By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com
We've all heard and read the dire stats: Black men 16 to 24 years-old are more than twice as likely as young white men to be both out of school and work; most young black men in the U.S. don't graduate from high school (only 26% in New York City); black men make up 41% of inmates in federal state and local prisons.
Increasingly our young black men are becoming more and more marginalized, and many don't have positive role models in the communities where they live.
Alexis O. Ellis seeks to bring style and substance to inner city males through his non profit, Tied To Greatness, which takes the symbolism of the dapper black man and seeks to create a new paradigm for our youth.
Tied to Greatness uses the "power of positive male role models and fashion to inspire a generation of inner city high school males to love themselves, improve their image, and strive for greatness."
"One thing that was so surprising to me is that many of these young men they have such a hard exterior," says Ellis of the Tied to Greatness High School tour, which is about half way completed. "They come in with their arms crossed, oh here's another assembly. But by the time we are done, the light comes on. It's like wow, I can make something out of my life, I do have value."
Initially inspired by an incident at his church (Ellis is a church elder) where a single mother of five came to the altar crying about her teenage son, Ellis took active mentorship with her teen including exposing him to a world outside of his neighborhood.
"It takes men from the community to say I'm going to model another image for you and you'll get your lead from me and not what you see on a street corner."
At the heart of the Tied To Greatness tour is the tie-tying ceremony where every adult man in attendance personally teaches a younger man how to tie a tie -- a traditional symbol of manhood. Also, the Tied to Greatness program includes entertainment, and men of each community speak to young men about style, goals, excellence, affirmation and even vulnerability.
"You take those things for granted," says Ellis, who grew up with his father in the home. "A lot of those young men have never seen a room full of professionally dressed, educated, successful men of color and that's one of the goals of Tied to Greatness, to overwhelm the young men with positive, black male images."
Ellis, who has an engineering degree from North Carolina A&T, is now CEO of Simply Ellis LLC, a custom clothing company. He is also author of 'Restoring the Male Image: A Look from the Inside Out' which defines the fundamental principles of I.M.A.G.E. as Integrity, Manhood, Authority, Generosity and Excellence.
"All these young men want to know is that someone loves them, moreover, that a man cares," Ellis continues. "As thugged out as they look, they need to know that there are men that really care about them. And that's what we're demonstrating through Tied to Greatness."
The 11-city Tied to Greatness tour, which is expected to reach over 4,000 young black men, started in New York City on February 1 and ends in Newark, New Jersey on May 2, 2008. The tour also touches down in Philly, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Cleveland, LA, Detroit, Chicago and Baltimore.
www.tiedtogreatness.com
Have a strictly stylish day!
