African American Male Initiative

Program Information

Duration: 2nd grade through high school graduation (11 years)
Mentor Term: 2-3 years
Primary Site: Wiley Elementary (122% poverty rate)

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About the Program

The African American Male Mentoring Initiative (AAMI) was designed to provide African American and other boys the opportunity to participate in a life-altering mentoring experience beginning in the second grade and lasting through the senior year in high school. Mentees are assigned a mentor who agrees to serve a two-three year term, providing both school and community based mentoring and enrichment activities.re an affiliate of the nation’s largest dropout prevention organization.

Primarily, the project aims to provide a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult and enrichment activities.

100%

of 2019 graduates are college-enrolled or gainfully employed

2-3

year mentor commitment providing consistent support

11

years of support from 2nd grade through high school graduation

The Challenge

Statistics show that boys growing up in poverty generally have fewer caring adults in their lives than normal. The average child growing up in poverty stays within an eight mile radius of their homes until they turn 13 years old. Many of the students that we served were in poverty and in attendance at Wiley Elementary. Wiley Elementary has a 122% poverty rate. Poverty is a daily reality for 100% of the boys that we work with. Most of the boys in our program experienced limited access to environments that cultivate social skills, academic background knowledge and cultural enrichment. Also, less than 25% of the boys at Wiley were proficient in both math and reading.

Overcoming Barriers

Because of their circumstances, many of our boys came into AAMI facing significant challenges. Over the years we encountered a number of participants who were in situations where expectations of them were extremely low. For a number of reasons, we encountered a number of participants who regularly expressed anger and violence when faced with confrontation.

Our participants faced extraordinary challenges including:

  • One participant received a gunshot wound during his Sophomore year in high school
  • Multiple boys whose fathers were incarcerated
  • One participant returned to his home country for one year and did not attend school during that time
  • Participants working third shift while attending school to support their families
  • Young men working long hours to pay household bills due to family illness

Our Response

CISGG brokered a number of relationships with the community to support students in securing basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. We introduced the boys to multiple mentors over 8 years who made weekly contacts with them. We exposed the boys to a plethora of enrichment activities and experiences. We were very intentional about presenting our participants to a vast number of job shadowing and career exploratory opportunities. CISGG provided many of the participants with their first paid work experience.

Celebrating Success: Our First Graduating Class!

Of course, the boys have demonstrated a tremendous transformation! We just celebrated our first graduating class of AAMI! Three of our participants enrolled into college. Three of our participants are gainfully employed in the Greensboro, NC community. All of these young men are well rounded adults; very capable of advocating and marketing themselves!

Our 2019 graduates include: Pedro Gonzalez, Yukail Tucker, Kevin Mendoza, Dorien Porter, Ian Keen, and Joshua Lawson.