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About 150 black ninth-grade boys faced three dozen black men in suits Wednesday morning at Creighton University. Behind the men was a large poster that asked, "Which path will you choose?"
To the left was a school; to the right was a crime scene.
"What you see is what you will be," said Tom Warren, president and CEO of the Urban League of Nebraska. "We're here because we love you. We're here because we care."
The first Strive for Success summit began with a strong showing of support for what is one of the least-likely population groups to succeed -- young black men.
To underscore that point, Warren rattled off this statistic: Blacks have a 40 percent high school graduation rate; whites have an 83 percent graduation rate.
"We want all of you to graduate," he said.
The youths are on the Creighton campus most of the day to hear from black leaders from finance, the court system, the health-care field and churches. Sponsoring the event are the Urban League of Nebraska, 100 Black Men of Omaha Inc., Wesley House and the African-American Empowerment Network.
-- Erin Grace
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