The Black Male Working Academy (BMWA) was created as an all-out effort to close the academic achievement gap that existed in the public school system between African American males and their white counterparts. This academy started as a collaborative of First Bracktown, Inc. and the Fayette County Public School System to impact the lives of young African American males, academically, emotionally, and socially. We started with the adoption of one middle school and 40 boys in 2005 and today we have 4 sites of BMWA and are serving over 300 young men of color in our community. This program has been a success because of the commitment, compassion, and collaboration of volunteers, the faith-based community, Toyota, and most of all our dedicated staff. The evidence of our success has been shown in the increase in grade point averages, higher scores on the ACT tests, more young men of color taking AP classes, and over 40 young men in college.
The young men who participate in BMWA are exposed to college and cultural trips every year. We have been blessed to take our young men all across the United States of America and because we live in a global society, we have taken over 100 boys abroad in the past 6 years. We invite men from our community to participate in the “Power Story” each Saturday so they can share their journey of success or mistakes they encourage our youth to avoid. We offer mentors to the young men who are part of BMWA. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of thousands of young men over the past 12 years. We are motivated by a quote from Frederick Douglass, “It is easier to raise strong children than it is to repair broken men.”