The 100 Black men gathering that took place a few weeks ago at Southshore Pre-K – 8 School in Seattle, where over 200 Black men greeted the students and provided encouragement to them as they entered the school building, continues to have a positive impact on the community.
Real Life 101 — a non-profit organization out of Detroit, Michigan that provides college scholarships for selected inner city, African American males who are graduating from high school – announced that they will provide scholarships to 10 graduating African American high school students that previously attended Southshore. The organization, founded in 2000, has awarded more than 500 scholarships and over 1500 laptop computers to inner city African American males.
According to Sid Taylor, founder and chairman of Real Life 101, the mission of the organization is to invest in education and not incarceration. Taylor says that it cost $22,600 per year, per inmate to house people in prison and that his organization and the taxpayers are the ones who pay the bill, but Real Life invests in the kids’ future and hopes that the community will reap the benefits of this investment.
“They [Black males] have a one in three chance of going to prison,” Taylor said. “We are investing in them on the front end, which is a positive investment instead of investing in them on the back end, which is a negative investment. This year, we’re going to be giving out across the country over 500 scholarships to Black males.”
Bryant George, executive director of Real Life 101, says he was looking for schools to partner with in Washington State when he came across the article about the 100 Black men’s gathering at Southshore.
“I came across an article that stated that the 100 Black men came to a middle school and greeted every student that came into the school that day and that is something that our Black male task force committee here in Detroit, Michigan has done at several elementary and middle schools,” said George, who is a product of the Real Life 101 program.
“I was completely impressed with how the community has united around the young people and how the community has given them a vision and how they are serving as role models for the kids who might be considered to be at risk by society’s standards,” George continued. “We thought that this would be a great way for us to give back and help the community in Seattle.”
According to George, scholarship recipients will receive:
• $10,000 (payable at $2,000 per year for up to five years)
• a new laptop computer fully loaded with software
• a computer backpack
• and paring with a Certified Real Life Mentor while in the program.
The scholarships are non-competitive, which means, they are not based on GPA, but rather based upon the quality of the required 1000-word essay that each student must write and submit to Real Life with their online application. The organization hopes to fill the scholarships by mid-March and have award letters sent out to recipients by April.
In addition, Real Life 101 is looking for Mentors from the area to pair with the scholarship recipients. Mentors will receive training and become certified by Real Life prior to being paired with a mentee. Mentors can apply or find more information about becoming a mentor online at reallife101.org
“We’re always looking for mentors,” says Taylor. “We’re asking for 10 mentors [from Seattle] because we want them to have a stake in this.”
