ANNOUNCER: Funding for this program was made possible by The Heinz Endowments.

Thank you.

EREK CLACKS: Let's start thinking right now.

Get all my gear right back into it, what we're going to focus on for today's class.

What's one thing you got out of class that you didn't know before?

Take your time.

For me, it's these kids.

This is the future.

They're going to either be on a corner, they're going to be in jail, or they're going to be out there in corporate America, or they're going to be an asset to society.

All of them are going to go somewhere.

- What happened?

What did you do?

Just the fact being a male whether I like it or not, we're dealing with a lot of single-parent children.

That has to happen a lot.

A lot of them don't have too many males, positive males around, so.

And they tend to...

Seems like they like going to us a lot.

NARRATOR: All across our region, American men are helping African-American boys to prepare for the future.

- As a social worker, not an educator, that every person has within them the capacity to achieve goals that are important and to solve their own problems.

I see this as a new set of tools to help young people overcome adversity.

- Hello.

My name is Tyree Walton.

JERRY: To not take no for an answer and to make a life full of purpose and vision that's important to them.

- So I am basically trying to make tee shirts that have some type of message going through it.

- Okay.

- And this here is a big brother and a little brother.

Basically the message behind this tee shirt is the big brother leading the way - for the little brother.

- Oh, wow!

NARRATOR: Building leadership skills in business and in the field of life.

DR. REX CRAWLEY: When I look at these 75 kids in here, I'm encouraged.

I realize that despite the statistics, despite what the media says about African-American men, that there is a group of young men, there are thousands of young men just like these 75 who are trying to figure out how to be the leaders of the next generation.

And these guys are hungry.

They're hungry for knowledge.

They're hungry for help, and they are excited about taking their rightful places in American society.

- My name is Delanoy Clark, and what I'm doing here is to better myself and since I'm a black man in America, it's hard.

So I want to, you know, broaden my horizons on life and to enhance my skills on leadership.

- Trust me, we all have our like hopes and dreams that we want to accomplish.

As for me, I want to be a veterinarian.

So I want to go to college and study in the medical field so I can accomplish that.

So yeah, education is very important to me and I'm sure it's very important to everybody else here.

NARRATOR: For a long time, American success seemed to come with a guarantee.

Anyone who was willing to work hard, dream big, and keep their nose to the wheel could achieve the so-called "American dream."

And while that dream hasn't always been available to all Americans, particularly African-American men and boys, there are those who've devoted their lives to tailoring that dream to fit the dreamer.

INTERVIEWER: What can you say this program has meant to you?

- This program did so much for me and my family.

It helped me become more outgoing.

It helped me become not scared to speak in big crowds or in the camera like I am doing now.

It's easier to speak one-on-one with people, hold a conversation.

It helped me with my mathematics and plenty things like that.

It also kept money in my pocket.

- We believe that learning to think entrepreneurially and having the experience of business creation brings lifelong advantage to young people.

Our organization targets kids in lower-income communities because typically the highest percentage of underachieving, academically struggling and economically disadvantaged young people live in those neighborhoods.

We're trying to get them to see that no matter their circumstance today, they can create new possibilities for a life of opportunity and success.

TYREE: At Little Brother Apparel, we sell tee shirts for a wide variety of consumers.

Start with the ages of 12 to 21 because it has more of a younger generation appeal.

Right here is one of my many designs.

It's a Little Brother design.

It's basically two brothers holding hands, walking down the street.

Little brother listening to music, big brother holding his hand, leading him the way.

The inspiration of the hand-holding business was my little brother.

- They helped him develop more applicable math skills that he can use because he's in honors classes.

So algebra in honors was hard for him even though he still maintained a "B".

After entrepreneuring, he took his "B" to an "A".

It really has helped him a lot to definitely achieve, especially in honors math class.

Yeah, he's still doing a good job.

NARRATOR: Tyree Walton is a student in Manchester Academic Charter School where teacher Dennis Henderson is his Entrepreneuring Youth sponsor.

DENNIS HENDERSON: Some of the students volunteer to come on Saturday because they do have a very dedicated personality.

How did imperialism set the stage... And it's not just students.

It's their parents.

We have dedicated parents and dedicated students, and once they signed up for the entrepreneuring program, they were aware that this was something that was a two-year commitment.

They had to commit Saturdays as well as summertime, and these students, they just stuck with what they had signed up for, and we try to make it as entertaining as possible while they are learning, so that way it's not a grueling, extended day of the week as far as schoolwork.

The conjunction between what we do at MACS and what we do at Entrepreneuring Youth and other programs that we do as far as hands-on applicable learning, it takes it beyond the classroom.

So they might learn a concept in the classroom, but to go out and actually apply that concept into something that is applicable to our society and our community, whether it's entrepreneuring or whether it's doing mock trials within the courtroom, the students are actually taking something that they learned about in the room and now they're actually demonstrating that skill in a way that it will be applied in the real world.

