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'Gives them hope', JCPS program for Black men by Black men

Students can't wait to come back to school after summer break to join Brother 2 Brother at Kenwood Elementary

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — LOUISVILLE, KY.-- Days before the last day of school. Mentors in Brother 2 Brother , honored young male students at Kenwood Elementary.

Brother 2 Brother is a mentoring program for Black and Brown boys in the third through fifth grade. 

Highlighting key topics  like identity, entertainment, social entrepreneurship and life skills.

"If anything we made a commitment to be consistent , to show up," says Jerron Jones, mentor and member of Black Male EDquity Network .

The network made up of doctors and doctoral students at UofL and surrounding universities, help one another and those in their community.

Credit: BMED

The goal for the young kids, rewriting the narrative of what it means to be a Black Man.

"Understanding the challenges of being a Black man and navigating certain spaces that we don’t always belong in, gives them hope," says Jones.

For fifth-grader Romel Brown, he tells WHAS11 that the mentoring program has helped him be a better young man.

"We’re learning about like how to be a better person or what we could like actually do in life or what we could become."

Credit: Gabrielle Harmon

Instructional Assistant Aaron Mooney says he is so happy to see the idea of this program both he and his colleague Darrel Echols worked on together, come to life.

" I love it," shared Mooney. "I love it. I simply love it when I see these kids here and kids walking up to us asking us every day how can we get in? When is it going to start again?"

The program is expected to start back up at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

If you are interested in future programming at a local school or in the community, email blackmaleedquity@gmail.com.

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