Members of the Prospective Gents Class of 2001 strutted their stuff Saturday night at the Melody Ballroom.

by DAVID WALKER
dwalker@wweek.com

Dressed in tuxedos, the 19 teens standing on the stage at the Melody Ballroom do their best not to look nervous. It is an important Saturday night, a celebration of Black History Month filled with speeches, poetry and dance. But these young men--seniors from four different high schools--are the real reason that hundreds of people have crowded into the ballroom. Tonight the young men on the stage have come to make an announcement that is both simple and startling: They are asking the African-American community for permission to begin the passage into adulthood.

Watching the boys on stage make their announcement, Kevin Fuller can't help but flash his almost ever-present, disarming smile. It's creeping up on 20 years since Fuller was a senior at Grant High, and a lot has changed in the African-American community since then. Where once there were after-school scuffles, there are now drive-by shootings. Pot has given way to crack. Juvenile detention has been replaced with Measure 11.

At the same time, some things haven't changed. The city's poor are disproportionately black; the city's elected officials and CEOs are disproportionately white.

Still, for Fuller, there is hope--particularly on this night.

"Whatever makes you angry is your mission," says Fuller, 34, who has the charismatic, engaging personality of a preacher. With a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University and a master's from Harvard, Fuller is angry that so many of his peers were never encouraged to be more and do more with their lives.

The seniors who took the stage Feb. 24 aren't that much different than Fuller's former classmates. Drawn from high schools all over the Portland metro area, the young men come in all shapes and sizes--many carrying themselves with the façade of bravado that masks the awkward uncertainty of adolescence. The difference is these kids--known as the Prospective Gents--have Fuller in their corner.

"If you're 18, you're lucky to be alive or not in jail," says Jayvin Harper, who sees the Prospective Gents as an investment in a better life not just for himself but the larger community. "Many African-American males don't make it to the age I am."

The Prospective Gents program is an offshoot of Bridge Builders, a nonprofit organization started by Fuller to help steer teenage African-American boys into manhood.

While other programs designed to serve African-American youth are geared toward keeping troubled kids from getting into more trouble and helping them graduate high school, Bridge Builders has a different set of goals for the Prospective Gents: graduating from college and becoming leaders in the community.

Bridge Builders recruits boys as they enter high school and begins preparing them for the challenges they will face as they pass from adolescence into adulthood. Once accepted into the Prospective Gents, the teens begin a program that emphasizes the group's seven barometers of manhood: spirituality, scholarship, cultural awareness, time management, entrepreneurship, community service and respect.

Infused with African-centric teachings, the program has a social component that includes Fun Nights at Matt Dishman Community Center and trips to Trail Blazer home games. But it also has a serious side, including study sessions (three hours each Monday night) and community-service projects. "It's a lot like having a job," says Troy Campbell, a junior at Grant.

Being a Prospective Gent, Campbell says, boils down to learning to be mature, taking on responsibility and preparing to be a leader. In many cases, it means breaking bad habits. "If you're not willing to make a change," he says, "then the Gents are not for you."

Setting out to be a role model isn't easy. "When you're a Gent, you're a Gent 24/7--it's a part of your life," says Tremaine Thompson, one of the seniors at Saturday night's ceremony.

The Gents are divided into four groups based on their academic class. Each group has a director and a set of advisers, who help the boys--and their parents--with the challenges they face. "There comes a time when you're mystified at the challenges teenagers throw at you," says Bob Williams, one of the 16 advisers. The men, ranging in age from early 20s to mid-50s, volunteer their time to work with the boys and their parents. The relationship between the advisers and the boys can be complex. In some instances, the advisers are the positive male role model in a Prospective Gent's life. "You are a combination of mentor, friend, father figure and liaison with parents and teachers," explains Chris Frazier, the director of the Prospective Gents senior class, who says his responsibilities are like "juggling different hats and knowing when not to wear them."

For parents, Prospective Gents involves a leap of faith. In essence, they are entrusting men like Frazier and Williams with guiding their sons into adulthood. "It becomes a trust factor," says Lisa Sobomehin. "The advisers build a trust and a type of relationship some parents don't have with their sons."

Sobomehin's two oldest sons--Tunde, a junior at Stanford, and Dele, a freshman at University of Santa Clara--have already completed the program. Her son Niyi, a sophomore at Catlin Gabel, is a Prospective Gent, and Remi, a seventh grader, hopes to join when he is old enough. Sobomehin sees the program as place that allows African-American boys to learn more about their culture in a positive and nurturing environment that is lacking in both the private and public school systems.

During their senior year, the Gents begin the final preparations for "passage," a series of tests that upon completion will mark their ascension from puberty to adulthood. The 19 seniors at Saturday night's ceremony announced that they are ready for that passage--a seven-week testing period that will take place this summer. Those who have completed passage will be presented to the community at the Kwanzaa Ball in December.

There is no way to prepare for the seven-week testing period. It is not a conventional exam with true-or-false questions or dots to be filled in with a No. 2 pencil. In fact, the Gents don't even know what to expect (those who have already passed are not permitted to discuss the process with anyone who has not completed passage). They must be prepared for anything and everything.

In a sense, says Fuller, preparation began the day each young man joined the Prospective Gents. All the lessons they have learned will be pertinent to the passage into manhood--much like life.

"It's difficult to prepare someone for something that they will never face again," says Frazier, 26, a Willamette University graduate who went through a similar rite-of-passage program that Fuller also ran. Frazier sees his involvement in Bridge Builders as an "opportunity to reach back and give something to the community."

The mood inside the Melody Ballroom becomes more charged with excitement as the seniors deliver their group speech, announcing they are ready for passage. Fuller asks the adults in the audience whether they accept the Gents' announcement. The thunderous applause signals that the crowd is ready and willing to accept 19 new men into the community. The rite of passage has begun.

Given the great unknown that awaits them this summer, the 19 teens are all understandably nervous, yet prepared for the challenges that await. Like his brothers in the program, Harper has come to see a difference between reaching the age of adulthood and attaining the status of manhood. "Rites of passage are earned, not given," he says. "Prospective Gents has helped me understand the true meaning of manhood."