“Young Buck's past visit impacted everyone and his message was simple and clear, "Be good and stay in school." He understands that this is an important statement to convey to the children of Fannie Battle because he too grew up in this East Nashville neighborhood.”

Sara Longhini,
Executive Director, Fannie Battle Day Home for Children

2007 Grant History

African Center for Community Empowerment

The mission of the African Center for Community Empowerment is to empower and groom at-risk inner city youth to become wholesome functioning and productive members of society; to train and provide the tools necessary for low income teens and young adult parents to help themselves and their children by becoming responsible adults and better parents. The proposal is to fund their Comprehensive After School Program. They serve 7-14 year olds from southeast Queens. There is three program areas: Program Involvement, Community Involvement, and Youth Engagement.

Youth Engagement: serves over 300 youth annually through activities such as tutoring test preparations, cultural and education enrichment, arts, character development through mentoring, leadership training and extra-curricular activity including sports and summer camps. After-school programs run between 2:30 – 6:30 p.m Monday-Friday and some Saturdays (this is a critical time span for kids to stay occupied). They have 90% retention rate, and 93% have been promoted to the next grade.