The bus emblazoned with Mt. Gilead Full Gospel International Ministries navigated the tree-lined street and came to a stop at 2301 E. Grace Street. The door opened and out stepped a group of African-American men one by one. They turned toward the building and began to walk down the street some 20 yards where they began to negotiate the concrete steps leading to the archway with the banner that read : 2010 Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence presented to Bellevue Elementary School.
On this unseasonably warm and breezy afternoon, the men had come to deliver the gifts of companionship and the good news that reading produces positive life-long benefits to students who attend Bellevue. The school is located on a well manicured street located in the Historic District of Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood.
Bellevue’s program, 100 Black Men Read, “which is in its 9th year of existence and spans the month of February brings black men from all walks of life to the elementary school to read and share their life experiences with the students”, said Anne Harris, Counselor, who administers the program.
The 100 Men Read program is the brainchild of former Bellevue principal, Sherry Wharton-Cary, who currently is Principal at Elizabeth Redd Elementary School on the city’s south side. Redd is similar to Bellevue in that many of the male students attending that school also lack positive male role models to guide them into adulthood. It is that lack of “positive male role models to mentor/buddy with African-American adolescent males”, that served as Wharton-Cary’s inspiration when she and staff launched the program.
The twin goals of instilling a love of reading and providing a mentoring experience is obviously a winning formula because Redd also has initiated a program based on the Bellevue prototype.
Bellevue and Redd’s program have done so well that both are in various stages of becoming year-round programs . It is Wharton-Cary’s belief the program will filtrate throughout the Richmond Public School System before very long with the proper promotion and support.
With the kind of success I witnessed over the past few weeks, I predict Wharton-Cary and the staffs of Redd and Bellevue will get their wish.
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