Vincent E. Cobb Ii, M.S.Ed. Email & Phone Number

Vincent Cobb is co-founder and CEO of The Summer House Institute Inc. A national organization committed to inspiring, developing and growing the next generation of Black males working in US public schools. Raised in Syracuse, New York, Vincent began his community work in high school as an organizer and youth activist for the Hip Hop Summit Action Network. His love for youth, education, and community was inspired by his seventh-grade black male teacher who motivated his passion to radically change the world. In college, Vincent founded the Empowering Minds Movement, offering high school students early experiences with mentoring, conferences organized by student groups, and college benefit concerts. As a black male educator in the Syracuse City School District, Vincent managed an annual community projects fund through the Say Yes to Education Foundation. He also worked for Teach For America in Philadelphia, managing partnerships and the region’s focus on black male initiatives. Vincent has received numerous awards, including Camelback, Education Pioneers, New Schools, and BMe Community fellowships, and he was recognized by the Knight Foundation as a top school leader energizing hundreds of teachers and school leaders. As a student leader and community activist, Vincent E. Cobb II ’08 speaks with deep conviction about his faith, the challenges faced by inner-city youth, and his commitment to empowering them through education. “My strongest passion is for the community,” he says. “I feel that’s where my calling is.”A lifelong Syracuse resident and Nottingham High School graduate, Cobb is the oldest of four children and will be the first in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree. He credits his parents (his father, Vincent E. Cobb, is an instructional technology analyst at the Newhouse School) with instilling in him the importance of education and family. He also cites his home church and his pastor and godfather, the Rev. Kenneth Reed, with inspiring him to have the faith and determination to take on challenges. “I have to be challenged in some way to feel I have progressed,” Cobb says. Written By Editor and Chief—Jay Cox