Recruiting, Retaining and Graduating Black Male College Students

That funding also enabled AAMI to more strongly partnerwith the USG’s Office of Strategic Research and PolicyAnalysis, dedicating a research associate to work directlywith that office on the program’s data-collection efforts.In October 2006, the program moved its home from theBoard of Regents’ offices to the campus of KennesawState University, with strong support from KSU PresidentDr. Daniel S. Papp. Papp was highly involved in AAMI’sinitial implementation during his tenure as a senior vicechancellor at the Board of Regents, serving as ex officio ofthe AAMI task force. The program now is administered inthe office of KSU’s Vice President of External Affairs, therole Perry-Johnson now holds.In 2009, when the Lumina Foundation awarded its secondgrant to AAMI, the funding was for $500,000 over twoyears. That generous grant has enabled AAMI to significantlyexpand its programming and reporting capabilities, to launcha retention initiative in partnership with the Student African-American Brotherhood (SAAB), and to document impressiveoutcomes. That same year, AAMI further honed its effortsto focus specifically on undergraduate efforts that yieldedimpressive results.Collaborations and PartnershipsAAMI thrives on building partnerships, both with theUSG campuses and with external organizations. One ofthe program’s recent collaborations is the partnershipbetween AAMI and the national office of SAAB. SAAB isdevoted to increasing the number of African-Americanand Latino males that graduate from college by settingexamples of excellence in academics and leadership. Witha portion of its Lumina funding, AAMI launched SAABchapters at eight USG institutions to enhance participationby African-American and Latino males in campus life andleadership activities.AAMI officials worked with SAAB officials to identifyparticipating campuses through a data-analysis processthat benchmarked the retention and graduation rates ofBlack males at all USG institutions relative to the nationalbenchmark for the same types of institutions with similaradmissions profiles. The initiative has been successful withmany of the participating campuses and with the young menthat it serves to engage, with one of the USG’s AAMI-SAABchapters being honored for its success at the 2012 SAABnational convention.Sharing Best Practices and OutcomesIn December 2007, AAMI program officials convened theinaugural AAMI Best Practices Conference at KennesawState University to share the outcomes, challenges andsuccessful strategies that enhance educational results forGeorgia’s African-American male students. The 2007conference marked AAMI’s five-year milestone, and featuredan awards banquet, nationally recognized speakers in thefield of Black male educational attainment, and 11 specializedworkshop sessions tailored to the needs of the staff andstudent conferees. Networking breaks provided additionalopportunities for conference attendees to meet and exchangeinformation with their USG colleagues. The success of thatinaugural conference prompted AAMI student participantsand campus officials to rally for similar future gatherings.As a result, AAMI convened its second Best PracticesConference in April 2011, at Macon State College in Macon,Georgia, to mark the culmination of the $500,000 LuminaFoundation grant. Among many conference highlights, notedactor, author and philanthropist Hill Harper facilitated a90-minute “Open Forum for Black Males,” during whichhe challenged the attendees to push themselves to theirhighest possible levels of performance. An interactiveworkshop provided students strategies for building careerpaths by taking advantage of student leadership, internshipand graduate school opportunities. Additional workshopsaddressed other critical issues for African-American malestudents, including sessions on enhancing their self-image,interpersonal and social skills; and also a workshop onbalancing athletics and academics. AAMI program officialsalso engaged in insightful discussions about creating andsustaining successful campus programs.In September 2012, AAMI convened its third conference, inpartnership with the National Black College Alumni Hall of FameFoundation, Inc. The conference marked the historic 10-yearanniversary of AAMI’s launching back in September 2002 —providing the organization’s officials and participating campusprograms an opportunity to reflect on the pioneering initiative’simpact, challenges and future strategic directions. The three-daygathering, held in Atlanta, attracted nearly 300 African-Americanmale students, AAMI program directors, and key stakeholdersof the statewide initiative. Conferees were afforded manyopportunities to share experiences and concerns, learn newskills, and hear unique perspectives on a wide range of topicsrelated to Black males’ academic success. Participants heard fromoutstanding keynote speakers from business, higher education,sports and entertainment that emphasized the value of academicachievement in their careers and personal lives. The conveningalso again featured an Awards and Recognition Banquet, wherebest-practice contributors and key advocates of the AAMIprogram were recognized.“The University System of Georgia has done pioneering workin identifying and addressing the educational challenges facedby black males, and our work is frequently benchmarked,”Perry-Johnson said. “We convene these conferences to sharethe vital information we have learned with our USG colleaguesand with others engaged in this important work. Our goal is todemonstrate what works, so that others may replicate, expandand — most importantly — fund these important programs.”A National ModelAAAMI has garnered significant national attention. Theprogram is widely credited with being the first-ever statewideeffort specifically focused on increasing post-secondaryeducational attainment among Black males. Peers in thehigher education community have sought to learn from andadopt AAMI’s trailblazing model as awareness has increasednationally of the ethnic and gender disparities prevalent onU.S. college campuses. Program officials have respondedto scores of benchmarking and research requests, hostedvisits from numerous higher education and organizationalentities, made presentations at national conferences and beenfeatured in numerous state and national media outlets. Theprogram positions the University System of Georgia’s work inimproving educational outcomes for Black males as a nationalmodel and as a potential demonstration project.Program AssessmentOver the past decade, AAMI has matured and reached a pivotaldevelopmental point. At this juncture, the need to conduct anassessment of the program’s groundbreaking work since itsinception is vital. To aid with the review effort, during fiscalyear 2012 AAMI program officials contracted a consultantto undertake a pre-evaluation assessment aimed at formallydocumenting AAMI’s program theory and logic model. Theconsultant’s report — based on visits to 12 campuses engagedin the AAMI project, interviews with more than 50 AAMIstakeholders and participants, and an exhaustive review ofAAMI program reports, data and literature — establishes a firmfoundation for a future independent program evaluation. Fundingsupport is being sought for this endeavor.While AAMI’s targeted recruitment and retention programshave produced heartening results, the USG’s statewide initiativemust continue tackling the dearth of Black male collegegraduates and their disproportionate status relative to their maleand female peers. In particular, AAMI must address the clearretention challenges that have developed with the increasingenrollment of Black male students. What is abundantly clearto AAMI and USG officials is that the educational plight ofAfrican-American males can be reversed with the commitmentof appropriate resources. Doing so has become an economicimperative for our nation, and we look forward to continuingour partnerships with those who share this mission.4 5