An African-American culture class that has helped change the lives of youth at city schools in Roanoke, VA is now available to the general public.

The organization Total Motion for Progress (TAP) first introduced the category, African American Culture and Contemporary Issues (AACCI), in 2008 to forestall young Black men from dropping out of highschool, based on The Roanoke Times.

TAP’s youth services and education manager Lateefah Trent told the newspaper that students typically drop out of faculty because they aren’t optimistic in regards to the future. 

“They don’t feel like they’re going to essentially live past age of 21 or 25, or that they’re not going to amount anything, so ‘What’s the purpose?’” Trent said.

But, Trent says AACCI class teaches Black youth that their lives and the lives of others have value. “The culture has passed through a lot of society saying, ‘You’re undeserving,’” she said. 

“You might be worthy. You might be vital. Everybody has a purpose, and everybody has gifts. How do you should utilize yours and contribute to your community to raised your life and turn into the perfect you possibly can be? That’s loads of what the category offers.”

About 25 students enrolled within the AACCI course in January 2019 at At William Fleming High School. Enrollment rose as word spread in regards to the helpful effects of discussions and lessons on Black male students. 

The present class has about 75 students enrolled. In keeping with The Roanoke Times, there was such a high demand for the course that it was made available to each female and male students for the 2021–22 academic 12 months.

When TAP was awarded a grant by the Roanoke Gun Violence Prevention Commission in May, it made the choice to make use of a number of the money to expand the course selection to incorporate community members and oldsters, ages 15 and older. On September 17, the brand new free public course began on the Roanoke Higher Education Center (RHEC).

“We’ve had several parents and other people locally say, ‘Hey, I heard about my child or grandchild on this class. This seems very interesting. Is there something like that for us to go to?’” Trent explained.“That’s how we got here about with the community one which we’re having on Saturdays,” she added.

“The largest thing that we love about that is that it’s allowing different ages, across all spectrums, to come back together and learn in regards to the African American culture and the history of it as a gaggle, as a team, to construct community awareness,” she added.

In keeping with the TAP website, the brand new public class will cover topics like community constructing, leadership development and developing critical pondering techniques.