University and community officials gathered Saturday to launch the Saturday College Preparatory Academy (Saturday Academy) at Union Independent School (UIS) in Durham, N.C.

The Saturday Academy is an academic and soft-skills enrichment program for Africa n American males who are in the 11th grade and aspire to attend four-year colleges and universities in the fall of 2012.

The program will provide tutoring, SAT preparation, mentoring and unique engagement opportunities to all participants. It is the first of several innovative collaborations between UIS and Durham Public Schools funded with grant support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Minority Male Bridge to Success Project.

It is one part of an ongoing initiative of the Urban Investment Strategies Center to help at-risk African American males gain access to and success in higher education.

“The mission of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is to help communities create conditions that propel vulnerable children to succeed as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society,” said Dr. Gail Christopher, the foundation’s vice president of programs.

The 54 high school students in the program’s inaugural class all attend either Hillside High School or Southern High School in Durham. Each student was selected by the principal as a “college-bound” African-American male who would be better equipped for success at the collegiate level upon completion of this academy.

Beginning on January 29, Union Independent School (UIS) will open its doors to the program’s participants, tutors and staff from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on each non-holiday/vacation Saturday until the students graduate high school in the spring of 2012.

The volunteer tutors will be mostly undergraduate and graduate students from area institutions, including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina Central University.

The kickoff event served as both the formal launch event for the Saturday Academy and the capstone to a two-day visit by program officers from the Kellogg Foundation. A highly engaged series of observations and meetings with scholars from throughout the state preceded Saturday’s activities, with special emphasis on constructively intervening in the lives of North Carolina’s minority male population.

A panel discussion followed with panelists addressing the challenges facing minority males in America and their dialogue, as well as a question and answer segment facilitated by Deborah Noel of UNC-TV and recorded for airing on UNC-TV’s award-winning program, Black Issues Forum.

“In launching this initiative, our goal is to develop a model program which can be replicated throughout the state of North Carolina and perhaps beyond,” said Dr. James H. Johnson, Kenan Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center and chairman, president and CEO of the board of UIS. “Our success will be measured in terms of the number of young men for whom we are able to facilitate college access, matriculation, and graduation.”