Black Men on the Move works to inspire promising high school students

Every Thursday at 4 p.m., the stresses and pressures of college studies and exams fall away for three Wright State students.

That’s when these members of Black Men on the Move arrive in a different world – a high-school world where students often fight poverty and a lack of hope that can snuff out their futures.

And when the Wright State students discuss life skills with these students at Thurgood Marshall High School in Dayton, they listen. That’s because the collegiate mentors once walked the same high school halls as students themselves and were among the first graduates of the school’s Renaissance Men after-school program.

Rod Harris, Jr., vice president of Wright State’s Black Men on the Move, said students in the Renaissance Men program are like family to him.

“A lot of youth growing up, they don’t have a lot of people to look up to, especially in college. Sometimes their parents may not have gone to college or they don’t have role models as far as brothers and sisters,” Harris said. “One of the things we pride ourselves on is giving them another option, telling them that college is an option and that you can get through.”

The Renaissance Men program is just one of many projects undertaken by Black Men on the Move.

Founded in 1985, Black Men on the Move is designed to give African American males the support they need to ensure a successful college career. The group, which currently has 33 dues-paying members, stresses academics and community service.

“It’s evolved into something much bigger than just an organization,” said President Devon White. “We pride ourselves on being black men on the move and being positive figures in an atmosphere where there is so much pollution.”

Christian Richardson, the group’s treasurer, said he joined to feel connected.

“Being a family, sticking together, succeeding, having each others’ backs in all of our endeavors; that’s what we find most gratifying about it,” Richardson said.

Especially gratifying is their involvement in the Renaissance Men program.

The program was founded in 2004 by Traci Davis, an English teacher and program adviser. It started out as a literature group, with the students reading and then discussing books they were assigned to read. Then it morphed into a support group.

“It is to create a space for young men to address challenges and provide support to excel in school,” she said.

Davis said many of the first students in the program were either gifted or above average in intelligence. But she said they weren’t doing well academically because they chose not to be engaged.

The Renaissance Men program made it a little cooler to be seen as someone who hits the books, she said. As a result, the students’ grades in language arts improved, and some students who might not have graduated did graduate.

The group has read books such as Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny by author and actor Hill Harper, who writes about his life and offers advice about school, work and issues relevant to young black men and others. Other non-fiction and self-help books have also been on the reading list.

Members of Black Men on the Move add credibility to the program in the eyes of the students, Davis said. They serve as discussion leaders and key role models, demonstrating that college is desirable and achievable. The collegians discuss life skills – from how to handle peer pressure and social situations to how to fulfill responsibilities.

“They kind of provide a pathway for them,” she said.

Renaissance Men meets for an hour after school once a week for the entire academic year, and the group is currently at full capacity. About 100 students have gone through the program during its lifetime.

“I’m really proud of the Black Men on the Move members,” Davis said. “They’re really busy trying to graduate, but it’s great that they take their time and come back — because they don’t have to.”