Indiana has the seventh widest graduation gap in the country where 49% of black males graduate high school compared to 80% of their white male peers.  Although there are a variety of factors that impact the 31% gap, one organization, My Brother’s Keeper, attempts to close this gap through peer mentoring.

Young men who participate in the program are required to earn A’s & B’s, to complete 30 hours of community service and to uphold a strict set of standards.  Virgil Tharp, My Brother’s Keeper founder, hopes the program’s impact will trickle down from one generation to the next:

“Now we have greater and better fathers, better brothers, better husbands.”

To learn more about the program, listen to Northeast Indiana Public Radio’s report on the organization.