Everywhere we turn, it seems, someone is stressing the importance of mentoring, especially as it relates to young, black males.

We’ve seen the grim statistics about high school dropouts, crime and incarceration, fatherless children and, all too often, premature death. But there are countless people and programs here in the Qcity working to make a difference.

I was introduced to one such program – it’s called The Males Place – over the holidays, and I’ll be writing more about it in the coming weeks.

For those unfamiliar, this is a program of the Mecklenburg County Health Department. It provides mentoring and life-skills coaching for males ages 12-18. The goal is to develop young men and guide them into responsible adulthood while equipping them to cope with their day-to-day struggles.

The young men I met in the program were all African American. I met them, by the way, at the Loving Touch Adult Day Health Care Center on Beatties Ford Road, where they had gone to sing Christmas carols to retirees.

So what makes this group worth writing about?

Several things, some of which I’ll mention in later blogs. But for now, they need our help.

The group needs to raise $100,000 for a trip to Ghana, West Africa, and I’m asking Qcitymetro.com readers to donate.

Before you stop reading, consider this: The group’s Web site is set up to accept as little as $5, so if every Qcitymetro.com reader did just that, they’d be well on their way.

Reggie Singleton, the group’s director, said the trip would be the third leg of an ambitious plan to teach the boys about African American history. They went to Charleston earlier to see the place where so many of our ancestors arrived in chains. They also went to Memphis to learn more about the Civil Rights struggle and to retrace the final steps of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The trip to Ghana, Singleton said, would help the boys better understand who we were as Africans. While there, the boys will take part in community service projects, such as gardening and distributing toothbrushes.

Perhaps most important, he said, he wants the boys to see firsthand the ancient traditions of African culture, especially the councils of elders -- decision-making bodies that still exist in some rural settings.

The Males Place is governed by a similar structure, where boys who need discipline are brought before a “Council of Elders,” which decides on corrective action. The elders’ word is final.

I was inspired over the holiday season when CD Spangler gave $2 million in scholarship money to keep black males in school at West Charlotte High, and by the generous actions of Dr. Michael Friedland, a Charlotte physician who is awarding scholarships to promising black students in some our city’s poorest schools.

But when all is said and done, if our young black males are to be saved, it will be accomplished only when people like you and me get involved.

So, let’s get busy and make this trip happen.

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