KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — A new mentorship program announced two weeks ago, which targets young African-American male students in Kalamazoo Public Schools is off to a good, the district’s superintendent said.
Michael Rice said he’s been able to, so far, recruit the male staff members he had set as a goal.
“The mentoring effort is going to have 180 mentors, 900 mentees — we believe that will be fully off the ground, internally, in the next four weeks.”
After that internal program gets rolling, they hope to begin focusing on community mentors who have also begun to come forward from organizations like the NAACP, ISSAC and the Northside Ministerial Alliance.
He said the goal is to bring underprivileged black male students the extra support they need to bring up their tests scores, graduation rates and grades, which lag most other demographic groups.
– John McNeill
