donta Brown.
“I’m hoping to get a lot of nominations for awards for the various mentoring categories. I really just felt like we needed to give flowers to those people who are making a difference in our community while they’re still here to smell them,” Eubanks says.
Early bird registration for the Determination to Succeed Community Mentoring Awards Banquet is going on through Feb. 17 where tickets are on sale for $50 until Feb. 17, and then the regular general admission tickets will be $75. Eubanks says there are opportunities to purchase tables and sponsorship opportunities, as well.
For questions about the nominations or the banquet, e-mail [email protected]