- The event today is the final round of our business plan competition which is named after the late George W. Tippins.

So it's the Tippins Business Plan Competition in which competitors from all around the region, from Fayette County all the way to Beaver County and through Allegheny County have come up through the ranks of a long process of competing and pitching their business ideas, and tonight they've pitched their ideas for the final time and they'll soon learn how much money they win to invest in their business.

- Thank you for the consideration of J&J Soothing Cream, The Real Deal.

- Oh my goodness!

First of all, our winner last year became Black Enterprises Teen Entrepreneur of the Year just a month ago with her balloon art business.

She does programs for young children, parties, that parents hire her for, and is making $6,000 or $7,000 a year and she's just finishing her sophomore year at high school.

We have a young person who makes an organic healing cream, two brothers.

We have young people making original artwork in the form of jewelry or logos on tee shirts.

It is really bringing out the best in young people in terms of the talent and creativity, and they're learning how to take that and convert it into a business idea.

- How it's impacted your life, how well it's been working for you.

If it wasn't working well for you, tell us.

Be honest.

We want to make our cream better... JERRY: I see young people whose introduction of themselves was barely audible, whose handshake had the consistency of jello, and whose voices and eye contact were minimally present, and now, they'll stick their hand out, introduce themselves as the founder and owner of a business, give you a business card, and invite you to do business with them.

And whether or not they ever have their name on the door, that's a job interview.

That's confidence.

That's poise, and that makes me get up and go to work the next morning with enthusiasm.

EREK: At this time, ladies and gentlemen, open up your book to page 3.

We add up every one... NARRATOR: At Manchester K through 8, educators know that instilling confidence in their students can often be the first step to a successful future.

EREK: Landlocked countries.

Give me a landlocked country, ladies and gentlemen.

NARRATOR: Social studies teacher Erek Clacks understands the importance of being an African-American male teacher in the lives of his students.

- We all are role models and I try to share that with each and every one of my students, each and every one of us.

So the way I carry myself is the way they look at an African-American male adult figure.

Three largest countries in Africa we talked about last week.

Oh, oh, remember, we often sing together.

We would never talk together.

Start me off with the first one, Marquis.

You know, so there's a lot of aspects that come with it, and I understand that.

I'm a role model, and it's my responsibility to illustrate to them, you know, how we conduct ourself in a civilized society.

NARRATOR: Erek Clacks served in the US Army for 21 years as both an enlisted man and an officer.

He retired as a major and has now turned his considerable talents to teaching.

- I would hire 100 Mr. Clacks if I could.

It's without a doubt necessary for the children to see anyone that is representative of themselves.

NARRATOR: Mrs. Theresa Cherry is the principal at this predominantly African-American school on Pittsburgh's North Side.

INTERVIEWER: He seems in the classroom to bring some of that military bearing to his teaching.

Do you see that?

THERESA: I do, but every teacher has their own way of establishing discipline and order in the classroom, and you tend to go with what you know, and Mr. Clacks comes from a military background.

So he sets the expectation in his classroom that this is the way it's going to be.

There's going to be order.

You're going to learn, and you're going to achieve to your highest potential.

There aren't any excuses.

It's like, let me tell you, there's no excuse.

- You're going to do this.

- What's the first region?

- [indistinct] - Region.

- North Africa.

- North Africa.

What's the second region?

South Africa.

What's the third region?

East Africa.

What's the fourth region?

Fantastic, ladies and gentlemen.

Now we're rockin' and rollin'.

Let's continue.

Let's go.

INTERVIEWER: What's different about it?

- They won't talk to us like Mr. Clacks does, like the way Mr. Clacks talks to us.

He keeps us in line.

He talks to us in the way that we will want to be treated and we're treated with more respect.

- Someone has to make a difference.

I'm at a point in my life where I realize it's not about monetary value.

For me, personally, it's more about what contribution can I make in society.

You know, how can I impact the lives of others.

How can I give hope to those who don't have hope.

When I look at these young men, particularly in my classroom, their potential-- and I was the same way.

NARRATOR: Mr. Clacks is not alone at Manchester.

Two paraprofessionals, Rhuman Brooks and Ramon Creighton provide support for teachers and students.

- Come on now.

Me too.

Come on.

We're going this way.

Here.

This is for you.

[CHUCKLES] It'll be okay, man.

Their minds are kind of like different.

They're going in every which way.

Their hormones are starting to kick in, and you know, the neighborhood is starting to become an influence, and they don't really know which way to go, and hopefully by the encouraging words from myself and a lot of the other teachers here, especially with our young black males, because they have it rough.

They have it rough.

Like it or not, it's tough for them in the city, so we have to be almost like that last stand.

I'm not a teacher.

