100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland reaching out to mentor Northeast Ohio’s youth

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Members of a group of successful African-American men say many of today’s black youth are getting a bad wrap, because they are not getting the time, attention and guidance they deserve.

The 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland has been working to change perceptions since 1997.

Gary Carrington, the CEO of the nonprofit organization, said, “One of our major programs is our Michael R. White, where we work with third and fourth grade youth. We work around the third grade initiative where we really work to improve the youth’s math and reading skills so they can be proficient, so that way they can pass the state exam.”

George Fraser, known as the best networker in black America, asked a group of people at a 100 Black Men conference: “Who’s mentoring black children, inmates, athletes, addicts, or you?”

Terry Maynard of the 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland organization said it’s positively impacting close to 1,000 black girls and boys a year. These men are dedicated to saving, educating and building good people with good character.

Both Carrington and Maynard also talked about how kids and their parents these days are having to fight some of the same institutional problems and battles African-Americans have fought and thought they had won a half-century ago.

To give these youth a better chance at success, Maynard said his organization is providing young people with, not only financial help, but some institutional help to open the door of opportunity by mentoring area youth and by staying involved in children’s lives through higher education.

You can watch this entire CW43 Focus show with host Harry Boomer and his guests on demand on our Roku and Amazon Fire TV apps, online at Cleveland19.com and on TV every Sunday at 6:30 a.m. on Cleveland CW43.

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