College Tribe is a 501(C)3 not-for-profit organization founded in 2007 by Peter Clare, Len Hall, Brandon Raines, and Solomon Thompson. Jr., four Black fathers bonded by their accomplishment of graduating from high school and attending college despite their “at risk” childhoods. These men created a Mentoring organization, College Tribe, to cultivate the character, scholarship, and social competence of black boys in underserved communities in Washington, DC. College Tribe initially focused on creating mentor relationships between Black men and high school and middle school youth in order to demonstrate pathways to college and success in life. Recognizing the need to create a culture of academic achievement at an earlier age, College Tribe adjusted its target population to elementary and middle school boys in 2009 and now serves third - eighth grade black boys in Wards 7 & 8.

 

Based in part on the expertise of our mentors and the interests of the boys, College Tribe piloted a program to offer after- school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) classes in the 2010-2011 academic year. We started with Robotics and added Video Game Design the next school year. After finishing our pilot program in 2012, we saw a powerful symbiotic relationship between STEM and mentoring and decided to further refine our focus: Black men mentoring black boys and creating STEM leaders.

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In the 2016-2017 academic year, College Tribe expanded STEM courses to include Arts education, and transitioned from STEM to STEAM curricula. This addition was in response to our boys’ expressed interest, and the Board recognizing that by adding the Arts we create the opportunity for greater introspection by the boys. Since its creation, the Arts program has held classes on Graphic Design, Animation, and Video Production and our boys have also created a mural.

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To round out our after-school programming, College Tribe started the Knights Book Club to address our scholars' need for Reading support and enhance their desire to read books. We now provide an after-school program that fully incorporates all of the elements of STREAM - Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, and Math.