THEY ARE THE kids who don't make the headlines — the young black men from Philadelphia's inner city who are crack students, not crack dealers; who hang on the campus, not on the corner; who are living the American dream, not the nightmare.
So when Mister Mann Frisby, 32, who has mentored dozens of the young black men for years as father figure, trusted friend, summer track coach, college guidance counselor, employment agency — you name it, Frisby does it — goes to name-brand social service agencies to ask for financial help for his kids, he gets strange looks instead of cash.
"'They never stabbed nobody?'" Frisby exclaims in mock surprise, mimicking the reaction he got at one multi-million dollar social service agency. "'Nobody got a gun charge?'"
Frisby shook his head. "They have money for adjudicated youth," he said. "They have money for thugs trying to turn their lives around. But they don't have money for decent, intelligent young black men who are striving.
"If my mentoring program was for first-time gun offenders or kids in foster care or kids fresh out of Glen Mills, I'd be rolling in money. They want you to service kids who are 'at risk' or in trouble. They see the kids in my program as fine. So they're forgotten."
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