I'm a paraprofessional, but I've had a lot of kids tell me like, I wish you were my teacher, I wish you were, you know... Because at least, you know, you will listen.

You know, you could talk to us.

- Mr. Creighton is in in-school suspension.

He spends his time mentoring the males that go through there, and he checks up on them.

He doesn't just see them on the one or two days that they end up in his room.

He goes out and seeks them out.

He goes out at lunchtime-- you know, how you doing today.

He's trying to build a relationship with the kids so that the triggers don't happen, that they end up in a negative situation or in in-school suspension with him.

And Mr. Brooks, he heads up the after-school sports programs for the children in the building, and he works really hard to mentor several of the children.

And he also checks in with the kids to make sure that they're going to have a good day.

He's there at the door greeting them when they come in in the morning.

How you doing.

He knows the kids.

Everybody knows the kids.

They know the kids that are having a rough day.

- It's tough.

I'll be honest.

It's tough.

Most of our kids are coming from, you know, homes that have some issues and some problems, but that's what I got hired for, to be able to help these kids, you know, with the problems that they have.

When they get to school, primarily a lot of the issues that we have are kids that they're resistant to authority.

A lot of African-American male, you know, the male authority figure is not in the home.

So a lot of times, they're really resistant, you know, towards what we ask them to do and what we need them to do, but we make sure we continue to mentor them and give them the right encouragement to help them each day that they're here.

I've watched a lot of kids that came in on the kindergarten level, and I'm seeing them be promoted.

I'm seeing them going to other schools and they come to me and they tell me.

You know, Mr. Brooks, thank you for helping me out or you know, Mr. Brooks, thank you for doing this, you know.

So I can see their attitudes changing.

I think that they learned a lot.

So yeah, I do.

I think I do make a difference.

Give me a high sign.

Give me a high sign and I'll see you later, all right?

Okay.

NARRATOR: Having role models does make a difference, and it becomes even more critical as these African-American boys grow into manhood.

Dr. Rex Crawley and the Black Male Leadership Development Institute prefer a hands-on approach.

- My life strategy, my life work, my life research centers around the healthy development of African-American boys and men.

NARRATOR: Dr. Crawley is the Assistant Dean at Robert Morris University, and the co-director of the BMLDI.

- Well, the curriculum for the Black Male Leadership Development Institute is designed such that it provides supplemental support to both families, schools, and communities.

So they go through an extensive and intensive curriculum designed to both educate and empower.

INTERVIEWER: What do they learn?

DR. REX CRAWLEY: A myriad of things.

So for example, today the focus is core ethical values.

So we spend the entire day, first of all, introducing them to the concept of core ethical values so they learn how to identify core ethical values, how to apply it to their life, and then engage in discussions about how values impact behavior.

- It's a no SAG classroom.

It's a bring yo' academic SWAG classroom.

So we're going to turn the SAG into an academic SWAG, but you need to understand that this is how the world sees savages.

I'm keeping it real for those of us who know the history.

- We are making a difference.

It's not even a question of whether or not I think we are.

- How many of you came to the camp this week to do your best?

- And they ask questions like, "So why is society so difficult for African-American men?"

- How many of you came to the camp this week to represent?

Who are you representing?

- And they're high school guys who are protected and cared for, and they can't figure out why what they're about to enter-- this thing called life-- why is it so difficult for them.

- This is a presentation about excellence.

This is a presentation about doing your best.

- The powerful thing about BMLDI is that it represents the unique opportunity for a social service organization like the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh to partner with an academic institution like Robert Morris.

An average BMLDI participant is a young guy who is not a 3.0 student in high school but probably around a 2.5 who is probably from a single family-parent home who is committed and interested in success as a potential first-generation college student, wants to make it, not sure how to make it, and is interested in developing the skills outside of school that will ensure his success.

NARRATOR: Troy Miles is one of 75 student participants.

Troy says the Institute has opened his eyes.

- Well, I always knew that people look at you a certain way in how you handle yourself.

But yesterday we learned about you being a brand.

I thought about it for awhile after we talked about it, and I realized that I needed to re-establish how I acted and like the things that I did and I need to work on my work ethic.

I work hard, but I don't think I work hard enough.

A few months ago, I was thinking to myself and realizing I needed help.

I thought about it longer and I realized it's because I didn't have a dad and I didn't have a male figure to look up to.

So I guess that's what I've been looking for these past couple of months.

I've been hopping around places, you know.

But everybody seems to be really busy, but there's a lot of guys here that you can talk to to help you out.

- Right up the stairs.

NARRATOR: For Sabrina Saunders who is co-director of BMLDI and Director of Education Youth Development for the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, those strong connections are at the core of the Institute's mission.

- The Black Male Leadership Development Institute is not a program.

This is a life-changing experience for most of these young men, many of whom have never been away from home.

They've been exposed to a college campus.

