The 100 Black Men organization has started its own Boy Scouts troop, providing mentorship to male students at a Georgia elementary school.
Boys attending Bruce Elementary in Macon, Georgia, can participate in the inaugural program. The 100 Black Men organization has been a longtime community supporter and will now be able to help the local youth directly in this endeavor.
“They got years and years of helping out the community especially, around the Southside and community around Macon,” explained Terry Basley, a father of some students and member of the organization, to 13WMAZ
. “It’s just something I wanted to be a part of… It’s important to be in your kids’ life.”Basley and other mentors want to guide younger boys who may lack strong male figures in their homes.
“A lot of the kids don’t have the background of having a father in the household,” he said. “We’re just someone positive they can look up to, someone they can see every day.”
The 100 Black Men of America, Inc. also has numerous chapters nationwide, with two cohorts in the Macon area. When creating a Boy Scouts Troop, they stated that their partnering organization’s focus on boys within this age group was a significant factor. Moreover, Troop 100 aims to have 20 members.
“100 Black Man has several o
ther programs that deal with boys, but the Boy Scouts is the only program that deals with boys of this age,” shared Daniel Morgan, who is helping bring Cub Scouts from the school. “We’re proud members and committee members with the 100.”According to Data USA, Macon-Bibb County has a 44.5% Black population. Given this, this mentorship program hopes to shape the future generation of Black men.
“We’re teaching life skills, a lot of things that they learn in scouting and things they won’t be able to get inside the classroom,” explained another recruiting member of Troop 100, Nnamdi Onyekwuluje. “It’s one of those extracurricular things that give them skills that they can take away and use and apply in their real lives.”