(gentle music)
>>Our guest today

is the founding President
of an organization

dedicated to eliminating
the achievement gap

in our community for
African-American males

in grades K through 12.

Join us as we visit with
Dr. Bernard Hairston

to learn about the
programs provided

by 100 Black Men of
Central Virginia.

Come on!

(gentle music continues)

So tell us about the goals

and the mission of
the organization.

>>Well, the mission is about
improving the quality of life

in Central Virginia,
for all of our citizens,

specifically our
African-American population.

The goal of our program

is to assist our area
public school divisions

in closing the achievement gap,

specifically focusing on
the African-American males

who are underachievers.

And, as a school system, we
know that that is a challenge

that we have not mastered.

And we decided to pull a group

of African-American
men together, with
diverse backgrounds,

to talk about what
impacted them the most

in being successful.

And as a result of
that collaboration,

we started investigating models
that were currently in place

and we stumbled across
this organization

called 100 Black Men of America

and we submitted an
application for charter,

we had to go through
an interview process,

and we were accepted,
and chartered, in 2009.

>>I had this man right
here and he helped me out

and then increased my grades

and then I walked out with
all A's and B's in my classes.

There was this one
class where I got a 79

but then I knew I could have
probably improved on that

but my mom said, "At least
you gave an effort to it.

"At least I enjoyed
that you actually tried

"to put an effort into it."

That's why my mom's so
involved in this program

'cause she said that this
is a very helpful man

and he can really help
me improve my life.

>>Being a mentor is an
instantaneous reward

because you immediately
are able to see the impact

that you're having
on today's youth.

And for me, it's very rewarding

because I don't have
children of my own

and so this is an opportunity

to help grow and
build someone up

and feel like
you're really doing

something positive for society.

♪ Here we go ♪

♪ Let me tell you
about something that
we do at the school ♪

♪ We talk about math and
it's called M-cubed ♪

♪ We all come together
in order to learn ♪

♪ From people like
Wes and Miss Yimban ♪

♪ It's about two weeks
of education and fun ♪

♪ And by the time it's all
over we really have won ♪

♪ Just see what black
men just say to succeed ♪

♪ Getting one step
ahead is all we need ♪

♪ So visit M-Cubed
and what you see ♪

♪ Is young men
overcoming adversities ♪

>>We have three
primary programs.

We have what's called M-Cubed,

which stands for
Math Men and Mission,

and the goal is to increase
the number who are in algebra

by the time they
complete middle school.

The high school scholars program

is about promoting the positives
of African-American males

by recognizing them for
their scholarly achievements,

inside the classroom.

And the work that they do

in a positive way
outside the classroom.

And the Collegiate 100 program,

is about young men giving back,

using the college students

to mentor the high
school students

and the middle
school age students.

>>So how do you go about,

let's talk about
the students first.

How do you go about
identifying students

to be a part of the programs?

>>Well, with algebra
readiness program,

we look for someone with
an aptitude for math.

But we don't have
to have the stars.

We don't have to have the best.

We're looking for students who
are somewhere in the middle.

So we look at their

math standards of learning
assessment scores.

A perfect score is 600.

The lowest score,
passing score, is 400.

So we look for someone
around 425 or higher.

And we also ask permission
from the principal

to endorse that student
for possible enrollment

in an upper level math class,

provided they complete our
summer school two week academy.

>>And then with the scholars
program, is that the same?

>>The scholars
program is any student

who has a 3.0 grade
point average or higher,

we pull them together for a
breakfast recognition program

in front of their
superintendents,

community representatives,
their parents.

We give them a
real nice medallion

to say "Atta boy!
Keep doing it."

Just promoting the positives.

And so three years ago,

we started presenting
scholarships to
any of our seniors,

and as of three years,

we have presented 78
graduating seniors

with $82,500 in scholarships.

So we hope to continue that.

>>That is fantastic.

So how many students
are involved,

are currently involved
in the program?

>>Well, we are
specifically working

with Central Virginia schools.

And we are supporting
the area public schools.

And so, we're looking
at nine school divisions

and of the 12 area high schools,

there are approximately
1200 African-American males,

only about 1200
African-American males

in the 12 area high schools
in our nine school divisions.

And you're looking at,

oh, a real small percentage
who have that 3.0.

When we first
started this program,

only about 14% of our
African-American males

in those surrounding
school divisions

who participated had a 3.0.

We have bumped that up to
over 24% at this point.

>>So talk about that.

Why is this so important
in our community?

>>Why is it so important?
>>Sure.

>>Well, I mean can
bounce it back to you,

because one of our objectives

is improving the
quality of life.

If you have students who
are not getting in trouble,

you're improving
the quality of life.

If you have students who
are going on to college

and returning to this community,

you're improving
the quality of life.

And if we're gonna be successful

in terms of closing
the achievement gap,

not only do we have to change
the attitude of our students,

but their parents, as
well, our teachers.

