In its ongoing efforts to implement programs to improve students in all aspects of education and interpersonal growth, Detroit Public Schools Community District recently launched the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project. The project’s mission is to develop leadership qualities in young minority males, grades 6 through 12. In essence, the project is a “leadership pipeline” that will develop young men through school-based and community mentors and role models.
“Our students need mentors and personal attention by men who can identify with their journey in life, from every aspect, including their classrooms to their homes,” said DPSCD’s Superintendent Nikolai Vitti. “Our minority male students need strong role models, starting with the males in their schools and communities.”
The 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project is the brainchild of Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson (Florida’s 24th Congressional District), who established the initiative 25-years ago in Miami, Fla. Since its inception, the project has had a major impact on empowering minority males, specifically in greater Miami. Overall, the project has been implemented in approximately 105 schools in Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In addition, the project operates in almost a dozen Florida schools in Duval County, and 66 schools in Pinellas County.
Last October, a contingent of DPSCD leaders travelled to Miami, where they met with the staff and directors of the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project. After returning to Detroit, the contingent presented the benefits of implementing the 5000 Role Models of Excellence to the Detroit Board of Education members, who greenlighted the program with a 7 – 0 vote. It was decided that the project would launch in six DPSCD schools: Central, Southeastern and Pershing High Schools, as well as Durfee, Mackenzie, and Law K- 8 schools.
“Right now we are in the planning stages,” said Damian Perry, Southeastern High School’s principal. “However, we’ll have about 15 young men in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades. We want to focus on such areas as leadership, volunteerism, manhood-building, academic excellence, cultural experiences, understanding entrepreneurship and providing great insight into careers. We’re looking to kick off the project in May and be able to do some things over the summer, before coming back strong in the fall.”
Perry, a product of the Detroit’s public school system, continued.
“Dwight Jones, who is the climate and culture director for the district, is the professional who will actually lead the project,” said Perry. “We also have a great group of male administrators and male teachers in the building that are great role models and mentors. We know and understand that our young men are lost without that mentoring, without that relationship, without that ability to be able to have someone that has been in their shoes and understand what it is to growing up in the city as an African American young man.”
According to DPSCD’s research, national, state and district data indicates the need for strategic support for males of color. While African American and Hispanic males make up 50 percent of the students enrolled in the District, data trends indicate they perform lower than their counterparts in each academic indicator. In addition, Detroit has the highest rate of poverty among the nation’s largest cities.
“The mission of the 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project is to give minority boys hope,” said project founder, Congresswoman Wilson. “It’s our vision for our minority boys to emulate greatness and form a fraternal aura of brother love,” Vitti added.
“5000 Role Models of Excellence is a proven model,” said the superintendent. “It has a successful 25-year track record that Detroit can own and customize for our young men.”
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