Beginning this year, Becoming a Man (BAM) will immediately expand to serve 1,300 additional students this school year, bringing the total of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students served to 4,080. The expansion supports the Mayor’s three-year initiative to provide 7,200 young men from at-risk communities with high-quality mentoring opportunities to prevent them from dropping out of school and keep them on track for high school graduation. The targeted plan calls for mentoring services for 7,200 8th, 9th, and 10th grade boys in the 20 communities most impacted by violence. To achieve this goal by 2018, the City has called upon the private sector to support half of the $36 million initiative. To date, the following corporations and individuals have contributed $7 million to support this initiative, putting the city nearly halfway toward its three-year fundraising mark:

• Exelon has committed $3 million over the course of the next three years;
• Peoples Gas has committed $1.5 Million over the next three years;
• Get IN Chicago has increased its commitment to BAM by $1 Million, for a total of $2.3 Million this year;
• Jimmy Johns’ owner and founder, Jimmy Liautaud, has committed $1 million for the first year; and
• Bank of America has committed $500,000 over the next three years.

The nineteen new schools delivering the program this year include: Back of the Yards High School, Banner Academy West High School, Perkins Bass Elementary School, Brunson Elementary School, Burnside Scholastic Academy Elementary School, Cesar E. Chavez Elementary School, Michele Clark High School, Arthur Dixon Elementary School, James Hedges Fine & Performing Arts Elementary School, Benjamin E. Mays Elementary Academy, Alfred Nobel Elementary School, North-Grand High School, Al Raby High School, Paul Robeson High School, Simeon Career Academy High School, Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, South Shore International High School, Spencer Technology Academy Elementary School and TEAM Englewood High School. BAM will begin serving youth in existing schools over the next two weeks, and BAM will launch in new schools by November 7.