Growing up in the Brownsville housing development in Brooklyn, NY Keith Linton identifies firsthand with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) children experience growing up in the LAPD’s Southeast Division jurisdictions of South LA and Watts. PTSD is often carried into adulthood.

Boys 2 Gentleman programming has been running in partnership with the LAUSD school system for the last five years and is the sole during-school, social-emotional learning intervention program focused on addressing the needs of boys, aged seven to thirteen, who possess the lowest percentage of math and English/language arts comprehension while simultaneously possessing the highest percentage of a behavioral infraction.

To date, the organization has implemented SEL, trauma intervention, and common core-focused programming into 26 elementary, middle, and high schools* and affected positive change for over 12,000 students and parents. With inner-city gang influence at an all-time high, school-aged intervention is paramount.

Boys 2 Gentleman program interventions have become even more crucial to the success of inner-city youth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and America’s continued struggle for racial equality.

The 2020-2021 school year will be of pivotal importance. Inner-city youth have already fallen behind academically due to early school closures and delayed school openings, not to mention the technological inequities-at-play.

In August 2015, Boys 2 Gentleman launched their first program in partnership with one school, Florence Joyner Elementary, in Los Angeles, CA. Since then, their partnership portfolio has grown to over 26 schools. Mindset and Mentorship, continuing this Fall 2020, is a Boys 2 Gentleman-sponsored interdisciplinary empowerment program focused on young boys, aged 8 to 18, living in the South LA and Watts areas of Los Angeles. Monday-Friday behavioral and educational interventions follow the academic calendar of the LAUSD school system and are operated in partnership with local elementary, middle, and high schools.
Boys 2 Gentleman has experienced a steady increase in child participant enrollment and parent involvement over the last five years, with current Mindset and Mentorship programming having affected positive, healthy change to over 12,000 students and parents. 2020 will see additional
Mindset and Mentorship program growth, as Boys 2 Gentleman prepares for virtual group engagement in addition to one-on-one intervention, and school campus and home visits.

In just the last few years, the youth participating in Boys 2 Gentleman programming have exceeded school system expectations by achieving and taking pride in a 70% overall increase in their understanding of new math concepts, a 55% overall increase in their reading, writing, and comprehension, and an overall 97% attendance and 98% inclusion rate. It is the mission of Boys 2 Gentleman to continue building upon their youths’ academic performance and pride in citizenship while simultaneously continuing to lower behavioral referrals, truancy, and rates of violence on and off-campus.