Close Ties Leadership Program

The mission of Close Ties Leadership Program is to unlock Black boy's full potential through early exposure to college and career opportunities, in-school mentorship, and individualized social-emotional support so that they graduate from high school prepare to lead in the pathways of their choice. We partner with Title I middle schools to select Black boys commonly in the middle 50 percentile, which we refer to as the “Forgotten Fifty,” who do not receive direct programming that is typically provided by schools for the lower 25% and upper 25% of their Black male student populations. These students form cohorts at each partner middle school that are led by Black male teachers and Close Ties Leadership Program staff and mentored by high school students. We expose these students to college and career opportunities, provide in-school mentorship through goal setting and weekly check-ins, and provide social emotional support through weekly sessions aligned to our research based social-emotional learning curriculum. We provide this direct programming to boys starting in fifth grade and we continue to serve as a support system as they matriculate through high school. To date, our boys have maintained a 100% graduation rate, 100% post-secondary attainment, and over $10 million in college scholarships.