>>You put your
napkin on your lap

the minute you sit at the table.

It stays on your lap until
you get up from the table.

>>The etiquette
program is something

that we've been doing
for several years.

It's always exciting to
see the young men come in

and try to eat soup properly
with the soup spoon,

to learn how to use chopsticks

and even though we
may do it every year,

every year they tend
to learn something more

and they are always at place

where they can teach
others as well.

It's just a great thing.

>>So how do you
identify your mentors?

>>Having a successful mentor
is the key to this program,

because they have to touch
base with the young men.

They have to work
with the school

and they have to
work with the home.

And you have to have
someone who is credible.

In order to become a
member, we have to vet you.

We do a background check

to make sure there's no history

associated with not having
any sort of poor decisions

relative to working
with young people.

So that's first and foremost.

But we expect the
mentor to give a minimum

of ten hours a week
providing mentoring support

to a young person.

We have one-to-one
mentoring support

for our M-Cubed scholars.

And we do group mentoring
for our high school scholars.

>>So, there's a summer academy

that takes place over
two weeks, right?

>>Yes.
>>So you do this,

and then what happens?

What's the follow up?

>>Well, you see,
the summer academies

are about preparing
the young men

to build their sense
of self-confidence

and their self-awareness
of who they are

and a positive sense
of I can be the best,

I can be competitive.

But you gotta reinforce that

throughout the
course of the year.

Thus, the mentoring component
with the men in the 100,

we do group mentoring
activities throughout the year

and individual
mentoring programs.

We've taken the young
men to football games,

basketball games, we do
annual etiquette workshops

to teach them how to dine

and how to have
wonderful conversations

to make sure you pick
that right person for you

when you're taking
a young lady out.

It's one of those lessons
in life experiences.

As a mentor, we have to share
experiences that we have

with our young men,

so that they will not make
some of the same mistakes.

And you're walking
in our footsteps

and if we can
teach you something

based on some of our
experiences, so be it.

>>Talk about the importance
of the parents' role,

when your students are
involved in these programs,

because that plays a
huge part, doesn't it?

>>Parental involvement
is the key to success.

That's all I need to say.

And we try to
empower our parents

by educating them of
what quality looks like.

Quality instruction,
what it looks like.

Quality instruction
specifically designed

to motivate your child,

your African-American male
son to enjoy learning.

You take a book like this,
and you tell them that,

"Hey this is you, this is
how you can change things,

"because this is the way
this guy did it right here."

That's changing an attitude.

You need parents to sit down
with their children to say,

"This is important. This
is a priority for you."

It should be first and foremost.

And so we work with our parents
to change their attitudes

about their roles in
working with their sons.

>>My dad was one of the
members of 100 Black Men

and he asked me
to do the program

and I think it's a great
program to be involved in

'cause it helps you in school
and it helps you get focused

and it helps you later in life,
not just during high school

but it prepares you for
I guess later in life

when you're trying to get
a job and things like that.

>>Just the satisfaction
of seeing young men

be successful and grow, that's,

it is really a
wonderful experience.

So our goal is to take a student

and get them involved
in our work environment

and to help them grow as a
student and grow as a person

to help them understand what
the business world is like,

so for me this was a no-brainer.

This is a great
opportunity to work

with a great organization
right here in Charlottesville.

>>One of the ways that
you all fund raise

is through a gala.

Tell us about that.

>>Well, this is an
organization where our mentees,

and we're talking about over
100 in our M-Cubed program

who are currently
receiving services

and over 250 in our
scholars program

and over 40 in our Collegiate
100 chapter, that we serve.

And our programs have
not cost our mentees

or their parents
a penny, a penny.

So we're talking about
getting scholarships out.

We're talking about
planning programs,

where we're able
to support them.

So we, of course we have
dues, we've got members.

And we also plan programs
such as a black tie gala.

And that's our
primary fund raiser.

And we get support from many
of our local businesses.

>>So what do you wanna
do in the future?

Talking about moving forward,
what's your big goal?

>>So one of the
challenges I see is,

when we work with these young
men, in collective groups,

how do they transition
into that regular setting

on a day to day basis?

For example, we
have your young men

who are in your summer
academy for two weeks,

and then they transition back
into their regular school.

And so that's a challenge.

So, a goal that I have is to
try to educate our teachers,

our administrators, our parents

about how do you reach and
teach the African-American male.

And so that's all about
being culturally relevant

and understanding who they are

and teaching to their strengths.

Reach me, then you can teach me.

>>I guess the best think I
like about being a mentor

is seeing the smiles
on the kids' faces

and I guess if they
like the program,

to see them, when they
come to high school,

see how good they're doing
and how well they're doing.

>>I think I'll try to help out
just like they helped me out.

'Cause there could be
somebody in my situation,

just like they helped
me out in my situation,

I can help somebody else out.

(slow gentle music)