Backing the black males

Wayne Williams straightens his tie and turns to the group of young men in the Community College of Philadelphia's student union.

"What is academic swag? Is it necessary?" he asks. Translation - is it important to wear a suit and tie to class?

Clad in T-shirts, Nikes, and basketball shorts, this crowd doesn't appear particularly suave.

But the question gets them thinking. A hand goes up.

"When you dress the part, you're standing apart," the student says. "It's a good way to stand out."

Williams, the chair of the business department, nods.

In a nutshell, that's the goal for these students: standing out among the statistics.

Plagued by high dropout rates among black males and frustrated that many weren't taking advantage of the resources the school provided, the college on Spring Garden Street applied for a U.S. Department of Education grant last year and received $600,000 to reach out to those minority students.

The result? The year-old Center for Male Engagement, where more than 2,800 students have used services since its inception.

The center wants to foster a supportive community: With one-on-one, in-house mentoring programs, academic support coaches, life-skills workshops and financial assistance, it is designed to catch the kids who slip through the cracks and bolster the ones who are already primed to succeed.

While the center is open to any male on campus, grant-funded activities such as cultural excursions and mentoring services are reserved for the "cohort" - 300 students selected through an application process.

This summer, the center hosted an enrichment program and provided scholarships for 60 incoming freshmen (52 completed the program). This fall, the cohort will comprise 150 of the 160 who initially applied for summer enrichment, and 150 from last year's class.

Director Michael Robinson calls the center a vital service at a school that, in 2007, saw only 34 percent of first-year black male students return for a second year at school. (More than 51 percent of its student population is African American.)

Overall retention at community colleges is even more dire: Robinson said that only 18 percent of black males at community colleges go on to complete their degree.

"We are hemorrhaging males of color," Robinson said. "Why do they drop out? For the same reasons any other student would drop out - unawareness of the financial aid process, not being well prepared at secondary school."