They have met and had an opportunity to communicate with some of the most prominent African-American men in our community.

This is something that they'll never forget.

- Well, I had actually received an application from my aunt, and I'd had it for a few weeks deciding on whether I wanted to come or not, and at the last minute I just got this feeling that it was going to be good, it was going to turn out good, so yeah, I filled it in, and I came here and it actually turned out for the best.

I'm learning how to be a leader, stuff like that, and make good decisions, and we actually do care about our education because sometimes when I see people in my school, like it kind of makes me feel bad for them because like they don't really want an education, so they take it away from other people who actually do, and they're like giving us a bad reputation.

- My test... - My test.

- Is to do my best.

- Is to do my best.

- I'm on the move.

- I'm on the move.

- To improve.

- To improve.

- What I'm doing here is to better myself and since I'm a black man in America, it's hard.

So I want to, you know, broaden my horizons on life and to enhance my skills on leadership.

- Because while you're sleeping, somewhere in Korea, somewhere in Asia, somewhere in Japan, somewhere in Europe, somewhere else in the US, there's someone your age right now who got up early in the morning, who's preparing to meet you at some point in your lifetimes.

It could be in a classroom.

It could be on the football field.

It could be on the basketball court, and while you're sleeping... that individual is preparing to defeat you, and so you need to understand that bringing your "A" game is about doing your best.

NARRATOR: When the Black Male Leadership Development Institute began, it was a much shorter and less intensive program.

DR. REX CRAWLEY: This is our fifth year.

We started out as a one-day leadership summit.

We went to Duquesne because at that point, it was the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University was their host.

And actually when our university president attended with me, we had the same reaction like, wouldn't it be cool if we brought these kids to campus and did it for like three days?

And we did the three-day experience and it was wonderful, but we said three days is not enough.

So we moved to five days, and we did it for five days and said, you know, we still need more time with these kids.

So we went to seven days.

NARRATOR: In a week-long residency program, it can't all be classroom instruction.

There's got to be some downtime.

DR. REX: Right.

So one of the things that we were committed to is that in their recreation time, for example.

We know that their natural desire and inclination is probably going to be basketball and football.

They do that all the time.

You could do that in any field, and so we said we really want to expose them to something different.

NARRATOR: BMLDI staff chose Ultimate Frisbee as a fun and challenging way to teach life skills.

- So it builds upon the curriculum, and it gives them this level of physical activity and it exposes them to something that they otherwise would not have exposure to.

TROY MILES: I like Ultimate Frisbee.

It's fun.

You can have a star player, but everybody has to put up the work or it won't work.

Like Ultimate is like a true team sport.

It's like a real team sport.

- So these guys are highly competitive, as you could imagine.

They're getting the physical activity that we need to wear them out so that they can go to sleep at night, and they're learning life skills, and they come back.

They start out resisting-- I don't want to play Frisbee.

I want to go play basketball or we want to play touch football, and we say nope, we need 35 guys to sign up for this.

Just try it one day.

By the end of the week, they're saying, it's the best thing they've ever experienced.

NARRATOR: Among the many learning experiences BMLDI provides is the opportunity to mentor the next generation of young people.

At the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School, CEO Esther Bush explains their mission.

- I am extremely pleased to see that after the one-week residential and after they go through the once-a-month program throughout the year... - If that was your family, you wouldn't... ESTHER: They're more interested in school.

They're more confident in themselves.

They're eager to ask questions.

They believe that they can do more.

- This is anti-bullying, scene 1.

Action.

ESTHER: It's wonderful for these young kids to see these big high school guys because that's who they want to grow up to be like to come in, talk to them, work with them, care about them, express some love and support for them as well.

So it's a win-win, and that's why we have these high school guys coming in to work with the elementary school kids because we want them to see what they can be in the next few years.

So it's encouraging and motivating.

NARRATOR: The absence of positive adult role models can leave an unfortunate void in a young man's life, but as long as there are people willing to fill that void, there's always hope for teaching success.

- Young black African-American males, they need role models.

They need other black males who look like them in the classroom.

- And what do we know about calling these... - A lot of them, they tell me, you know, you look like my Dad; you smile like my Dad.

That's something they can relate to.

They need that male figure.

JERRY: Because race matters greatly and I'm cognizant of that every day that I'm alive in terms of the barriers put in front of young African-American people in our community.

I believe that racism, like sexism and other bigotries, is a form of institution barrier.

If a young person can learn how to navigate in life, how to see opportunity and go beyond those first doors where they're closed in their face and say, I am not going to be a victim to this, I'm going to create opportunity, I'm going to open the door whether I'm invited or not.

And if I don't want to go through that door, let it be by choice, not by history or other people controlling the circumstances.

RAMON: You know, all across the diaspora, I think we have the responsibility to save what some folks would say is a dying generation.

[♪♪]